Articles

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 2003, Volume 38, Number 2 Ronnie Bowman wants to make one thing perfectly clear. He is not bailing from bluegrass music. The former front man for the popular and influential 1990s Lonesome River Band has made several changes in his life since the turn of the millennium clock, but…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine March 1976, Volume The Great Midwestern Bluegrass Music Hall, 118 West Washington Street, in Louisville, Kentucky, is the new home base of the Bluegrass Alliance—when they are at home. The former warehouse is only a few blocks from where the famous sternwheeler “The Belle Of Louisville” docks on the Ohio…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine October 1973, Volume 8, Number 4 “Who is Norman Blake?” “One of the best pickers in the whole country. He’s got a lot of notes here and there, and puts them together in a very unpretentious way.” Such runs the opinion of those who know him. But a recent sampling…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1989, Volume 23, Number 7 Lyman Enloe, a small, slimly built man in his 82nd year, is a nationally respected old-time fiddler and that’s what he’d rather be doing, as a rule. I notice that writers seem to bring out the nervous energy in him, as he clears his…

A Treasure of Southern West Virginia I live three doors down from Duffy, and on quiet mornings when I walk the dog past his house, I often hear him playing the sweetest banjo music. It drifts through the porch boards and out into the street, unhurried and warm, the kind of sound that makes you slow your…

‘I know him, but he don’t know me’ Bill Monroe was properly regarded as the very model of a traditional American musician. However, he could also be full of surprises, whether poking fun or providing unexpected revelations about life and music.  Part One of this coverage included my experiences seeing, hearing and talking to Monroe…