Reviews

For his newest release, John Lowell—the 2021 Winner of the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest—brings us a collection of songs with a Western theme.  Lowell—a longtime Montana resident—is a veteran performer, guitar player, and songwriter with over thirty-five years of experience.  He will be best known to bluegrass fans for his work with the bands Loose…

If you’re one of the many who have stayed close to home during the COVID pandemic of 2020-21, here’s your chance to live vicariously through the adventures of Australian bluegrass radio broadcaster Jan Dale as she chronicles her American journey that took place over a period of six years in the 1990s. Her goal was…

If it wasn’t for the Birchmere, I probably would not have had a career in bluegrass music.  I grew up in Springfield, Virginia and my childhood home was exactly ten miles door-to-door from the second Birchmere, located on Mt. Vernon Avenue in Alexandria.  I then went to college at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis,…

Don Schlitz (guitar) is an award-winning songwriter who has garnered two Grammys as well as being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. These are just few of his awards as he has written songs for such as Kenny Rogers, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Randy Travis, Keith Whitley, The…

New Englander Chris Brashear is a performer, teacher, and recording artist who plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and bass. While living in Arizona he met Peter McLaughlin with whom he has collaborated on a few projects including this one. McLaughlin is also a performer, recording artist, and instructor. He plays guitar and mandolin. Both sing and…

This Portland, Oregon-based “bluegrass and Americana” band has a swingy, sassy, versatile and captivating style.  You can hear this vividly on the despairing title tune of Never Come Down’s sophomore album. It has a subtle Latin feel. And here, as well on other original cuts, such as the swing-infused “New Year’s Blues,” “Catch Me,” “Sleepin’”…