Articles

Billy Swinson is a bluegrass artist that has been playing and writing music for a couple of decades and has now stepped up his game with his first solo project and the help of resophonic guitar player Randy Kohrs.  Swinson, a Florida resident, wrote eight of the ten tracks and contributes the mandolin breaks and…

Nashville musician and songwriter, Charles Butler (banjo, resonator guitar) has gathered together a nice cadre of fellow musicians to back him up on this new project of all-original material from Butler. He is joined on the various selections by Brandon Birkedahl (bass), Billy Conteras (fiddle), Ian Craft (fiddle), AJ Fox (mandolin), Geoff Henderson (bass), Jeremy…

Tim Stafford has a rather extraordinary resume.  He’s an alumnus of Alison Krauss’s Union Station. He’s a founding member and long-time guitarist with the eminently popular band, Blue Highway, and he’s recorded five solo albums along the way.  In the studio, he’s backed everyone from Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney to Tony Trischka and Larry…

Besides being one of the most gifted banjo players on the scene, as well as a polished composer, Alan Munde is also someone who apparently knows how to have a good time and share his upbeat vibes with others. Munde has said that “playing music is the most fun of all.” The genesis of his…

University of Illinois Press Although not as well-known as the Southeastern United States, the Ozarks region of Missouri and Arkansas has long been a hotbed of fine old-time fiddling, folk ballad singing, and bluegrass music. One of the primary reasons that so many ballads and tunes from the Ozarks have been faithfully preserved over the…

By Ivan M. Tribe and John W. Morris Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1980, Volume 14, Number 7 Between 1958 and 1968, Bill Napier established himself as one of the top musicians in bluegrass. Beginning as a sideman with the Stanley Brothers and then as half of the Moore and Napier team, Bill displayed…