The Sound

At a recent concert, after her sound check, bluegrass veteran Murphy Henry heard music over the house speakers that stopped her in her tracks. Bewildered, she was hearing one of her original songs being sung by the Queen of Bluegrass Rhonda Vincent. Running through her mental bluegrass database, there was no notion found anywhere in…

“I open every set with it, just about,” said Irene Kelley of “You Don’t Run Across My Mind,” her song released in 2014 (Pennsylvania Coal) and cowritten by the late Peter Cooper. “It sets everything up well for me, ‘Here’s what I write, here’s how I sing.’ I do a lot of reminiscing, and this…

Builds Successful Bluegrass Label “If you build it, they will come.” That signature line from the 1989 sports fantasy film, Field of Dreams is part of the core philosophy behind Billy Blue Records, one of the most successful record labels in bluegrass music. Based just outside of Nashville, the company boasts a successful roster of…

Bluegrass Renaissance Man Photos by Madison Thorn  The small village of Pegram, Tennessee sits about 20 miles west of metropolitan Nashville on I-40. Take exit 192, drive north on McCrory Lane North, and turn left onto US 70 at Eddie’s Market. Drive west, and after the light at Hannah Ford Road is the Musical Heritage…

The Future of Tablature Photo by Ryan Leach Learning to read music outside of the realm of classical or jazz music on instruments such as guitar, mandolin, banjo and Dobro, more often than not, involves learning how to read tablature.  Tablature is a written notation where the lines on the page represent the strings of…

Deeply relatable in lyric yet firmly fun in its delivery, “Everybody’s Got a Line,” written by Chris Jones and recorded by Chris Jones and The Night Drivers (Make Each Second Last, 2021), is a standout relationship song in today’s endless sea of relationship songs.  Written early in 2021, the song became a milestone for Chris…