The Archives
Jesse McReynolds—Rounds Eighty Years With Renewed Energy and Inspiration
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 2010, Volume 45, Number 1 Bluegrass Hall of Famer, National Heritage Award recipient and Grand Ole Opry star Jesse McReynolds celebrated 62 years in the music business and eighty years of life on July 9, 2009. Hundreds of friends, fans, and several former members of his Virginia Boys band…
Jesse McReynolds—The Next Chapter
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine June 2004, Volume 38, Number 12 When the career of the legendary bluegrass brother duo, Jim & Jesse, came to a halt after 55 amazing years with the death of Jim McReynolds on January 31, 2002, the bluegrass music community and Grand Ole Opry fans worldwide grieved over the death…
Roger Sprung
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1969, Volume 3, Number7 Roger Sprung is 38 years old, tall dark and handsome. He is reminiscent of a Gregory Peck type in appearance. Shy soft spoken and friendly. When I met him in 1950, he had already learned all of the banjo styles that were popular. Frailing, Scruggs…
Good Ol’ Persons
Photos by Gene Tortora Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine October 1984, Volume 19, Number 4 “I’m sorry, but when it comes to singing bluegrass, most women just can’t cut it.” “Women bluegrass musicians are such wimpy players.” “If God had intended women to play bluegrass, He would have created “Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass…
Jim & Jesse—Testing the Boundaries of Bluegrass Music (With A Little Help From Charlie Louvin)
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1982, Volume 17, Number 3 It is one of the great ironies of bluegrass music that one of its most consistently popular acts has also been consistently stepping outside the bluegrass mainstream. Throughout their career Jim and Jesse have stretched the definition of this music, have experimented with arrangements…
The Osborne Brothers
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July, 1984, Volume 19, Number 1 Bobby Osborne—Living Out The Legend, Outliving The Threat Bobby Osborne has a dream of making a movie someday, a story about bluegrass. “Maybe my own life story,” he suggests. In many ways, the Osborne Brothers’ story is the story of bluegrass. The events in…