Articles

April 5, 1959 It was on this date that the duo of Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs recorded one of the most iconic songs of their careers, “The Cabin on the Hill.” The 45-rpm single release has the distinction of being their longest-running chart success, remaining on Billboard magazine’s “Hot C & W Sides” for…

Old Time in the Big City If you haven’t visited Nashville in a while, let me warn you—things have changed. It used to be you could find a parking spot downtown if you were patient and were the praying kind. These days, I think the last open spot disappeared around 2021. In its place, we’ve…

A Fiddler You Should Know Mason Wright is a fiddler who can play many different styles, including classical, country, and bluegrass.  He’s been a member of several bands, from traditional to contemporary, and has a teaching workload as well.  He’s serious about his music but has a humorous side, as reported by several former bandmates. …

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 Will The Circle Be Unbroken Album In 1972, when I was a brand new teenager, my younger brother and I would do the goofy thing of getting my Mom vinyl music albums for Christmas that we really wanted ourselves. Why in the world would our Mom want an Eric Clapton…

Celebrates 60 Years  As the majority of bluegrass fans know, bluegrass music—as we know it today—was born the first time that Bill Monroe walked out on the Grand Ole Opry stage with Earl Scruggs as a member of his band in December of 1945.  Early in 1946, the “classic” bluegrass band—consisting of Bill Monroe, Chubby…

Photo by Joe Zauner Maggie’s Journal, based on “true life” stories (as Bill Monroe would say) from Valerie Smith’s great-grandmother, was released January 5, 2026. The 30-track double album is a testament to the survival and incredible resilience of an ordinary American woman from Missouri in the post-Civil War era. It’s also one of the…