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IssueM Articles
Life’s Been Good
Based in the New York area, the band is led by Ed Krizni (guitar), and is joined on this project by Ron Trotta (banjo), Bill Turner (resonator guitar), Travis Wetzel (fiddle, mandolin), Alice Harmon (dulcimer), Larry Greybill (bass), Joe Fili (fiddle), and Justin Sitler (banjo, guitar). This release is a 2-CD 40-song collection of…
A Passion for Promoting
Nearly seventy-eight years after Earl Scruggs first joined Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise, and Howard Watts on stage at the Grand Ole Opry—and defined bluegrass music as we know it today—the music is still thriving. To a large extent, the continued success of the bluegrass genre is due to the hundreds of bluegrass festivals…
Learning By Ear Course
Learning how to play a musical instrument by ear is a skill that is vital to your development as a musician in traditional genres of music. While reading music can also be a valuable skill, in most forms of traditional music—folk, old-time, bluegrass, Celtic, blues—the music is historically handed down aurally. Musicians who participate in…
RBR Entertainment Rises Like A Phoenix
A new record label launched by longtime songwriting collaborators Billy Droze and Chris Myers is turning heads in the bluegrass music industry. RBR Entertainment is churning out hits on bluegrass radio these days by an ever-growing roster of talented newcomers and established veterans. Droze is the label’s creative director and founder who produces projects at…
Oh, Me Of Little Faith
In my continuous journey to find and highlight exceptional songwriting, I arrived this month on “Oh, Me Of Little Faith,” a song written for the contemporary Christian genre and successfully introduced to bluegrass fans by the husband-and-wife team of Wayne Benson (Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out) and Kristin Scott Benson (The Grascals) as part…
Aleyas Mandolins
A Gem From Coal Country’s Deep Heart Photo by Callie Thomas In today’s hyper-competitive custom luthier marketplace, excellence is only the price of admission for new mandolin builders. For an emerging luthier, getting noticed under the blinding luminescence of top-tier builders like Heiden, Kimble, Ellis, McClanahan and more means building instruments early in your career…