The Tradition

“In a dreary Yankee prison where a rebel soldier lay.”  That is the opening line to the Charlie Moore classic “The Legend Of The Rebel Soldier,” which Moore had recorded on his 1974 Old Homestead release, The Fiddler. But it was the Country Gentlemen’s cover of the song a year earlier on their 1973 Rebel…

NOTES “I was pleasantly surprised to see that you mentioned and pictured Lacey Jenkins Daugherty, writer of ‘Beautiful Lost River Valley’ in the March 2021 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. Let me add to the story.  I used to own a Christmas tree farm in Hardy County, West Virginia. Friends there knew I was a bluegrass…

For over half a century, old-time/bluegrass music has connected the author with a wide variety of interesting and highly talented people, including autoworkers in Flint, Michigan, musicians in New Zealand, and Virginians transplanted to Detroit. The following is a selective appreciation. On the Fourth of July weekend in 1971, I attended Carlton Haney’s bluegrass festival…

Bluegrass has been beset with the recent passing of a number talented members of our community. In lieu of our regular “Notes and Queries” column, we use the space this month to honor their memories. Wayne Wendell Daniel February 14, 1929 – February 16, 2021 Wayne Wendell Daniel was a prolific author who specialized in…

Traveling the Hillbilly Highway On January 29, 2021, Smithsonian Folkways, the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution released “Readin’, Rightin’, Route 23.” The song is performed by Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, but was penned and made popular by Betsy Layne, Kentucky native Dwight Yoakum.  “Readin’, Rightin’, Route 23” is the first single from Industrial Strength Bluegrass…

Joe Mullins began to recognize the power of music to bridge traditions and create new communities while listening to his father Paul “Moon” Mullins, a radio broadcaster and accomplished fiddle player from Kentucky. Like so many people, the Mullins family found themselves in the Dayton/Cincinnati, Ohio area as a result of the great Appalachian out-migration…