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Drift

When the album kicks off with a tune entitled “Case of the Mundes,” you know the music is headed into an exploration and celebration of modern banjo sounds and when the other pickers include Sierra Hull, Bryan Sutton, Mike Bub, Justin Moses, and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, you know the music is going to fly.  Just when…

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Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival with its Epic Glamping Village in the lower left corner. The tents that look like yurts from the air. Photo by Alan R. Hamilton

Festival Innovation & Evolution

Written by Dale and Darcy Cahill Over the past thirty years of attending bluegrass festivals, Dale and I have witnessed festivals evolving beyond rough camping and one-stage events. Some of the innovations grew out of attendees’ suggestions and others from promoters trying new ways to attract larger audiences and add even a small amount of…

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Becky Buller Releases Songs That Sing Me

Songs That Sing Me, Becky Buller’s first covers album, puts a spin on the concept. Rather than simply her take on familiar favorites audiences already know by heart, she has compiled a collection of songs that have meant the most to her, songs that she says “sing me into being.” Some, in fact, have been…

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Way Back When

Let’s face it—Larry Sparks could cut an album where he sings the ingredient labels for Oreos, peanut butter, and his favorite barbecue rub, and bluegrass fans would set it on repeat and let it ride for an afternoon. And it would be good. And so Sparks, who doesn’t seem to desire to slow down, has…

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Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers at Bill Monroe’s Homecoming and Bluegrass Festival, Rosine Kentucky, September 1973. // Photo by Carl Fleischhauer

Larry Sparks

Way Back When  Pure as summer sunshine, Larry Sparks makes bluegrass like Mother Nature provides warmth. Sparks, in rarefied air among living bluegrass masters, offers blankets of comfort whenever he sings a song. So, make room for Way Back When Sparks’ latest album, released by Rebel Records on October 24, embraces nostalgia and bluegrass purity….

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Bluegrass Love Songs Volume One

From the vibrant bluegrass scene of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, comes Trish Imbrogno with five stellar tracks on a new EP. Imbrogno, trained as a classical bassist, expanded her musical world to include bluegrass and roots music and has become an in-demand, well-respected, in-the-pocket bassist playing with an array of top pickers.  Joining Trish, who plays bass…

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