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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…

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…

Kathy Kallick’s newest release is all about connections: between Kathy and her mom; between Kathy and her daughters; between older and younger musical generations; and between folk, old-time, and bluegrass musical styles. It is a double-CD set with the first disc featuring Kathy and friends on new studio recordings and the second featuring her mom…

“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…

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…

Q: I have a question that I have been looking to have answered for years. Most people agree that the “Salty Dog” is/was a road house/tavern/speak-easy. The song “Salty Dog Blues” is an old bluegrass favorite with more than one person claiming authorship. After some investigation I have determined that the likely author(s) are the…