Reviews

A lot of students are turning to YouTube to learn how to play their instruments these days.  The upside is that it doesn’t cost anything.  The downside is that there typically is not a well-designed step-by-step learning method presented with an effective multi-media approach to learning foundational material and theory along with a progressive method…

This five-piece band out of Austin, Texas has a unique and compelling sound that draws from bluegrass as well as old-timey Appalachian music and country-folk.  Lead singer Rose Lichtenfels, who hails from Virginia, has a captivating voice marked by emotional nuance and provocative phrasing. At times, she sounds reminiscent of the Carter Family; at other…

Although I love to read books and do so for a few hours every day, I’m going to have to admit that I do not spend much time reading fiction.  I tend to be a non-fiction reader in the realms of music history, science, and philosophy.  However, when author Trish Doll sent me her new…

John Cowan, formerly of the Newgrass Revival, is one of the most distinctive and versatile singers to emerge from modern bluegrass. In recent years, he’s kept a high-profile touring with the rock band, the Doobie Brothers. Andrea Zonn, with whom Cowan partners on this album, is an equally impressive and versatile vocalist and fiddle player….

Barbara Martin Stephens met Jimmy Martin in 1953 when Martin was working with Bill Monroe.  She lived with Jimmy Martin from 1953 until 1966.   Her story of that relationship was told in a book that the University of Illinois Press put out in 2017, titled Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler: My Life…

How does a band with a legendary status continue to live up to the mythology that inevitably grows and threatens to overshadow any new recording? The legendary Seldom Scene answer the question with their new album that positively glows with the same causal brilliance that has always been a hallmark of the group. The line…