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Larry Stephenson is gearing up for a busy September, closing out with a bang at the IBMA World of Bluegrass convention and Wide Open Bluegrass festival in Raleigh, NC. Serious Larry Stephenson Band fans will notice a new face in the lineup, and the return of a familiar one, next time they catch up with [...]
To celebrate Jesse McReynolds' 85th birthday earlier this month, family, friends and neighbors of the bluegrass mandolin legend got together at Jesse's home outside of Nashville for a birthday tribute in the form of a celebrity roast. Popular radio host Harv Mason served as the roastmaster, with stories shared by Sam Bush, Del McCoury, Jim Buchannan, Eddie Stubbs, [...]
The Larry Stephenson Band is back in the studio, working on a new Gospel CD. This will be Larry's 5th album of all spiritual music. Larry is recording at the Rec Room Studio in Nashville, with Ben Surratt engineering. His regular road band is in there with him: Kenny Ingram on banjo, Danny Stewart on bass, [...]
For many bluegrass groups these days, a stop in Johnson City, Tennessee isn't complete without visits to both East Tennessee State University and The Down Home. ETSU frequently welcomes guest artists to its Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies program, and the famed Down Home has played host to most of the top bands [...]
It was New Year's Eve that Nashville grasser Steve Thomas and his wife, Janet, were enjoying a quiet night at home, until they saw smoke filling the room. Two hours later they stood outside watching the home they had rented in Gallatin this past three years smoldering after the fire was finally put out. Needless [...]
Silver Dollar City's Bluegrass & BBQ festival has added a new wrinkle for 2013. The annual mega-fest which runs continuously from May 9-27 in Branson, MO, will feature bluegrass lake cruises on their paddlewheel showboat, Branson Belle, May 24-26. Monroe Crossing will perform May 24, Larry Stephenson band May 25, and Special Consensus May 26. The [...]
Last week, Donna Ulisse shot a new music video for I Am A Child Of God, a track from her 2007 album, When I Look Back. The song will serve as the title track for a compilation project due for a June release, with a selection of her previously-recorded Gospel numbers, plus two new ones. [...]
Everybody loves a wedding, and what could be better than a bluegrass wedding on the beach? That is just what Danny Stewart and Ashley Wiese had last week when they tied the knot in Florida after spending a week at sea on his father's annual bluegrass cruise. Danny plays bass with the Larry Stephenson Band, and serves [...]
Billboard has released their year-end list of the top albums in bluegrass music. As always for the magazine's charts, these are strictly based on sales as measured by SoundScan, and dependent on both Billboard and SoundScan's definition of "bluegrass." Here is their 2012 list: 15. Bright Morning Stars — The Wailin' Jennys 14. Nobody Knows You — Steep Canyon Rangers 13. Sunday Mornin' Singin' — Rhonda [...]
As a Bluegrass Today correspondent, I get to listen to a lot of music during the year. Some on CDs, some live. Some traditional bluegrass, some most definitely not. Some of it terrific, some of it, well, not so much. But one of the most difficult parts of the job comes at the end of [...]
