Reviews
Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five-String Banjo
Soft-cover. 147 pages. Includes banjo tablature. Illustrations by Giselle Harrington The Bill Monroe band of Blue Grass Boys that included Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (1946-1947) has often been called the “greatest bluegrass group of all time.” But, as Tony Trischka says in his intro to Max Wareham’s new book, Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero…
Parabolic Tension Strings
When you build the signature guitar of one of bluegrass music’s greatest ever players, Tony Rice, it’s no surprise that the Santa Cruz Guitar Company puts equal attention into the design, quality and production of their in-house guitar string brand as they did in Rice’s personal instrument. Santa Cruz Parabolic Tension Strings incorporate…
One More Time Before You Go: A Tribute to Tony Rice
Dan Tyminski’s tribute CD to guitar master Tony Rice, unlike another recent Rice “tribute” CD that featured loud drums, electric guitar and other extraneous non-bluegrass influences, relishes the soulful vocals, brilliant guitar flatpicking, and sense of taste Rice brought to every project. Here, Tyminski opens with the classic, “Church Street Blues,” showcasing Dan…
Bluegrass Court Jester: Ron Thomason—An Unusual History of Bluegrass Music
“Bluegrass Court Jester”…I had to think about this description of Ron Thomason used in the title of a new DVD released by Ol’ Black Bear Productions featuring footage from a few Dry Branch Fire Squad performances. One of the ways Wikipedia describes a court jester is to state, “A jester entertained with a wide variety…
Hold On
In a press release accompanying his fifth and latest album with Dirty Kitchen there is, amidst a listing of his and the band’s many awards and accolades, a telling quote: “I was going through the hardest time of my life leading up to the pandemic. Then the world stopped.” Solivan further relates that the songs…
Small Towns
This dynamic Durango, Colorado-based duo is the current IBMA “Momentum Band of the Year” and has twice made the finals in the highly competitive Telluride Bluegrass Contest. The group’s hallmarks include super-tight harmonies, imaginative songwriting and some very inspired fiddle playing from member Alissa Wolf. The Junkies’ principal thematic bailiwick on their third album is…