Articles

Stillhouse Junkies recently returned from a European tour—just a couple of years later than they had planned. Back in early March of 2020, they played a big release party for Calamity, the album they recorded in Austin in November 2019. They planned to leave for England in March 2020, with tickets bought, shows booked, and…

A Conversation with Darol Anger & Mike Fiorito After seeing him perform at the 2022 Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, I had the good fortune to chat with contemporary string music innovator and fiddler extraordinaire, Darol Anger, in July 2022. Anger has played with Republic of Strings, the Turtle Island String Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, Montreux,…

Queries Q: “In the early 1990s, I was a young man living in Richmond, Indiana, near the Ohio state line. Bluegrass music was nowhere on my radar until, by accident, I stumbled on the Oak Street Ramble broadcast on WMUB. The host, Jan McLaughlin, did an excellent job discussing the history and performers while introducing…

Life at 70 Means Honoring a Mentor and Friend From the Past Photo by Shelly Swanger When you reach your 70th birthday, as Sam Bush did in April of 2022, many of your best memories happened ‘half a century ago.’ About 50 years ago, Sam Bush was experiencing those heady times of the early 1970s, with…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February 1969, Volume 3, Number 8 The fiddle has always had an important part in bluegrass music but no one has given this instrument a more prominent place in his band than Bill Monroe. This featuring of the fiddle goes right back to Bill’s first band. When the Monroe Brothers…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine March 1968, Volume 2, Number 9 April 1968, Volume 2, Number 10 May 1968, Volume 2, Number 11 R.K.S.: This is August 9, 1967 – This is Dick Spottswood, I’m sitting here in my Takoma Park apartment. With me is Andrew Townend from England, Gail Swinburne my neighbor from Takoma…