The Archives

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine May 1975, Volume 9, Number 11 When bluegrass music was in the developmental stage some thirty years ago only five instruments were associated with the music. Those were the ones that appeared in the famous Bill Monroe band of that period—guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and bass. Somewhere along the line…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November, 1988  Volume 23, Number 5 On February 15, 1987, Blaine Sprouse, who has been hailed as one of bluegrass music’s finest fiddlers, made his last stage appearance as a member of the Osborne Brothers band, an event that brought to a close one of the many phases of a…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1993, Volume 28, Number 1 When Glen Duncan shares his views on the music industry, he speaks as a musician who has come full circle in the business that makes Nashville tick: music. As a child, he wanted nothing more than to become one of the “magic” musicians who…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February, 1974—Volume 8, Number 8 “Right now, where would you get bluegrass records? Would you buy them in a rock store, or would you buy them in a country music store?” asks Tony Rice of J.D. Crowe and the New South. “Both.” “Right!” he continues. “You just don’t find bluegrass…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine December 1972, Volume 7, Number 6 The remarkable entry of young and talented musicians into the ranks of professional bluegrass in the last few years has been marked by progressively larger and larger steps away from the traditional roots from which the music has grown. This is a natural and…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 2016, Volume 51, Number 2 Just one day before Dr. Ralph Stanley passed on June 23, 2016, musician Lucy Cochran posted the now-famous video of Stanley singing “Pretty Polly” with Patty Loveless and the Clinch Mountain Boys on Facebook. Cochran is an excellent fiddler whom I first saw play…