Articles

When it comes to bluegrass venues, Nashville has long been a barren desert. For years, the only full-time bluegrass venue was the revered Station Inn.  But in the past few years that has been slowly changing, due in part to a relatively new Nashville-based bluegrass band called, appropriately, East Nash Grass, as well as a…

Builds Successful Bluegrass Label “If you build it, they will come.” That signature line from the 1989 sports fantasy film, Field of Dreams is part of the core philosophy behind Billy Blue Records, one of the most successful record labels in bluegrass music. Based just outside of Nashville, the company boasts a successful roster of…

This celebrated duo is amazingly tight, seamless, self-contained and has just about everything going for it.  Ickes, of course, is one of the all-time masters of the Dobro and has spent decades as one of Nashville’s most in-demand session players. The co-founder and long-time member of Blue Highway garnered enough awards over the years—including a…

Obviously, bluegrass isn’t just Bela Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart at the Ryman or Sam Bush lording over his domain at Telluride. It’s also—and just as much—the elongated jams around a legendary family campsite at Bean Blossom, the impromptu pick-with-a-star jams in the SPGMA lobby, or your local bluegrass pals getting together for a jam.  …

“Shiny Side Up,” the first song on the Dirty Grass Players new album of the same name, is less an opening track than it is a grand statement of purpose.  With its David Grisman-esque feel, the 10-minute exploration boldly announces the arrival of the Dirty Grass Players latest album, Shiny Side Up, with an energetic-explosion…

Queen Bee of Iowa Bluegrass  Lori King, band leader of Lori King and Junction 63, has been a major force in bluegrass in Iowa for more than 20 years. She served as the executive director of the Bluegrass Music Association of Iowa for 11 years, she has produced a number of bluegrass festivals and regional package…