Articles

For the past 20 years, this band has become true bluegrass ambassadors. They have traveled to 30 countries on 5 continents, bringing their love of bluegrass to many other cultures through concerts, workshops, seminars, and showcases. The current band consists of Ben Wright (banjo, vocals), Jon Goldfine (bass, vocals), Chris Dollar (guitar, vocals), and Jake…

The name T Bone Burnett may not be familiar to the general public, nor even to a sizable number of music fans, but he has had a remarkably influential presence in the country, blues, bluegrass, and rock music worlds for almost six decades. Born in 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Fort Worth,…

In 1975, John Cowan, the newest member and lead vocalist of New Grass Revival, a band that would come to forever alter people’s perception of an entire genre of American music, walked into the Doo Wop Shop in Louisville, Kentucky, picked up a 1962 Olympic White Fender Jazz bass and immediately fell in love with…

At the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee in September of 2025, I ran across a mandolin builder from Kansas City named John Boyd who is building mandolins under his name. I tried out the Boyd F-style mandolin and was impressed with its playability and tone. I later asked Lauren Price Napier,…

Twenty-five years passed between the first time I saw Bill Monroe play and the day I covered his funeral. In the interim, I had many chances to hear him perform, to meet and interview him, and to study his music. After I became a journalist, I also wrote many articles about Monroe, as well as…

Lathemtown is the name of the north Georgia rural community where artist Kurt Lee Wheeler was born and raised. It is where Wheeler taught himself the guitar and began making his own music as he grew. In the 80s, he joined the Air Force and expanded his musical influences. He took some time off from…