The Archives

The Shenandoah Cutups:  Classic Bluegrass From A Newer Group

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine December 1976, Volume 11, Number 6 To those who appreciate most the superb classic bluegrass music of the late 1940s and early 1950s as exemplified by Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, early Flatt and Scruggs, Reno and Smiley or the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, few current groups arouse as much esteem…

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On The Hallelujah Turnpike With the Lewis Family

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine June 1980, Volume 14, Number 2 The streets of Lincolnton, Georgia, a small community in eastern middle Georgia, were dark and quiet one recent Sunday about 3 a.m. as the large, silver and green touring bus brought The Lewis Family, bluegrass-gospel music singing group, home from Friday and Saturday appearances…

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Dave Evans—The Voice of Traditional Bluegrass

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1981, Volume 15, Number 7  The song on the radio was barely audible over the din of our bluegrass party, but there was something unusual, something “extra lonesome” in the voice filtering through the room that made you stop and listen. The power and intensity were enough to impress…

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The Special Consensus—Bluegrass, Chicago Style

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February 1979, Volume 13, Number 8 The room is long and dimly lit, the tables packed closely together. Family groups sit elbow-to-elbow facing the stage, which occupies the width of the narrow room. The loud hum of conversation is punctuated by the sound of children’s laughter and the scrape of…

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Bill and Earl Bolick Remember the Blue Sky Boys

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1981, Volume 16, Number 3  Of the many mandolin-guitar groups of the thirties, none was of greater importance, in terms of tradition, than Bill and Earl Bolick, popularly known as ‘The Blue Sky Boys.’” So writes Bill C. Malone in his book, “Country Music U.S.A., A Fifty Year History.”…

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Bob Paisley & the Southern Grass

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November 1983, Volume 18, Number 5  I got off the escalator at the third floor of the downtown Philadelphia department store, Strawbridge and Clothier, and turned the corner. As promised in the store’s ads, Bob Paisley was there along with most of the Southern Grass. The band was picking and…

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