Articles

It’s hard to imagine a bluegrass fan who has never heard of Pete “Dr. Banjo” Wernick. After all, he’s well known as the banjo player for longtime fan favorites Hot Rize. His 1974 instructional book, Bluegrass Banjo, has sold roughly a quarter-million (!) copies. He was the first president of the International Bluegrass Music Association…

Video Instruction for the 21st Century If you are a banjo, mandolin, or guitar player and spend any amount of time on YouTube, you will know about Banjo Ben Clark.  Ben was one of the first instructors to start teaching video lessons via YouTube and he has grown those humble beginnings into a bluegrass instruction…

Building Bluegrass Community  Music camps and workshops provide students with an opportunity to interact with, and learn directly from, professional musicians and music heroes. While at camp, students also have the opportunity to make new friends who share common interests and, of course, there is the jamming. It is learning via the total immersion method….

Picks and their various materials and shapes are debated endlessly in online instrument forums. One new entrant to that conversation is the Chris Thile Signature Mandolin Pick from D’Addario (#2CA7-01CT), which the bluegrass mandolin world has been giving a lot of positive chatter to lately. The standard triangle pick with rounded points is made from…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited MagazineSeptember 2006, Volume 41, Number 3 Bluegrass music legend Bobby Osborne could care less if he ever boards another plane, but he is willing to fly solo with his career. One of the industry’s most talented vocalists had the choice of staying grounded when his partner of more than half a…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited MagazineDecember, 1968. Volume 3, Number 6 Kenny Baker plays fiddle with Bill Monroe. He was a coal miner, a Country & Western fiddle man, and is a very articulate’ person with a lot to say. From Jenkins, Kentucky, he was born June 26, 1926. His family originally came from England and…