The Sound

Students attending Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) in Richmond, Kentucky can consider themselves extremely fortunate if they have any interest in learning to play bluegrass music.  Although the university does not have a bluegrass music degree program, they do offer a Bluegrass Ensemble course and the person who teaches that course is multi-instrumentalist and singer Pam…

The past academic year has been marked by top-shelf performance experiences for members of Belmont University Bluegrass Ensemble. On April 9, the group made their debut on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, an ultimate musician’s bucket list item. Ryan Joseph, director of the ensemble and coordinator of strings at the university, has played…

“I’m not a writer of songs,” said Pat Enright, 79, who, despite his declaration, was indeed the writer who penned the decidedly bluegrass song, “Who’s That Knocking At My Door,” first recorded by The Dreadful Snakes on the band’s only album, Snakes Alive! (1983, Rounder Records).  Humble to a fault perhaps, Enright’s “only” solo write…

A great song can be deeply personal yet decidedly universal in its ability to touch listeners. “Patch of Blue,” written by Claire Lynch and released on her award-winning Dear Sister album (2013, Compass Records), is a case in point. It wasn’t a hit single. It isn’t the fastest, grassiest number on the album. Instead, it’s…

Teaching Millions to Play the Banjo You might look at the title of this article and think, “Are there really millions of people learning how to play the banjo?”  If you look at Jim Pankey’s YouTube channel and check out his “Learn To Play Bluegrass Banjo – Lesson 1,” you will see that this one…

The ToneSlabs Story At some point in their musical life—after acquiring a basic chord vocabulary and conquering the down-up picking pattern—most mandolinists or guitarists who play with a pick begin to think about how a pick’s shape, thickness and composition contribute to the sound they want to create. It’s just another worrisome concern if you…