The Artists
The Lady of Tradition
Be Different, Stand Out & Work Your Butt Off Photo by Mickey Stroud Loyal to tradition, yet comfortable with innovation, North Carolina’s Lorraine Jordan might seem like a contradiction and you would be right. Those who know her best acknowledge that she is a total contradiction. Lorraine’s contradictory lifestyle has afforded her much success, earning…
Warren Blair
A 50-year career of the “Hired Gun” of Bluegrass and Country music Photo by Brian Auburn It has been an amazing ride for Warren Blair in the bluegrass world. Hailing from the Baltimore area, Blair’s career with a fiddle in his hand has seen him play with many bluegrass legends since his prowess on the…
Lovin’ of the Game
Photo by Amy Richmond Michael Cleveland is a well-recognized bluegrass fiddle master. Originally from Henryville, Indiana, Cleveland was born completely blind. Later, a childhood ear infection caused him to lose 80% of his hearing in his left ear and some in his right. Even with this diminishment in hearing, to paraphrase Vince Gill, Cleveland hears better…
Alison Brown
No Boundaries Photo by Russ Harrington She has been called a Renaissance woman and a trailblazer and Alison Brown’s groundbreaking accomplishments certainly live up to those claims. While she is widely known as a banjo player, calling her a banjo player is like calling Picasso just a painter. Over the course of her distinguished career,…
Walkin’ in My Shoes
Photo by Irene Young Maybe there really was something in the water in San Francisco back in the day. “The City,” as it’s called throughout northern California, is different from other American cities in countless ways: historically, culturally, politically, demographically and on and on. The poet Dylan Thomas once wrote, “You wouldn’t think that such…
What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?
Dodi Kallick, Kathy’s mother, was a prominent folk singer in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. Playing guitar and dulcimer to accompany her singing, she was among the handful of performers and enthusiasts who established Chicago as a folk music mecca at the time. She was an early instructor at the Old Town School of…