The Archives

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August, 1988, Volume 23, Number 2 If someone were to say “weary hearts” to you, you’d probably think that they were referring to a new romance novel or day-time soap opera. However, anyone familiar with bluegrass music knows of the song, “The Weary Heart You Stole Away,” recorded by the…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine April 1990, Volume 24, Number 10 It was a weekday night in late September of 1988, that Doyle Lawson called. Jim Mills remembers it well. “He said, ‘Would you be interested in playing banjo for me?’ I said, ‘I sure would.’ Jim thought to himself: This is it!” Ten days…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1983, Volume 18, Number 1 In the often imitative annals of bluegrass music, Frank Wakefield is an original. He is a living legend among mandolin players for his technical virtuosity. He is well known to bluegrass aficionados as the composer or co- composer of such songs as “Leave Well…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine May 1994, Volume 28, Number 11 Sometimes the best way for a writer to tell an artist’s story is to tell as little as possible, instead politely getting out of the way and allowing the artist to put things in their own words. Such is the case with Claire Lynch….

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February 1985, Volume 19, Number 8  Ben Eldridge is not your “typical” banjo picker. He is not from the hills of Tennessee, did not quit high school to go on the road with Jimmy Martin, has not written a banjo instruction book, did not join a family band at the…

Reprinted From Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1986, Volume 20, Number 7 “Wide open” best describes the picking and singing style of the Lost & Found —one of southwest Virginia’s latest contributions to bluegrass music. Twelve years in the business seem to have taught the group several things. One is that planted-in-the-sod bluegrass lovers like their…