Spinsters film uses Frederick, MD bluegrass artists
Spinsters, a new independent feature film in post-production with a screenplay by Sasha Carrera, was shot entirely in Frederick, MD, and uses a number of well-known bluegrass players on screen. It’s a story about two middle-aged women, best friends but now estranged, whose lives never seemed to take off. Both are in jobs that are […]
My Favorite J.D. Crowe lick – Mike Munford
Mike Munford with Dirty Kitchen at Bluegrass Island in 2018 - photo by My Grass Is Blue This is a feature we are running to memorialize the creative and musical legacy of the late J.D. Crowe, who we lost just before Christmas. We are calling it My Favorite Crowe Lick, and each episode will feature [...] Red Toad Road video by Carolyn Eyerly
Northern Virginia bluegrass singer and songwriter, Carolyn Eyerly, has released a music video for another of the songs on her current Patuxent Music album, The Sunny Side of Life. This one is called Red Toad Road, which Carolyn says was inspired by something she saw along the highway. "I call this original song, Red Toad [...] Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen on OBX
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen have long been associated with great music and great food. Their run as bluegrass entertainment professionals has seen them reaching new goals year after year with a high-energy stage show and several successful recordings, and Frank's reputation as a chef has found him - and them - providing fare for [...] Ralph Stanley at MerleFest 2014
We heard this morning from R. B. Powell,from Lewistown, PA, a banjo picker and promoter of scholarships for young musicians. He shared this video he had shot of Ralph Stanley during MerleFest 2014 at the Creekside Stage as part of the festival's special Banjorama segment that year. Pete Wernick had been conducting a banjo workshop with [...] Cold Spell this summer from Dirty Kitchen
Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen can’t stand still. The band had a strong 2013, riding its Compass Records debut, On the Edge, to widespread acclaim. In its wake, Mike Munford was chosen as IBMA’s banjo player of the year and guitarist Chris Luquette won IBMA’s Momentum Award for young instrumentalists. After that kind of success, [...] Frank Solivan Cooking Up a New CD
Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen is back in the studio this week in Nashville, starting work on a second Compass Records project as a follow-up to the much heralded On the Edge. The band has been test-driving new material in recent shows, including at Saturday’s open house for WAMU’s Bluegrass Country and the previous Sunday [...] Kip Martin feted Sunday afternoon
Kip Martin's friends filled a church sanctuary Sunday in Crofton, MD, opening their hearts and wallets for the ailing bass player. The former Sunny Mountain Boy was hundreds of miles away, surrounded by family in a hospice setting near Nashville, where relatives said he was comfortable in his final hours. But he was certainly in [...] Merry Christmas from Mike Munford
Mike Munford, reigning IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, is featured on When It's Christmas Time, the new Christmas album from The Depue Brothers Band. It's not a bluegrass project - the brothers are classical string musicians who work in that field - but banjo is part of several of the arrangements. Among the tracks on the [...] Mike Munford profiled in Baltimore Sun
Mike Munford, reigning IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, was profiled in today's edition of his hometown paper, The Baltimore Sun. The piece by features writer Wesley Case follows Mike from his first exposure to the 5 string at 15 years of age, through his acceptance of the IBMA award 40 years later. From the [...] 