The Sound

Steve Cooley and Béla Fleck // Photo Courtesy of Ashbourne Farms

Morehead State University Bluegrass Program Surprises Steve Cooley With a Scholarship With His Name On It

Steve Cooley is a veteran of the Louisville, Kentucky, bluegrass scene that has played with many of the greats of the genre over his extended music career. He was lucky enough to be around back in the days when Sam Bush was on the Louisville scene when J.D. Crowe still played the hotel bars in…

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Kenny and Amanda Smith. // Photo by madelenn tabor

Kenny & Amanda Smith

New Single Resurrects a Lost Classic Bluegrass Song By Richard Hefner  The great 1970s Song “Million Lonely Days” by the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys Becomes New Again The IBMA Award-winning duo of Kenny and Amanda Smith are no strangers to West Virginia. Amanda is a Mountain State native who was raised near Parkersburg. The husband…

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Photo By Michael George

Brittany Haas

The Newest Punch Brother For many reasons, bluegrass music is a unique genre amongst the various forms of music performed and recorded in the United States.  One reason is that a relatively high percentage of the fans of the music also play the music.  At any given bluegrass festival, the main reason many of the attendees…

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Photos Courtesy of Taylor Mullins

Holter Pickguards

The Pursuit of a Passion A decade ago Taylor Mullins decided to replace the pickguard on his treasured Takamine dreadnought.  Solving that seemingly simple problem subsequently immersed Taylor in a world of celluloid manufacturers, swirl patterning, adhesives, CNCs, and pickguard design – as well as marketing – that has coalesced into Holter Pickguards (www.holterpickguards.com).  “I…

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Thomm Jutz and Tim Stafford. // photo By Jefferson Ross

Thomm Jutz & Time Stafford

Talk About Their New Album Wall Dogs, and Give Us A Master’s Class in Songwriting For 30 years now, Tim Stafford has been a member of the world-class bluegrass band Blue Highway.  Tim has also become one of the best songwriters in the business, winning three International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Songwriter Of The Year…

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Kylie Kay Anderson

An American Mandolinist Living, Performing and Teaching in Europe Photoby Mark Evenhuis I found out about Kylie Kay Anderson—a young female mandolin player who originally comes from Utah but now lives in The Netherlands—through a  YouTube search.  Although I should have known about Kylie (more on that later), I had never heard of her before…

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