January 15, 2021 TRIVIA QUESTION What bluegrass performer helped Emmy Lou Harris establish her “bona fides” in the traditional country and bluegrass music world around 1980, insisting before this person joined her band that Emmy Lou must include some Louvin … Read More
The sad news of Tony Rice’s passing on Christmas Day has prompted many well deserved and insightful tributes to his extraordinary skills as a guitar innovator and singer. It’s safe to say that Tony Rice’s influence is heard in nearly … Read More
Flatt and Scruggs are the other fathers of bluegrass. Earl Scruggs’ banjo playing—with his signature three-finger style—practically reinvented the instrument, while Lester Flatt’s singing and songwriting set a bedrock for the genre in the 1950s. Naturally, many of their greatest … Read More
This Contest is Closed The winners are Al Gassman, Steve Margulis, Gary DiGiovanni, and Andy Bing January 1, 2021 TRIVIA QUESTION Where did Del McCoury make his very first appearance as one of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, playing banjo, … Read More
Happy New Year. Let’s hope for better things for all of us in 2021. This week’s post was suggested by a reader who directed my attention to a video on You Tube’s Fiddle Channel. The Fiddle Channel is the creation … Read More
Tony Rice tragically passed away far too young at the age of 69 on Christmas Day. It is impossible to overstate the effect Tony had on acoustic music, not to mention bluegrass—and to this day, he has no true equal … Read More
by Ricky Skaggs Sometime during Christmas morning while making his coffee, our dear friend and guitar hero Tony Rice passed from this life and made his swift journey to his heavenly home. It’s still quite a shock to the … Read More
I remember back when the Covid virus broke out in March, thinking, we may be living with this at Christmas! How true that has turned out to be, and it’s now the worst it has been. Those of us who … Read More
My last post explored some of the reasons that Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys became the most popular bluegrass band in the history of the music. Their extraordinary talent and that of the Foggy Mountain Boys, … Read More
The holidays is (usually) a time for coming together to enjoy the music of the season. Bluegrass is no exception, and Christmas songs are often a favorite subject for bluegrass artists. From the genre’s forefathers like Ralph Stanley to modern … Read More