The Tradition

A Short— But Brilliant— Bluegrass Career Don Bryant’s experience playing bluegrass in the mid-1950s would be the envy of any professional bluegrass musician.  In the span of just a few short years, Don performed with Benny and Vallie Cain, Bill Harrell, Mac Wiseman, and then for nearly three months he subbed for Earl Scruggs with…

Queries: Q – “Who is Carl E. Hoffman, who wrote ‘Ice Covered Birches,’ recorded by Cliff Waldron and the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys?  It’s a great song, IMO, and rather unusual. It is more complex than most traditional bluegrass songs. The 3/4 time, the powerfully descriptive imagery, the unusual subject matter (there aren’t many Alaskan bluegrass…

Queries Q: I heard a song “Hills of Jackson County” on the radio recently. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch name of the group. Can you help? DC, via email A: The name of the group is The Bluegrass Thoroughbreds. The song you heard was the title track from their debut album which came out in 1978….

I Believe In Truth But Not In Spite Photo by Doc Hamilton Sonny Osborne started writing a monthly Banjo Newsletter column, “Keep On The Sonny Side” in October 1977 and, by my unofficial count, he wrote 36 columns. Sonny would talk the column onto a tape and then editor Hub Nitchie would transcribe it. (Which…

Remembered by his Older Brother Bobby and his Friends in the Bluegrass World The first signs that bluegrass legend Sonny Osborne was in real trouble came with the announcement that he had experienced a stroke in late August of 2021. The reality of what was to come was further solidified when it was announced that…

Hugging The Hound Clyde Mattocks has a lifetime of stories. He remembers seeing Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys play 20-minute shows between cowboy films at his hometown theater.  He’s shared the stage with Ervin Rouse, composer of iconic “Orange Blossom Special.” Barely out of high school, Mattocks played the TV-and-schoolhouse circuit in both Carolinas. He…