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Distant Brothers

Gary Ferguson is a well-known and popular guitarist and songwriter based in the Pennsylvania-Maryland area. Colin Henry is a well-known and popular resonator-guitar player based in Ireland. Ferguson met Henry on one of Ferguson’s many Irish tours and the pair hit it off immediately, with Henry eventually joining Ferguson on some of the tours. As…

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Falling Forward

Vermont-based Lissa Schneckenburger is a master of New England folk music, the traditional niche which she has carved out. With her sweet, plaintive voice, fiddle wizardry and stirring original songs, she brings fresh life and immediacy to the genre. Like many inspired works of the past few years, Falling Forward was born out of the…

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Twin Sisters

Annie Staninec resides in Portland, Oregon, and began playing fiddle at a very young age. She has been a music teacher and performer and has toured a number of countries. She plays everything from bluegrass to rock and has played with such as David Grisman, Darol Anger and Rod Stewart. She is now a member…

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Water Tower // Photo by David k. Cupp

On The Fringe

Bands Blurring the Lines of Bluegrass “I tell people we are the tradition of bluegrass, the attitude of punk rock and the culture of hip hop,” explains Kenny Feinstein (singer, multi-instrumentalist) of Water Tower.  That declaration perfectly sums up the unconventional musical personality of Water Tower, a Los Angeles-based string-band that is keeping old-timey, traditional…

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Michael Prewitt // Photo by Alex Sutton

An Interview with Special Consensus Mandolinist 

Michael Prewitt Special Consensus mandolin player Michael Prewitt grew up on an old tobacco farm in Whitley County, a 45-minute drive east of Somerset. It wasn’t until he left Eastern Kentucky for an English degree at grad school in North Dakota that he began to reexamine his bluegrass roots. “As far as making a conscious choice…

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Mike Scott with his Sullivan Banjo at the Grand Ole Opry. // Photo by Brenda Scott

Mike Scott

50 YEARS OF BANJO You might call Mike Scott of Gallatin, Tennessee, a golden boy. Always smiling, always picking, the banjoist is celebrating 50 years of performance. This is his golden anniversary in the music business. “Fans can look forward to more songs, recordings and perhaps a book,” Scott relayed. A busy man, he definitely…

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