This post discusses two very worthwhile books about regional bluegrass. One of them, “Industrial Strength Bluegrass” (Illinois 2021), was published this year. The other, “Bluegrass In Baltimore” (McFarland & Co. 2015), is six years old. These books are histories of … Read More
click photo to enlarge – photos by Tobey Sandford In a March column about the “big tent” of bluegrass I discussed some of the reasons that I don’t care for a lot of contemporary bluegrass. My main complaint was that, … Read More
In his long career, J.D. Crowe played some of the hottest, drivingest, bluesiest bluegrass banjo ever recorded. He is rightly spoken of by banjo pickers and fans with reverence. And he was one of the bandleaders who took bluegrass in … Read More
In his very long life, long-time Hudson Valley resident Pete Seeger made a name for himself as, among many other things, an iconic (probably the iconic) folk singer and banjo player. Pete was known to everybody, even those who didn’t … Read More
By the mid-1970s, the Seldom Scene was among the most popular bands in bluegrass, despite, or perhaps because of, their part-time status, which limited the number of their appearances. The band was still near the cutting edge of the music, … Read More
By the mid-1960s, John Duffey and the Country Gentlemen were riding high. In 1965, the band had a minor hit with a song that John Duffey co-wrote, “Bringing Mary Home,” which was a new version of the old story of … Read More
Beginning in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Washington DC area was home to several bands that were expanding the boundaries of bluegrass repertoire. The Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene both performed songs from outside traditional bluegrass sources, including … Read More
Dick Bowden’s reference in a recent comment on the HVBA website to the “big tent, anything goes” nature of bluegrass music these days got me thinking…I started to outline some thoughts in a comment but the comment grew too long … Read More
This week’s post focuses on a subject of interest to nearly everyone who plays bluegrass: jam sessions. Jams are informal musical gatherings where musicians make music for the joy of it. They are found everywhere bluegrass is played. Although the … Read More
Bluegrass Roots-The Carter Family In my last post, and several others, I mentioned the Carter Family as a fertile source of repertoire for bluegrass artists. Harry Smith included four Carter Family songs in his Anthology of American Folk Music and … Read More