Bluegrass music has a lot of favorite themes: heartbreak, the blues, lonesomeness… hmm let’s see, what else… oh yeah, and trains! Some of the genre’s best anthems integrate the evocative sounds and feelings of the railroad. From Flatt and Scruggs’s … Read More
“Bluegrass music undoubtedly has a robust standard repertoire. Songs that Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, and Ola Belle Reed wrote half a century ago are still played from private jams to the Ryman auditorium—and everywhere between. Some songs have gotten … Read More
Hello there, David Chernack here! This is the first in a series of curated bluegrass Spotify playlists, each with an individual theme. Up first: Bluegrass 2020. The music world has undoubtedly taken a hard hit in 2020 due to the … Read More
During a downer summer devoid of festivals and pickin’ parties, some of bluegrass’s best artists have released some amazing studio material. This year has continued to be a bummer for the music world: artists from your local favorites to the … Read More
Festivals may be curtailed and jams may be sparse, but some of the genre’s best artists are still releasing some great music this year. It’s no secret that 2020 has been a lousy year so far. With nearly every collaborative … Read More
From left to right: Edgar Meyer, Casey Dreissen, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, and Bryan Sutton. Instrumental music holds a special place in my heart. I was trained as a classical violist, and my first introduction to bluegrass music … Read More
It’s a wild time to be a bluegrass fan. Since 2000, bluegrass has seen a resurgence in popularity due to a bunch of factors. The two factors I consider to be the most critical to this resurgence are the Coen … Read More
Ed. Note: Take this with a huge grain of salt! Too late and too early; the sad story of the spun aluminum cones and cover plates of the resonator guitar. 1928 was a year of transition for stringed instruments. As … Read More
The story goes that back in 1833 C. F. Martin had a semi-thriving business in producing drink coasters for the Nazareth, Pennsylvania community by cutting perfect circles out of mahogany or spruce sheets which he had planed to a perfect … Read More
One of the first bluegrass instruments was the one string dulcimer, said to be jointly invented by Harry Dulcimininni and Martin Herkimer, who named the instrument by combining their two last names; the first part after the first part of … Read More