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40 Years of Picking Traditional Bluegrass For 40 years, the Five of a Kind bluegrass band has been entertaining audiences up and down the Northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Based in Strasburg, Virginia, the group’s personable and involve-the-audience approach to a traditional blend of bluegrass and classic country gathered a large following throughout the area….

Photos by Shelley Swanger Despite his lengthy career in music, veteran bluegrass artist Daryl Mosley had his doubts that people would recognize his individual talents.  “Even though I’ve been in bluegrass music professionally for 30 years, you never really know who knows who you are,” Mosley said. “I’ve always been part of a band. I…

Photos By Shelley Swanger Providing a combination of sales, repairs, rentals, workshops, performances, and musical fellowship, The Violin Shop has been the choice of Nashville’s finest fiddlers for over 30 years. Meeting the needs of four- (and even five-) string devotees from bluegrass to classical, Celtic to old-time, The Violin Shop (at 2504 8th Avenue…

Photos By Bud Osborne Modern bluegrass mandolin players differ in many ways from their predecessors. Emerging players are more open to non-conventional bluegrass instruments, such as the lightweight Nechville banjo or the thin-bodied Bourgeois Guitars Odyssey Dreadnought played on stage by Andy Falco. Even Monroe acolyte Andy Statman joined that trend several years ago when…

Nearly half a century ago the late Bob (1929-2019) and Jean (1929-2015) Cornett started Festival of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky.  It has become one of Kentucky’s most heralded bluegrass gatherings and it is championed around the world.  Over the years it has become as much of a bluegrass tradition as the genre itself.  Some…

By Tristan Scroggins In the introduction to his instructional book for mandolin, Old Time Fiddle Tune Favorites, Tristan Scroggins discusses an issue that many bluegrass players face when they attend a jam session and someone calls out an old-time fiddle tune.  Tristan writes, “I grew up playing bluegrass music so I was always intimidated when…