The Artists

A Perfect Fit Between Nashville and Baltimore “I wanted to help bridge the connection between Nashville and Baltimore,” explains fiddler Patrick McAvinue about his latest album, Perfect Fit released in 2019.  For many the relationship between the two cities might seem odd at first, but for Baltimore native McAvinue—who first cut his teeth as youngster…

Before the Carter Family or Jimmie Rodgers ever stood in front of a microphone to record for Ralph Peer, another “hillbilly” artist had already solidly established himself.  Starting in 1924, Ernest Stoneman, the “Unsung Father of Country Music” had recorded a multitude of songs and had a hit record with his self-penned “Sinking of the…

Who is the big man in the white shirt, black slacks and two-tone shoes, crowned with a homburg hat? And is he really a pioneer and living legend of the bluegrass banjo? The answers are: Roger Sprung, and yes, yes indeed. Roger was a central figure in the Folk Music Revival of the 1950s and…

Pushing The Boundaries Of Bluegrass Photos By Scott Simontacchi A modern day pioneer consistently pushing the boundaries of bluegrass, Lindsay Lou‘s music is truly ahead of the times, but she isn’t the first in her family to push the limits. Lou’s “radical grandmother,” Nancy Timbrook, a hard-working mother of eight was working as a school…

Powerful Original Bluegrass Music Photos By Jason Myers For most of her life, eight-time IBMA award winner Becky Buller has been in a band, but she has been sidelined since mid-March when the pandemic forced the cancellation of shows.  “It’s been just awful,” the fiddler/vocalist said from her Manchester, TN home. “Things you probably wouldn’t…

Photo By Ben Bateson Tim Stafford was named IBMA Songwriter of the Year in 2014 and 2017, tapped for co-writing the IBMA Song of the year in 2008, and in 2020 has been again nominated for Song of the Year as co-writer (with Steve Gulley) of “Both Ends of the Train.” As guitarist for Blue…