Articles

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine June 1984, Volume 18, Number 12 Good as Gold and fine as diamonds, worth its weight in waiting for …” The sounds that ring through the capacity-filled hall are familiar to the cheering fans. The sounds have been produced, recorded, and enjoyed for over 26 years. There have been several…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1986, Volume 20, Number 7  He’s rarely played in public over the past two decades, and he’s not on many records, but Porter Church remains among the most eloquent of five-string banjo players. I may as well say it: in my opinion, when it comes to “golden era” bluegrass…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1980, Volume 14, Number 7 The family band is a noble, long-standing tradition in bluegrass and traditional country music, extending back even further than the Carter Family, quite possibly as far back as the beginning of the string band itself. Today, the family unit is as strong as ever…

This here’s a mighty fine tribute to the legendary John Hartford. It is arranged and played by Chris Coole on banjo and John Showman on fiddle. The Canadian duo have picked twelve of their favorite Hartford tunes spanning over thirty years of his career, including cuts from Hartford’s Mark Twang, Aereo-Plain and Good Old Boys…

Tim Stafford and Thomm Jutz have delivered us a real gem here. Lost Voices is an album over a hundred years in the making, spun of tales that are distant, yet closely connected. It is a record that has traveled the land through mountains and heart worn highways of America. With the exception of the…

Kristin Scott Benson, long-time banjo player for The Grascals and five-time winner of the IBMA’s “Banjo Player of the Year” award, and Wayne Benson, long-time mandolin player for Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, have been married 22 years. Yet this is their very first album-length collaboration. To the Bensons’ credit, this is not a…