Articles

“I had no natural inclination towards music, beyond being drawn to the instrument through this one song that brought me in,”  explains banjo picker Mike Munford, the 2013 IBMA “Banjo Player of the Year,” about his discovery of the instrument that would change his life.  That one song was the Flatt & Scruggs’ classic, “Foggy…

The ProPik brand of finger and thumb picks that are used by banjo, Dobro, fingerstyle guitar, and autoharp players have been available for forty years.  The story of how the company got their start is an interesting one.  It begins in 1982 when a guitar-playing design engineer named Jim Mapson, who lived in Orange County,…

Finally Takes Place with Potential for the Future Intact The Earl Scruggs Festival has been in the works for years now, yet the pandemic reared its ugly head and the hard decision to postpone it for two years in a row was made. Many music festivals had to shut down for at least one year…

Photos by Kevin Slick “I think it’s the 50th anniversary of Rocky Grass and Craig Ferguson is always looking for ways to respect tradition while also welcoming new audiences,” says Nick Forster. “And he was just steadfast in his commitment. He just said, ‘Look…we have to have Hot Rize. We cannot do the 50th anniversary…

Charmaine Slaven and Charlie Beck met while exploring and promoting the old-time music and dance scene in the local Seattle, Washington Area. They continued in the manner for a few years and eventually resettled in the Brasstown, North Carolina area, and, along with daughter Hazel, they immersed themselves in the historic musical legacy of the…

Mark Whitt makes no bones about his love for playing and promoting traditional bluegrass music.  One need to look no further for the evidence of this Kentuckian’s desire to preserve the old time sound than his third album, Tennessee Moon. Whitt went into the vault to cover tunes from Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe and Carter…