Reviews

On their latest, Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers serve up a box of treats that seem destined to please old fans as well as new ones.  The album opens with the philosophical “Time Adds Up (If You’re Lucky)” (co-written by Missy Raines and Tim Stafford). Next up is “Something To Look Forward To” (Ronnie…

Since forming in 1978, the Italian group Red Wine has become one of Europe’s premier bluegrass bands. They have extensively performed not only in Europe, but also in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Austria, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, just to name a few, including the United States. Based in the city of Genoa, Italy, the current band…

In our May 2025 issue, we printed an article by Jack Bernhardt introducing us to a bit of the history of bluegrass gospel music.  Bernhardt, an anthropologist and journalist, researched the history of gospel bluegrass while preparing this new book, which focuses on the gospel bluegrass of Jerry and Tammy Sullivan, father and daughter bluegrass…

The Stillhouse Junkies have gone all out on their latest venture. It’s a sweeping and ambitious 20-plus-track concept album that’s been years in the making. Some of the material even predates the Junkies’ previous release, 2022’s Small Towns. The band’s founder, guitarist, principal songwriter, and singer Fred Kosak describes The Ballad of Charlie Avalon as…

Don Rigsby has had a distinguished, if rather nomadic career over the four decades covered by this retrospective. He’s released a half dozen or so solo albums and been in and out of as many bands – J.D. Crowe, the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Lonesome River Band, Rock County, and Longview among them. This rock-solid song…

With their ten-gallon hats, rhinestone suits and boots, and high-energy, Jimmy Martin-style sass, there’s little understated about the Kody Norris Show.  The band’s new album, and third for Rebel Records, really captures the band’s high-energy, good-timey live vibe, which is shot through with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. This is exemplified by a delightful, rapid-fire cover…