The Archives

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine May 1976, Volume 10, Number 11 As I sat in my car across the street from the Fifth String on North High Street in Columbus, Ohio, it occurred to me that bluegrass had come a long way there in the years since I’d left town. In the early sixties you…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 2000, Volume 35, Number 2 On a record that became a turning point for bluegrass, a particular Bryan Sutton solo likewise became a turning point for the brilliant young guitarist. The disc was Ricky Skaggs’ “Bluegrass Rules,” the CD that showed the world at large the immense vitality and…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1985, Volume 20, Number 3 Some great names in bluegrass picked under an old oak tree in Harris, North Carolina many years ago. Oren Jenkins, who still lives in this rural community, remembers summer nights when he, his brother Hoke and his uncle Dewitt “Snuffy” Jenkins were joined there…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1989, Volume 24, Number 2 In October, 1988, Banjo Newsletter, the 5-string banjo magazine, celebrated fifteen years of continuous publication. That’s one magazine a month for fifteen years! That’s 180 magazines—all devoted to the 5-string banjo. “Surely,” you ask, “can there actually be that much to say about the…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1995, Volume 30, Number 1 [Sixty Years Ago This Month — Bluegrass Unlimited ran a column for a number of years titled “Thirty Years Ago This Month.”  Now that we are in our sixtieth year of publication, we thought it would be fun to look back at some of…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1994, Volume 29, Number 2 Ralph Rinzler—one of the most influential figures in bluegrass, folk and old-time country music history—died on July 2,1994, at his home in Washington, D.C., after a lengthy illness. He was 59 years old. During an active life as a folklorist, promoter and musician, Rinzler…