Articles

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…

Photos by Michael G. Stewart Dede Wyland should be a familiar name to long-time Bluegrass Unlimited subscribers. The first mention of Dede in this magazine occurred in our December 1978 issue when her Wisconsin-based band Grass, Food & Lodging was featured. Five year’s later, after she had moved to New York, Dede was pictured on…

Kathy Kallick’s newest release is all about connections: between Kathy and her mom; between Kathy and her daughters; between older and younger musical generations; and between folk, old-time, and bluegrass musical styles. It is a double-CD set with the first disc featuring Kathy and friends on new studio recordings and the second featuring her mom…

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…