Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass, is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in addition to the Country Music and Bluegrass Halls of Fame. His presence in the Rock Hall may surprise some folks but on reflection it’s … Read More
In June of this year, bluegrass mandolin players worldwide celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first Loar-signed Gibson F5 Master Model mandolin. OK, “celebrated” may be too strong a word; perhaps “noted” would more accurately describe the festivities. But the … Read More
Many years ago, for several summers running, I attended a bluegrass festival in central New York where I would jam with a particular banjo player. Two things about him linger in my memory. The first was that he was a … Read More
Jimmy Martin was one of the founding fathers of bluegrass music, from the generation of musicians just after Bill Monroe who helped make Monroe’s very personal style of mountain string band music into a genre of American roots music. Martin … Read More
Summer is nearly here and that means that bluegrass festival season is upon us. This summer is especially exciting for bluegrass fans, promising (fingers crossed) a full line up of festivals for the first time since 2019. For fans, including … Read More
In the world of bluegrass Dobro guitar playing, three names stand above the rest—Josh Graves, Mike Auldridge, and Jerry Douglas. All of them were innovators; each took the acoustic steel guitar to music and places it had not been before. … Read More
The previous post in this series described Frank Wakefield’s many innovations and contributions to bluegrass through his mid-1960s tenure with the Greenbriar Boys. By then, Frank had taken to heart Bill Monroe’s advice to develop his own style of mandolin … Read More
Previous columns including the last one about the Greenbriar Boys have mentioned Frank Wakefield, one of my all time favorite mandolin players. Frank’s achievements merit more discussion than fits in one column. Here is Part One. David Grisman, who is … Read More
New York City has been a folk music center since before the post-war folk revival. The book “Folk City,” by Stephen Petrus and Ronald D. Cohen, published in 2015 to accompany the exhibition of the same name presented that year … Read More
Norman Blake is my favorite guitar player, at least my favorite old time/bluegrass/country/and more guitar picker, and one of my favorite songwriters. This probably colors my view of his work and affects my objectivity, so bear it in mind when … Read More