The Artists

“Wha’d I Miss?” Photo by Lance Velarde Photography David Parmley gained a reputation as one of the strongest lead vocalists in bluegrass music while working with his father, Don Parmley, for many years in The Bluegrass Cardinals—and then later continuing with his own bands Continental Divide, followed by Cardinal Tradition.  Due to a health issue…

Two Decades  of Roads Traveled Edgar Loudermilk…Edgar Loudermilk…you might be thinking to yourself—I know I’ve heard that name but can’t quite place him.  (The Louvin Brothers’ real surname was Loudermilk, so perhaps that’s what you’re thinking.)  Often the case for band leaders is to start as sidemen in prominent bands.  Loudermilk stepped out in 2013…

 “I discovered bluegrass because of the banjo,” says banjo-picker Chris Pandolfi from the Grammy-Award winning Infamous Stringdusters.  “I got into playing the banjo because of Béla Fleck.  I was a Flecktone fan and really inspired by the music.  That is what led me to buy my first banjo and of course everything points back to…

Continuing the Scruggs Style Banjo Tradition Earl Scruggs helped define bluegrass music as we know it today and he originated the style of playing the five-string banjo that formed the foundation for banjo players in bluegrass music.  Many banjo players feel that there has been no one that has matched Earl’s mastery of this style,…

“I had no natural inclination towards music, beyond being drawn to the instrument through this one song that brought me in,”  explains banjo picker Mike Munford, the 2013 IBMA “Banjo Player of the Year,” about his discovery of the instrument that would change his life.  That one song was the Flatt & Scruggs’ classic, “Foggy…

Proud to Continue the Two-Century Tradition of Black Banjo Players When Bill Monroe was a young man, he befriended, played with and even did gigs with the Black guitarist Arnold Shultz. Shultz’s influence on Monroe is clear and obvious, and yet there is sadly no recording of the legendary guitarist. IBMA Hall of Famer Doc…