Articles

The Challenges of Running and Starting a Bluegrass Festival After over thirty years of attending bluegrass festivals, more than once we have heard the saying, “Friends don’t let friends start bluegrass festivals.” While it is meant playfully, we wondered if there is some truth in it and decided to look at the complexity of starting…

Two Decades  of Roads Traveled Edgar Loudermilk…Edgar Loudermilk…you might be thinking to yourself—I know I’ve heard that name but can’t quite place him.  (The Louvin Brothers’ real surname was Loudermilk, so perhaps that’s what you’re thinking.)  Often the case for band leaders is to start as sidemen in prominent bands.  Loudermilk stepped out in 2013…

This article provides an insight into Larry Prentis Rice and his mandolin, and contains anecdotal recollections about him from friends, family, and bandmates. As the oldest of the four Rice Brothers, and born into a musical family, Larry Rice wrote, played, recorded and produced memorable music. Born on April, 24, 1949 in Danville, Virginia, he…

This is Charlie Treat’s first foray into bluegrass, and with its austere, hard-charging guitar-banjo-bass-fiddle arrangements, it’s definitely very on-the-edge, and very compelling. As he explains in the accompanying press material, Treat has been steeped in traditional sounds since he was a kid growing up on a farm in New England, though along the way he’s…

Sessions, Volume 1 Formed over 16 years ago, this Chicago-based foursome have become true Bluegrass Ambassadors, having toured 25 countries, both on their own efforts and also as cultural representatives working with the US State Department. Tours include the US, Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, and others, where the band offers concerts, workshops, and teachings…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1984, Volume 19, Number 3 You’re as important in country music today as Roy Acuff was ten years ago.” Hank Williams was summing up his appreciation for Rose Maddox after a two hour conversation with her in a deserted Los Angeles night club. A few weeks later they were…