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Goes Deep into his  New 19-cut Album  My Bluegrass Heart Photos by Kevin Slick “I want the recording to sound like the musicians own that music, and not sound like they have just managed to get through it.” It was a bittersweet occasion when the news broke that Béla Fleck had recorded a follow up…

Longs For Return To Playing  Photos By Stacie Huckaba After four years of hard work, Grammy-nominated fiddler Mike Barnett was pumped to release his dream duets project when tragedy struck. Two days after celebrating his July 23 birthday last year, the now 31-year-old musician was cleaning house with his wife when he tried to tell…

Photos by Cindy Matheson At an age when most people have slowed down, 99-year-old Buckeye luthier and instrument repairman Jeff Littell rises by 7:30 and is at his well-equipped, dimly lit basement workbench after breakfast most days. His days fill with repairing double-basses, fixing all manner of bluegrass instruments, and even building a C.F. Martin…

“When COVID-19 hit, it was obvious things were going to slow down,” recalled Buddy Melton, lead singer and fiddler for repeat IBMA “Entertainer of the Year” Balsam Range. “We wanted to utilize our time and be positive.” Their May 2020 release of “The Richest Man” was one enduring result of their downtime. “Under the circumstances,…

And Her Passion  for Teaching Megan Lynch Chowning’s career as a contest champion and recording/performing artist would be the envy of any bluegrass fiddle player.  She is a seven-time national fiddle champion, six-time California state champion and has won one or more state championships in four other states. She spent four years touring with country…

On November 14, 1995, a Stelling Sunflower banjo—serial number 4356— began its journey from the Virginia factory to Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. Ten months later it was purchased by a banjo picker in Mill Valley, California who kept it for an indeterminate amount of time. At some point it came into the possession of my…