Articles
IssueM Articles
Highways and Heartaches—How Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and the Children of The New South Saved the Soul of Country Music
Hachette Books, 2023 Most avid bluegrass music fans are familiar with the similar trajectories of the careers of Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stuart. Both Skaggs and Stuart started performing at a young age with first generation bluegrass legends—Skaggs with Ralph Stanley, Stuart with Lester Flatt. They then both entered the journeyman phase of their careers…
Your Love For Me Is Gold
PATUXENT CDD-361 McGeehan is best known as the bassist for the south-central Pennsylvania band “Serene Green.” Now stepping out on his own, McGeehan (bass & vocals) has gathered together an impressive group of musicians for this new project. They include Chris Luquette (guitar), Ellery Marshall (banjo), Brett Kretzer (mandolin), Alex Hargreaves (fiddle), Jack Devereux (fiddle),…
Roses
Mountain Fever MFR230310 From Vancouver, British Columbia comes this award-winning new group which consists of Tianna Lefebvre (lead vocals), Mike Sanyshyn (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Charlie Frie (bass, vocals), and Eric Reed (guitar, banjo). Guests include John Reischman (mandolin), Jeff Scroggins (banjo), and Michael Kilby (resonator guitar). Only together for a short time, the band has…
Roger Sprung
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1969, Volume 3, Number7 Roger Sprung is 38 years old, tall dark and handsome. He is reminiscent of a Gregory Peck type in appearance. Shy soft spoken and friendly. When I met him in 1950, he had already learned all of the banjo styles that were popular. Frailing, Scruggs…
Good Ol’ Persons
Photos by Gene Tortora Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine October 1984, Volume 19, Number 4 “I’m sorry, but when it comes to singing bluegrass, most women just can’t cut it.” “Women bluegrass musicians are such wimpy players.” “If God had intended women to play bluegrass, He would have created “Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass…
Jim & Jesse—Testing the Boundaries of Bluegrass Music (With A Little Help From Charlie Louvin)
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1982, Volume 17, Number 3 It is one of the great ironies of bluegrass music that one of its most consistently popular acts has also been consistently stepping outside the bluegrass mainstream. Throughout their career Jim and Jesse have stretched the definition of this music, have experimented with arrangements…