Articles

Despite being home to some of the best bluegrass musicians in the country and the site of some of the most important historical events, there aren’t many places to regularly see live bluegrass in Nashville. The Station Inn continues to be a bluegrass beacon and you can still hear bluegrass most weeks on the Opry…

Bluegrass has always tenbrooks’ed the fast and the powerful. Racehorses, big rigs, steam drills, sleek trains and burly freights cannonball through bluegrass standards. I’m sure there must be bluegrass from the ‘50s and ‘60s that mirrored the California car culture pop of Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys, but I can’t think of any…

From the depths of the winter season in Ontario, Canada, and created during the equally-bleak depths of the covid pandemic comes a wonderful album called Adeline.  Long story short, this is an all-star collaboration between musicians that normally play for other Canadian bluegrass and old-time bands. To further describe the atmosphere behind this recording, these…

Lori King and her husband Joe front this rustic and robust veteran band that’s based in Iowa and has been plying its craft on the midwestern bluegrass scene for years.  The Kings, veterans of the band Bluegrass Addiction, are both commanding vocalists and they get sure-footed backing from Kevin Amburgey (mandolin and vocals), Mark Hargrove…

 If you are learning to play the Dobro and are having trouble finding quality instruction, you need look no farther than Rob’s Reso Room.  Rob’s Reso Room is an internet-based teaching platform developed by fifteen-time IBMA “Dobro Player of the Year” Rob Ickes and his business partner Craig Spinney.   Launched two years ago, Rob’s…

While the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to live in-person music performances, it did spawn some great creative work.  A prime example is Grit & Polish, an album that veteran musicians Mark Schatz and Bryan McDowell recorded in Schatz’s basement. It was created without much in the way of overdubbing and transports the listener to…