Articles

Mescalito Riding His White Horse: Insipred by The Musical Adventures of Peter Rowan is part Rowan biography, part author Mike Fiorito’s autobiography, part Peter Rowan interview, part Fiorito dream journal, part song lyric analysis, and part exploration of Buddhism.  All of that makes this book a fairly wild ride, but Fiorito is able to weave…

This ensemble from the hills of western North Carolina has a unique and exuberant groove that is, at once, musically sophisticated yet determinedly rustic. It tends to draw listeners right in. On Pretty Little Goat’s third album you can hear this distinctive sensibility on traditional numbers like “Uncle Joe/ Leather Britches” and “Fisher’s Hornpipe,” as…

Queries Q: When it comes to Clarence White’s guitars, it seems most of the attention is given (and not inappropriately so) to the iconic 1935 D-28 that ended up in Tony Rice’s hands. But, from what I’ve read, Clarence used the D-28 mostly for rhythm (perhaps owing to it not being set up very well)…

Classic Fiddler From the Early Days of Bluegrass I have recently been listening to some of my older bluegrass albums and kept hearing wonderful fiddle breaks and backup, particularly on the Emerson and Waldron albums. I knew that the fiddler was Bill Poffenberger but I didn’t know much about him. I remember meeting him at a…

Around jam session circles and festival campfires the conversation sometimes turns to bluegrass “conversion” stories. Among the baby boomer generation unless a bluegrass fan grew up in a family that played music at home, chances are good that the first time he or she heard the music was either Flatt & Scruggs on The Beverly…

Celebrating 15 Years of Bringing Western North Carolina Bluegrass to the World Photo By Caty Smith When it comes to the top tier of bands that have found success in this uniquely-American music genre we call bluegrass, the story of the rise of Balsam Range is tale of good things coming from an impromptu house jam,…