Articles

Bryan McDowell hails from western North Carolina, where he gained his skills as a fiddle player by studying under the wing of Arvil Freeman. Growing up, McDowell also enhanced his art by learning the mandolin and guitar. He also became quite an adept songwriter. Over the years, he has picked up a number of fiddler…

Grain Thief is a five-piece band located in Boston, Massachusetts, whose members include Patrick Mulroy (guitar, vocals), Zach Meyer (mandolin, vocals), Michael Harmon (bass, vocals), Tom Farrell (resonator guitar), and Alex Barstow (fiddle). Since forming, the group has performed throughout the country at festivals, concerts, and other events. Many of their songs were written while…

This is a band from Norway that started out in 2012 as a trio, with Magnus Wiik (banjo, resonator guitar, mandolin, vocals), Espen Bjarnar (guitar, mandolin, vocals), and Aksel Jensen (bass, vocals). They performed extensively around Scandinavia and Europe and became quite popular with their mix of jazz, bluegrass, and Americana.  In 2022, Siril Malmedal…

2025 IBMA Momentum Vocalist Ali Vance shows why that award was more than appropriate with the first track on the new album, a fierce gospel song that whispers and growls called “Heal These Hands”. The recording opens with the sound of tuning in a distant gospel radio show and incorporates some bits of preaching, sounds…

It had been a while since I heard something with vigor and style, until this humdinger landed on my lap. Hot off the press, The Seven comes to us from newgrass sensation, Fireside Collective. This group hails from beautiful Asheville, North Carolina, where these musicians have been shaped by the culture and artistic integrity of…

This West Coast band from the Tacoma, Washington area is made up of four musicians who come from a variety of backgrounds and who have formed together to produce their progressive sound based on bluegrass, but with modern touches of punk, jazz and folk. There is Luke Sumerfield, who is a pipe-organ maker with a…