Articles

“You can’t talk about women in country music, vocal styles, rhythm guitar styles . . . without also talking about Wilma Lee Cooper.” – Alice Gerrard in SING OUT! Aug 24, 1977 For more than 30 years, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper were among our nation’s premier country and bluegrass acts. Wilma Lee and Stoney…

Detroit’s  Miracle Mandolinist The muzzle of the .38 Special revolver looked as big as the mouth of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Six shots rang out and four bullets struck him right in the gut. Forty years later, Nolan Faulkner remembered that cold Michigan night – “Lucky for me, he was a bad shot!”  Faulkner’s near-death experience…

The Teenager Who Filled In for Earl Imagine that you are a high school kid who has learned how to play the banjo.  It is the mid-1950s and Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys are one of the hottest, tightest bluegrass bands in the country. You learned how to play the banjo because…

Notes In response to the July “Notes & Queries” piece on West Virginia fiddler Woody Simmons, we received the following note from UK-subscriber Frank Weston: “I have just received your July issue where Gary Reid replies to a question on Woody Simmons. He might like to know that just two weeks ago a short clip…

1971-8-26 Thursday—Day off I woke up at 10 am but went back to sleep.  Everybody else got up around 2 pm but I kept on sleeping.  Darn!  Finally I’m worn out and sick – headache, sore throat and my whole body is aching.  I managed to eat dinner a little.  Dick came over and discussed…

By Gary A. Henderson and Richard K. Spottswood Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine April 1968, Volume 2, Number 10 That Bill Emerson is currently just about the most skilled and respected banjo picker in the country will be disputed by few. Yet it will come as a surprise to many that his origins and background…