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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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Living In The South

Rebel Records Now based in Danville, Virginia, Starlett Boswell Austin and “Big” John Talley have become quite an impressive new pair of faces on the bluegrass scene. Having met in 2019, they soon found common ground and formed a band. On this new project for Rebel, Starlett (bass, vocals) and Big John (guitar, vocals) are…

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 Shiny Side Up

“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…

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Livin’ In A Song

This celebrated duo is amazingly tight, seamless, self-contained and has just about everything going for it.  Ickes, of course, is one of the all-time masters of the Dobro and has spent decades as one of Nashville’s most in-demand session players. The co-founder and long-time member of Blue Highway garnered enough awards over the years—including a…

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Me / And / Dad

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.  …

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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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