Articles

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine May 1975, Volume 9, Number 11 When bluegrass music was in the developmental stage some thirty years ago only five instruments were associated with the music. Those were the ones that appeared in the famous Bill Monroe band of that period—guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and bass. Somewhere along the line…

Although Bill Emerson joined the United States Navy at the end of May, 1973 to perform with the Navy’s bluegrass and country band Country Current, he did not completely cut himself off from the bluegrass world outside of the Navy.  Examining Emerson’s discography, it does appear that he focused primarily on his Navy duties between…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November, 1988  Volume 23, Number 5 On February 15, 1987, Blaine Sprouse, who has been hailed as one of bluegrass music’s finest fiddlers, made his last stage appearance as a member of the Osborne Brothers band, an event that brought to a close one of the many phases of a…

By the end of 1972, the Country Gentlemen—with Charlie Waller, Bill Emerson, Doyle Lawson, and Bill Yates—had become the most popular band in bluegrass music.  However, in early 1973 the US Navy proposed to Bill Emerson an offer that he could not refuse and he left the Country Gentlemen to join the Navy and become…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1993, Volume 28, Number 1 When Glen Duncan shares his views on the music industry, he speaks as a musician who has come full circle in the business that makes Nashville tick: music. As a child, he wanted nothing more than to become one of the “magic” musicians who…

If you’re one of the many who have stayed close to home during the COVID pandemic of 2020-21, here’s your chance to live vicariously through the adventures of Australian bluegrass radio broadcaster Jan Dale as she chronicles her American journey that took place over a period of six years in the 1990s. Her goal was…