The Archives

By Mike Greenstein Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1977, Volume 12, Number 1 Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys live in Boston, far removed geographically from the nation’s major bluegrass belt. In style and philosophy, however, this quartet with heavy Yankee accents still speaks the language of the bluegrass mainstream. Unlike many…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1974, Volume 8, Number 7 The mailbox in front of the neat Fairfax, Va., home bears the name “Arnold Walter Ryan.” But in Jackson, Miss., Bean Blossom, Ind., and Nashville, Tenn., they know the man as “Buck Ryan — World Champion Fiddler.” “There’s only one thing as entertaining as…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine April 2001, Volume 35, Number 10 Alison Brown is a recent Grammy award winning banjo player whose work has ranged to include jazz fusion, worldbeat, and cutting edge acoustic folk. On her latest album “Fair Weather” (Compass 742822), Brown wanted to bring it all back home to the roots of…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February 1973, Volume 7, Number 8 It isn’t Smilin’Jim at all but actually Homer Robert, Jr. son of Bob Eanes a renowned old-time banjo picker from the small southwestern Virginia town of Mountain Valley. Mountain Valley is about fifteen miles from Martinsville in the heart of a circle of approximately…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1980, Volume 15, Number 2 It all started with mama. It seemed like she could make music on about anything with strings on it and some things that didn’t, like the french harp. There never was enough time for mama to play, what with raising six rambunctious sons. But…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine May 1993, Volume 27, Number 11 The creases around his eyes cast deeper shadows now and distinguished touches of gray highlight his beard. Gone is the skinny young man who was thrilled to have Byron Berline and Jethro Burns play on his solo album. In his place stands a mature,…