Articles

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1995, Volume 30, Number 2 There were a couple of directions we could have gone with this album,” says singer/songwriter Kathy Kallick of her current release, “Matters Of The Heart,” on Sugar Hill Records. “We could have done cover tunes, or we could have done a mixture [of covers…

The Widow of Earl’s Brother Horace, she was a Family Member for Many Decades Photos by Thomas Goldsmith Born April 15, 1925, Maida Greene arrived on this earth one year, three months, and nine days after her future brother-in-law Earl Eugene Scruggs, a notable champion of American music.  Maida knew the Scruggs family from elementary school…

A Look Back at Early Urban Bluegrass (Or, The Short But Lively Career of the Lonesome River Boys)  The Lonesome River Boys (not to be confused with the more modern Lonesome River Band) was a bluegrass group from the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area that was popular in the early and middle 1960s. Although largely unknown…

The story of the rise of The SteelDrivers is an impressive one. What famously started as a one-off bluegrass jam in a living room in Nashville turned into 20 years of great music and accolades at the highest levels of the music world. I distinctly remember the first time I heard about The SteelDrivers 18…

Father Daughter Duo Written by Dale and Darcy Cahill Bob Amos made his name in Bluegrass beginning in the late 80s as vocalist, guitarist, frontman, and songwriter for the band Front Range. For over 15 (1988-2004) years Front Range, based in Colorado, played all over the country and Europe and recorded seven albums. These days, Bob lives…

Fiery Bluegrass Fiddler Annie Staninec has a lot going for her. First, she has what might be the biggest smile by several inches of anybody except possibly Doug Dillard. Second, she is a fiery bluegrass fiddler, perhaps the “grassiest” fiddler of them all.  I was honored to interview her for this article. I chose to…