Articles
IssueM Articles
Learning By Ear Course
Learning how to play a musical instrument by ear is a skill that is vital to your development as a musician in traditional genres of music. While reading music can also be a valuable skill, in most forms of traditional music—folk, old-time, bluegrass, Celtic, blues—the music is historically handed down aurally. Musicians who participate in…
RBR Entertainment Rises Like A Phoenix
A new record label launched by longtime songwriting collaborators Billy Droze and Chris Myers is turning heads in the bluegrass music industry. RBR Entertainment is churning out hits on bluegrass radio these days by an ever-growing roster of talented newcomers and established veterans. Droze is the label’s creative director and founder who produces projects at…
Dave Evans—The Voice of Traditional Bluegrass
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1981, Volume 15, Number 7 The song on the radio was barely audible over the din of our bluegrass party, but there was something unusual, something “extra lonesome” in the voice filtering through the room that made you stop and listen. The power and intensity were enough to impress…
The Special Consensus—Bluegrass, Chicago Style
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February 1979, Volume 13, Number 8 The room is long and dimly lit, the tables packed closely together. Family groups sit elbow-to-elbow facing the stage, which occupies the width of the narrow room. The loud hum of conversation is punctuated by the sound of children’s laughter and the scrape of…
Bill and Earl Bolick Remember the Blue Sky Boys
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1981, Volume 16, Number 3 Of the many mandolin-guitar groups of the thirties, none was of greater importance, in terms of tradition, than Bill and Earl Bolick, popularly known as ‘The Blue Sky Boys.’” So writes Bill C. Malone in his book, “Country Music U.S.A., A Fifty Year History.”…
Bob Paisley & the Southern Grass
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November 1983, Volume 18, Number 5 I got off the escalator at the third floor of the downtown Philadelphia department store, Strawbridge and Clothier, and turned the corner. As promised in the store’s ads, Bob Paisley was there along with most of the Southern Grass. The band was picking and…