Articles

“Shiny Side Up,” the first song on the Dirty Grass Players new album of the same name, is less an opening track than it is a grand statement of purpose.  With its David Grisman-esque feel, the 10-minute exploration boldly announces the arrival of the Dirty Grass Players latest album, Shiny Side Up, with an energetic-explosion…

Bluegrass Renaissance Man Photos by Madison Thorn  The small village of Pegram, Tennessee sits about 20 miles west of metropolitan Nashville on I-40. Take exit 192, drive north on McCrory Lane North, and turn left onto US 70 at Eddie’s Market. Drive west, and after the light at Hannah Ford Road is the Musical Heritage…

Obviously, bluegrass isn’t just Bela Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart at the Ryman or Sam Bush lording over his domain at Telluride. It’s also—and just as much—the elongated jams around a legendary family campsite at Bean Blossom, the impromptu pick-with-a-star jams in the SPGMA lobby, or your local bluegrass pals getting together for a jam.  …

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…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine October 1984, Volume 19, Number 4 Enon Baptist Church is located just a few miles from the Atlanta suburb of College Park on a winding stretch of highway known as Stonewall Tell Road. Across the road from the church is a cemetery, full of sculptured granite and marble monuments. One…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1978,  Volume 12, Number 7 The hills of North Carolina have been alive with the sound of music for hundreds of years. Some of the greatest musicians have their roots in these hills, with two of those being banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Doc Watson. Ironically, I recently…