Articles

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…

Gena Britt, who brings a long, impressive resume to the recording studio — she’s a multi-IBMA winner with top-of-the-game Sister Sadie—steps out for highly regarded personal projects and is in demand for fill-ins and studio work. Her new project, Streets, Rivers, Dreams & Heartaches, adds yet another checkmark to that career that’s solid and fun…

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….

In the twenty tracks that make up Bloom Again, Allie Jean Burbrink plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, fiddle, and sings her way through a wonderful array of traditional and original music with a beautiful intimacy and honesty. This is all natural, honest-to-goodness back porch music.  For an album where one artist is doing all the…

Bandmates John Showman and Chris Coole have been digging deep into the old-time sound of fiddle and banjo for more than twenty years, and their traditional credentials have only increased over time. Anyone who has followed the band in recent years knows that they have never been content to stay in their lane, as it…

Reprinted from the Special Program Festival Schedule Edition, 1975 of Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine Which was reprinted from Western Pennsylvania Bluegrass Committee Newsletters. Used by permission Part I — Roots. Bluegrass and modern country-western music are different styles of music with the same basic roots: the traditional music of the Southern Mountains. This music came originally…