Articles

A former IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the year and national mandolin champion, Thomas Cassell has performed with everyone from Billy Strings and Jim Lauderdale to Missy Raines, Becky Buller and Bryan Sutton. His latest album, and follow-up to his 2028 instrumental collection Voyager reveals Cassell’s  impressive talents as both a singer and lyricist.  There’s a…

Much More Than “Mandolins and Beer” Photos by Doug Julian Over the course of the last five years, Daniel Patrick has made a name for himself in the mandolin world by hosting the very popular “Mandolins and Beer” podcast.  Having produced and published over 250 podcast episodes, he has interviewed most all of the top…

Mark Maggiolo is an accomplished musician who plays most of the bluegrass instruments at a professional level. He has played with touring bands and taught music to hundreds of students through the years, but is not a household name. Mark was born in 1957 and spent his early childhood on a dairy farm in New…

‘Me’ is Don Depoy and ‘Martha’ is Martha Hills and they are based in the town of Swoope, Virginia. Originally Martha Hills is from the coastal town of Belfast, Maine where she learned to love the area’s music. Around 1990, she heard live bluegrass and was strongly attracted to it. In 2000, Don Depoy met…

Photos by Elizabeth Harris Photography For the last 45 years Fret Mill Music (www.fretmill.com) has been a continual and stable presence in the Roanoke bluegrass music community. While the internet age now enables us to order anything from anywhere with the click of a button, finding a music shop that still encourages a hands-on approach…

Q – I have a question for you about Don Reno’s two cousins “Chuck” and “Jay” Haney. Are they still living? If not, any idea when they passed away? Apparently, there’s not much mentioned about them in bluegrass, at least not that I’m aware of . . . besides being on the early recordings of…