Curtailed from touring by the pandemic, multi-instrumentalists Mark Schatz and Bryan McDowell, both former members of the Claire Lynch Band, opted instead to retreat Schatz’s basement recording studio and cut thirteen tracks that provide a fine representation of combined dexterity and versatility. Though they’re the sole players on the aptly dubbed Grit & Polish, they [...]
Mark and Eileen Schatz Once again, the acoustic music community is coming together to help one of its own. A benefit concert for Eileen Carson Schatz will be held Sunday, September 16, at The Hamilton in Washington DC. Eileen learned in March that she has stage three pancreatic cancer. Needless to say, the aggressive disease [...]
Bluegrass fans are well familiar with Mark Schatz. He has played bass with some of our music's brightest lights, from Tony Rice and Doc Watson to Claire Lynch and Nickel Creek. His collaborations with Jerry Douglas and Béla Fleck are legendary, with many of his appearances also featuring his stellar buck dancing skills. Those skills [...]
Poor Claire Lynch. She's had to go through the Summer without her bass player, Mark Schatz, who has been out touring with Nickel Creek. He's due back in the middle of September, but now comes news that guitarist Matt Wingate is leaving the group. Jim Hurst will be filling in this next few weeks, returning to a spot [...]
Mark Schatz will take a six-month leave of absence from the Claire Lynch Band to play bass during the highly anticipated Nickel Creek reunion this spring and summer. He’s already joined Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins in the studio, laying down tracks for the first Nickel Creek album in nine years. Schatz played [...]
Billboard is reporting that Nickel Creek has recorded a new album, targeted for a Spring 2014 release on Nonesuch Records. The news came out as the trio featuring Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, reunited on Wednesday for a special performance in Santa Monica, CA for a CBS Films party. In a success story [...]
Roosterfest last Sunday was a wonderful day full of awesome music, with folks reuniting, catching up, swapping stories and remembering the great Rooster Ruley who passed away earlier this year Rooster was a truly unique character who seemed to be from an earlier time in many ways. He was an amazing musician, and could be [...]
Young Cory Piatt is currently mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. He has been playing almost half his 17 years, and has developed a stunning mastery of his instrument in this short time, as evidenced by his debut solo project, Daydreams, on Patuxent Music. It was only a few years ago that a [...]
Cory Piatt, the talented young mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band, has recently completed a solo project. Entitled Daydreams, the album will be released this summer by Patuxent Music. Piatt tells us that he has been working on finishing this record for nearly a year, with Patuxent's Tom Mindte producing. Six of the eleven [...]
Béla Fleck's My Bluegrass Heart at FreshGrass 2021 - photo © Dave Hollender Our friend Dave Hollender was at the 2021 FreshGrass festival in North Adams, MA last month, and captured some great photos of Béla Fleck's My Bluegrass Heart show. Performing with Béla on the show were Sierra Hull on mandolin, Bryan Sutton on [...] 
Curtailed from touring by the pandemic, multi-instrumentalists Mark Schatz and Bryan McDowell, both former members of the Claire Lynch Band, opted instead to retreat Schatz’s basement recording studio and cut thirteen tracks that provide a fine representation of combined dexterity and versatility. Though they’re the sole players on the aptly dubbed Grit & Polish, they [...] 
Mark and Eileen Schatz Once again, the acoustic music community is coming together to help one of its own. A benefit concert for Eileen Carson Schatz will be held Sunday, September 16, at The Hamilton in Washington DC. Eileen learned in March that she has stage three pancreatic cancer. Needless to say, the aggressive disease [...] 
Poor Claire Lynch. She's had to go through the Summer without her bass player, Mark Schatz, who has been out touring with Nickel Creek. He's due back in the middle of September, but now comes news that guitarist Matt Wingate is leaving the group. Jim Hurst will be filling in this next few weeks, returning to a spot [...] 
Mark Schatz will take a six-month leave of absence from the Claire Lynch Band to play bass during the highly anticipated Nickel Creek reunion this spring and summer. He’s already joined Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins in the studio, laying down tracks for the first Nickel Creek album in nine years. Schatz played [...] 
Billboard is reporting that Nickel Creek has recorded a new album, targeted for a Spring 2014 release on Nonesuch Records. The news came out as the trio featuring Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, reunited on Wednesday for a special performance in Santa Monica, CA for a CBS Films party. In a success story [...] 
Roosterfest last Sunday was a wonderful day full of awesome music, with folks reuniting, catching up, swapping stories and remembering the great Rooster Ruley who passed away earlier this year Rooster was a truly unique character who seemed to be from an earlier time in many ways. He was an amazing musician, and could be [...] 
Young Cory Piatt is currently mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. He has been playing almost half his 17 years, and has developed a stunning mastery of his instrument in this short time, as evidenced by his debut solo project, Daydreams, on Patuxent Music. It was only a few years ago that a [...] 
Cory Piatt, the talented young mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band, has recently completed a solo project. Entitled Daydreams, the album will be released this summer by Patuxent Music. Piatt tells us that he has been working on finishing this record for nearly a year, with Patuxent's Tom Mindte producing. Six of the eleven [...] 