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IssueM Articles

Mandolin Picking Tunes—Beautiful American Airs & Ballads

I’m going to have to start this review on a personal note.  The author of this book was a good friend of mine, who I worked with for twenty years in my job as the editor and publisher of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine.  I received this book in the mail from Mel Bay Publications and, about…

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Dede Wyland’s Online School of Voice

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…

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Close Enough To Hear

As the press material accompanying Mile Twelve’s third album explains, and as most listeners will agree, their music on their third album explodes and smolders with the urgency of trying to make up for lost time. The songs of this Boston-based “acoustic string band” (to use the band’s own description) makes no direct reference to…

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Mighty Poplar (left to right): Alex Hargreaves (fiddle), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), Andrew Marlin (mandolin), Greg Garrison (bass). Photo by Brian Carroll

Mighty Poplar

“I was sitting with my bluegrass ensemble I teach at CU Denver and we were listening to the Bluegrass Album Band,” says bassist Greg Garrison.  The Bluegrass Album Band was a 1980’s supergroup consisting of guitarist Tony Rice, banjo-picker J.D. Crowe, mandolinist Doyle Lawson, fiddler Bobby Hicks, and bassist Todd Philips.  The group was founded…

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Billy Blue Recording Artists Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers. // Photo by Stacie Huckeba

Billy Blue Records

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…

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Photo by Andrea Ball, Make Welcome Entertainment

Lori King

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…

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