Articles
IssueM Articles
Bryan Sutton & Billy Strings
Two Masters of Flatpicking Join Forces Photos by Joshua Black Wilkins Years ago I wrote an article about Norman Blake and stated that if there were a Mt. Rushmore for flatpicking guitar, the players whose faces would be carved in that mountain would be Doc Watson, Clarence White, Dan Crary, Norman Blake and Tony Rice….
Hoke Jenkins—Pioneer Banjo Man
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1985, Volume 20, Number 3 Some great names in bluegrass picked under an old oak tree in Harris, North Carolina many years ago. Oren Jenkins, who still lives in this rural community, remembers summer nights when he, his brother Hoke and his uncle Dewitt “Snuffy” Jenkins were joined there…
It’s Been Nothing But Fun! — Hub Nitchie and Banjo Newsletter
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1989, Volume 24, Number 2 In October, 1988, Banjo Newsletter, the 5-string banjo magazine, celebrated fifteen years of continuous publication. That’s one magazine a month for fifteen years! That’s 180 magazines—all devoted to the 5-string banjo. “Surely,” you ask, “can there actually be that much to say about the…
Sixty Years Ago This Month
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1995, Volume 30, Number 1 [Sixty Years Ago This Month — Bluegrass Unlimited ran a column for a number of years titled “Thirty Years Ago This Month.” Now that we are in our sixtieth year of publication, we thought it would be fun to look back at some of…
Ralph Rinzler
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1994, Volume 29, Number 2 Ralph Rinzler—one of the most influential figures in bluegrass, folk and old-time country music history—died on July 2,1994, at his home in Washington, D.C., after a lengthy illness. He was 59 years old. During an active life as a folklorist, promoter and musician, Rinzler…
Blue Side of the Mountain—Steel Drivers Mine A Deeper Vein of Lonesome
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine December 2008, Volume 43, Number 6 “It’s time for the uneasy listening portion of the evening, when bad things happen to good people.” Mike Henderson grins under the brim of his black cowboy hat and hits a bluesy lick on his Gibson mandolin, surveying the packed-to-the-walls Station Inn. Nashville’s bluegrass…