The Artists

Photo by owens photography

Shelby Means

The Heartbeat of Golden Highway There is no doubt that Molly Tuttle is extremely talented.  This Grammy-winning artist has continually displayed the ability to write songs, sing and play lead and rhythm guitar with the best that bluegrass music has ever produced.  But, typically, those who reach the mountain’s peak are blessed with others who…

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The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band with Kenny Kosek, Sandy Rothman, John Kahn, David Nelson, and Jerry Garcia on October 31, 1987. Photo by Jay Blakesberg.

The High Lonesome Song of Jerry Garcia

Demigods don’t play the banjo. Scholars can point to a few lyre-playing immortals here and there in the pantheon, but that’s not picking the five-string, is it? And Earl Scruggs himself? Far too humble to make it in Valhalla. Yet some say there was a Buddha-like figure from the West, an ageless spirit with an…

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Broke Mountain (left to right) Robin Davis, Anders Beck, Travis Book, Andy Thorn (kneeling), Jon Stickley. Photo by Dylan Langille.

On The Fringe

Bands Blurring the Lines of Bluegrass “The cool thing about Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band is we thought we were something special,” says Anders Beck with a laugh, “but we were just five dumb kids.  Only time can tell if we were right or not.  I guess we were something pretty special though, because the bands…

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The Dirty Grass Players, (l to r) Ben Kolakowski, Connor Murray, Alex Berman, and Ryan Rogers play a sold-out album release show at the Recher Theatre in Maryland. // Photo by Liz Pappas (Barley Moon Photography)

On The Fringe

Bands Blurring the Lines of Bluegrass The idea of the grand voyager can invoke many images in your mind. It invokes the idea of travel, exploration, discovery and a journey. For Baltimore’s Dirty Grass Players it holds all those meanings and more. “Grand Voyager” is a track from their first album, Beneath the Woodpile. The track is…

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Andy Leftwich

Photo courtesy of Crossroads Label Group During the latter part of 2023, four-time Grammy-winning fiddler Andy Leftwich spent several of his nights at churches alongside his wife, Rachel, a talented vocalist and niece of his former boss, Ricky Skaggs. The couple and Leftwich’s award-winning band conveyed the spirit of Christmas with their annual show, “’Tis…

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Full Cord Bluegrass (left to right): Eric Langejans , Ricky Mier, Todd Kirchner, Brian Oberlin and Grant Flack. // Photo by Scott Simontacchi

Full Cord Bluegrass Cambium

With the release of Full Cord’s new album Cambium, fans may have to turn to the dictionary to learn that the title refers to the layers of plant cells that promote growth. But wordplay is nothing new to Full Cord, the Michigan-based bluegrass band. Their earlier EP was entitled Choreomania, a reference to the fit…

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