Articles

East Kentucky-born Carl Bentley grew up singing in church in and around his hometown of McDowell. At age 10, he was given a Ralph Stanley album featuring Keith Whitley by his father, who was also a musician.  That was all it took. To this day, Bentley still wears the Stanley-Whitley influence, and wears it well….

Not much time passes before there’s a fresh musical salute to one or another of bluegrass’s founding figures. These tributes not only strengthen and reaffirm bluegrass’s crucial links to its past, they also seem to provide a subtle moral compass in terms of reinforcing the music’s integrity with each new generation of musicians. Along those…

Bluegrass music was thriving throughout every corner of downtown Owensboro, Kentucky with the inaugural Great American Bluegrass Jam.  Held on March 17th-19th, the bluegrass weekend concept evolved from the city’s effort to reinforce Owensboro as a destination for all bluegrass fans.  On Friday, things kicked off early at the Holiday Inn Riverfront as pickers were…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November 1982, Volume 17, Number 5 Norman Blake is as close to being a “star” as a musician can get in the field of old-time acoustic music. With the aid of a single-minded sense of where he wanted his music to go; and of dedicated hard work that would satisfy…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine April 1973, Volume 7, Number 10 Rual Yarbrough and the Dixiemen have had a long and very successful career. The group has included some of the finest musicians and undoubtly some of the nicest people in bluegrass music today. Rual Yarbrough was born Jan. 13, 1930 in Lawrence County (south…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1982, Volume 17, Number 1  He is popular with the people. He will talk to them for hours.” A bluegrass festival promoter is speaking. “He has alot of friends,” comments a popular bluegrass musician. “He’s a very versatile musician. He plays more instruments than most people know about.” So…