Articles
IssueM Articles
Beacons
Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg the husband and wife duo known as Nefesh Mountain have sent a love letter of hope and possibility to the world with their new album. The release is a double disc set of songs that exemplify the old adage of “Three Chords And The Truth” and while there may be…
John Reischman Mandolin Transcription Books
If there was a bluegrass mandolin hall of fame, there is no doubt that John Reischman would have a plaque on the wall. He is not only an extremely innovative player, but his clean notes, rich tone, fluidity and expert use of dynamics are what every serious mandolin player strives to achieve. He has set…
Remembering the Ash Grove
A Year-Round Folk Festival If Hollywood was the place to be, the place to be in Hollywood was the Ash Grove coffeehouse. Between 1958 and 1973, the Ash Grove was, arguably, the premier music venue in the country when it came to presenting folk, bluegrass, old-time country, blues and other forms of traditional American music. John…
More Than A Tribute Band
One thing that fiddle player Betsy Heron, banjo player Gretchen Bowder, guitar player Whitney Roy and bass player Lindsay Lassonde have in common, is their love of Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerard’s music as well as a mutual respect for the women themselves. In March of 2020 when they began to enjoy casually getting together for an…
Remains To Be Scene
How does a band with a legendary status continue to live up to the mythology that inevitably grows and threatens to overshadow any new recording? The legendary Seldom Scene answer the question with their new album that positively glows with the same causal brilliance that has always been a hallmark of the group. The line…
The People and the Music—Bluegrass and Country, That Is!
Barbara Martin Stephens met Jimmy Martin in 1953 when Martin was working with Bill Monroe. She lived with Jimmy Martin from 1953 until 1966. Her story of that relationship was told in a book that the University of Illinois Press put out in 2017, titled Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler: My Life…