Articles

Reprinted From Bluegrass Unlimited MagazineApril 1983—Volume 17, Number 10 The Larry Sparks story begins September 25, 1947, in Lebanon, Ohio, just across the Kentucky line. Larry is the youngest of nine children of Eva and Charlie Sparks; all the children played guitar at least a little, and his grandfather Lewison Dose Russell was an old-time…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited MagazineNovember 1976, Volume 11, Number 5 Not since the introduction “Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and All The Foggy Mountain Boys” last rolled off the tongue of announcer T. Tommy Cutrer has the name of a bluegrass band been longer or more talked about than “The Boys From Indiana with Paul Mullins…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited MagazineJanuary 1969, Volume 3, Number 7 This article came about largely as a result of my efforts to clarify some points raised by L. Mayne Smith in his article “An Introduction to Bluegrass” (reprinted in BU Volume 1, Numbers 3-6; JEMF Reprint Series number 6). BU readers will find many of…

Daisy Caire It’s inspiring and heartwarming to encounter a young emerging talent like Northern Californian Daisy Caire. This 16-year-old is not just an enchanting singer and songwriter; she’s a fine fiddle player and guitar flatpicker to boot. Caire possesses a lovely sense of innocence and playfulness that’s simply irresistible. It comes through clearly in both…

Justin and Sierra aren’t quite sure when their first meeting was. She had seen him play at local festivals with Kentucky Wind. He remembers meeting her at an IBMA convention one year. After years of friendship and Justin filling in with Sierra’s band on various instruments, somewhere along the way their friendship began to blossom…

Video Instruction for the 21st Century If you are a banjo, mandolin, or guitar player and spend any amount of time on YouTube, you will know about Banjo Ben Clark.  Ben was one of the first instructors to start teaching video lessons via YouTube and he has grown those humble beginnings into a bluegrass instruction…