The Tradition

Notes In response to a query in the August 2021 “Notes & Queries” concerning bluegrass artists who have received honorary doctorate degrees, Larry Stidom wrote that “I seem to remember Ricky Skaggs and Larry Cordle getting some kind of honorary degrees from Morehead State University. Maybe just recognition.” It turns out that Ricky Skaggs did,…

Photo by Jamie Alexander When Terry Woodward was inducted into the IBMA’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2018 his primary involvement in the world of bluegrass was listed as “Volunteer Leader.”  That is an understatement.  If you know anything about Terry’s involvement in bluegrass music over the past forty years, you know that bluegrass music…

At the 2021 IBMA Awards Show in Raleigh, NC, the Stoneman Family, Lynn Morris and Alison Krauss will be inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame with their plaques and memorabilia soon to grace the walls of the Bluegrass Hall of fame and Museum in Owensboro, KY.   The addition of the Stoneman Family marks…

Eli Miller’s Fender Banjo Eli Miller was born in Ohio to an Amish family of thirteen children.  In 1951, when Eli was ten, the family moved to the town of Catlett, Virginia.  Catlett is a small town not too far from Warrenton.  Eli didn’t listen to bluegrass music as a child because, being Amish, he…

Detroit’s  Miracle Mandolinist The muzzle of the .38 Special revolver looked as big as the mouth of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Six shots rang out and four bullets struck him right in the gut. Forty years later, Nolan Faulkner remembered that cold Michigan night – “Lucky for me, he was a bad shot!”  Faulkner’s near-death experience…

The Teenager Who Filled In for Earl Imagine that you are a high school kid who has learned how to play the banjo.  It is the mid-1950s and Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys are one of the hottest, tightest bluegrass bands in the country. You learned how to play the banjo because…