Articles

Photos by Raymond Huffmaster Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine April 1989, Volume 23, Number 10 Bluegrass music as played by Bill Monroe is like no other sound on earth—and setting it on tape is like no other recording session. The sounds of bagpipes, blues, mountain churches and running brooks are echoed in Monroe’s tunes—it’s not…

Finding a new favorite band through a performance or recording is one of the ultimate joys of being a music fan. Last June, at the California Bluegrass Association’s Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley, the Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee took the stage Friday afternoon for their first set of the weekend.  Three songs into…

Two Decades of Life, Music, and Personal Growth for the Infamous Stringdusters “Life is a constant journey, always changing, always presenting challenges and always forcing you to evolve,” says Infamous Stringdusters banjo-picker Chris Pandolfi. Pandolfi is reflecting on twenty years of the Infamous Stringdusters as a band. In those twenty years, the Stringdusters established themselves…

In the early days of the IBMA conference, kids’ involvement was nearly non-existent.  Former IBMA president, Pete Wernick—who put together a kids band to perform at the 1993 IBMA awards show—explains, “In 1993 when the Bluegrass Youth All-Stars appeared on the awards show, that was the first time that kids had ever been on stage…

Dr. Banjo Turns 80 As a kid growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s, Pete Wernick lived within a subway ride of Yankee Stadium. For 75 cents, he could get a seat in the bleachers and spend an afternoon cheering on his heroes — Mantle, Berra, Whitey Ford, et. al. While he did play…

Q: I love seeing the old black & white archival photos of bluegrass from the days of old. In the early 1980s, while living in Los Angeles, I met and befriended Marshall Freedland, and we shared our love of bluegrass music and artists. He told me he had a wealth of photos that he took,…