The Artists

When you visit your favorite venue or festival and watch the bands perform, you may often find yourself in awe of the talent of the musicians on stage and you can appreciate the years of hard work that it took for them to get to that place.  What you might not think about though is…

Living Large in Bluegrass Photo by Kim Brantley Bluegrass singer and songwriting ace Donna Ulisse is doing exactly what the title of her new album implies, Livin’ Large. The award-winning tunesmith has created an arsenal of bluegrass songs that other bluegrass artists have cut along with many that her critically-acclaimed voice has recorded. It’s a good…

Solitary Diamond Photo by Scott Simontacchi Solitary Diamond, the title of Laura Orshaw’s debut album, resonates on a number of levels. The words themselves come from a couple of songs from the project, but they refer to a concept, too. The songs on Solitary Diamond, she says, tell stories from different vantage points of those…

Color His Songs Red, White, And Blue And Emerald Green “Around 1990, [Rebel Records owner] Dave Freeman asked if I had any songs I’d like to send to Larry Sparks,” Ferguson recalls. “I sent ten songs. One day I received a letter from Larry Sparks. He said he liked about eight of those songs, and…

Celebrating 15 Years of Bringing Western North Carolina Bluegrass to the World Photo By Caty Smith When it comes to the top tier of bands that have found success in this uniquely-American music genre we call bluegrass, the story of the rise of Balsam Range is tale of good things coming from an impromptu house jam,…

There aren’t many people who have led a working bluegrass band for 50 years. Bill Monroe did it, with his Blue Grass Boys. Mac Martin did it in Pittsburgh, with his Dixie Travelers. And Butch Waller has done it in San Francisco, with High Country, an outstanding traditionally oriented bluegrass band now in its fifty-third…