Articles

High Fidelity Rebel Records REB-CD-1874 High Fidelity might be a fresh-faced looking group of young pickers and singers, but make no mistake — their sound is vintage bluegrass.  Banjo Player’s Blues, their third album, hits the mark with band’s title track hit, an old tune by Charlie Monroe. A close ear will note one variation:…

Trout Steak Revival Since a bunch of hippies first got together in 1974 and started the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Colorado had proved to be a fertile breeding ground for progressive-bluegrass bands. A multitude of forward thinking-groups including Hot Rize, Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, Elephant Revival, and countless others emerged from the Rocky Mountains. …

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine October 1977. Volume 12, Number 4 It was a hot September evening in Louisville, Kentucky seven years ago when I first met a skinny teenage guitar player named Tony Rice. He had just landed his first job with a full-time bluegrass band and was obviously totally immersed in music. Tony’s…

Although it’s taken him five albums to put out a project with the bluegrass arrangements to match, this is exactly what Sturgill Simpson has done on Cuttin’ Grass – Vol.1 and 2 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions).  Bluegrass music has long been a part of Simpson’s upbringing—something he credits to his paternal grandfather. However, it took…

A Perfect Fit Between Nashville and Baltimore “I wanted to help bridge the connection between Nashville and Baltimore,” explains fiddler Patrick McAvinue about his latest album, Perfect Fit released in 2019.  For many the relationship between the two cities might seem odd at first, but for Baltimore native McAvinue—who first cut his teeth as youngster…

If you look at any photo of Bill Monroe holding his mandolin taken between 1950 and 1980, you will notice that the company name, which usually graces the instrument’s headstock, is noticeably missing.  Most die-hard bluegrass fans will know that very early in the 1950s, Bill Monroe shipped his mandolin to the Gibson company for…