The Tradition

NOTES “In the December 2020 issue, you answered a query about the song ‘Mountain Laurel.’  One recent version is by Open Road on their Rounder album …In the Life.  They credit the Bailey Brothers as the source for their version.”  Stewart Evans, Santa Cruz, CA “Dick Spottswood is right, the song (‘The Martins and Coys’)…

NOTES In reference to a query in the November 2020 column concerning the song “When the Work’s All Done This Fall,” GC from Alexandria, Alabama, writes that “I had the song in my CD player as I read the question in ‘Notes and Queries.’ The song was also recorded by Norman Blake in 1991 on…

John Hartford Photo By Barrett S. Bacau It is a Monday afternoon in December of 2020 and the DJ on the excellent WNCW-FM radio station is in the middle of diverse set of music. One of the best listener-supported radio stations in the U.S., WNCW can be heard beaming from radio towers located throughout the…

Editor’s Note:  Our long-time Notes & Queries writer Walt Saunders, who is now 86 years old and has been involved with this magazine since 1967, was under the weather this month.  We have asked noted bluegrass musician, scholar, entertainer, and historian Gary Reid to step in this month to write the Notes & Queries column. …

The Legendary Pete Kuykendall Brought To Life By Peter Rowan When it comes to featuring artists who are honored at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, located in Owensboro, KY, our goal here at Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine is to look deeper than what you may read on their wall plaque. We will continue…

NOTES In the September 2020 column, there was a discussion of legendary fiddler John Ashby of Warrenton, Va., and the Ashby clan of Fauquier County. One member of the clan is J. Ashby Rollins, a singer and mandolin picker who worked with Charlie Smith’s Potomac Valley Boys. This writer saw the band a number of…