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The SteelDrivers Celebrate an Amazing Two Decades of Bluegrass
The story of the rise of The SteelDrivers is an impressive one. What famously started as a one-off bluegrass jam in a living room in Nashville turned into 20 years of great music and accolades at the highest levels of the music world. I distinctly remember the first time I heard about The SteelDrivers 18…
From Stages to Campgrounds
Old Settler’s Music Festival Sustains a Robust Community Photos by Steve Levine/stl.images The 38th Annual Old Settler’s Music Festival, happening this year over the final weekend in April, was not just the latest installment of the longest-running festival anywhere near Austin, Texas. It was not just an eclectic mix of beloved and outstanding “roots”…
Price of Admission
The Turnpike Troubadours are possibly the most famous band that many people have never heard of. That’s a shame.\ They’re not exactly bluegrass, although they’ve covered John Hartford. They’re not exactly country, but they’ve covered Alabama. They’re not really folk, but they have covered John Prine. And while all those covers are strong fresh takes,…
Elijah Doty
Sound Guy And So Much More Elijah Doty is a 23-year-old Illinois boy who is “living the dream” according to his Facebook intro. He loves God, country and bluegrass music, horses, and emergency management. In the bluegrass community, he is primarily known as a sound technician and multi-instrumentalist. However, Doty also serves his community as a…
How Did We Do It
Graham Sharp is no stranger to bluegrass fans. For nearly a quarter century, he shared vocal duties with co-founder Woody Platt in one of the most successful groups of this century, the Steep Canyon Rangers. When Platt announced his departure, the band regrouped, added another distinctive voice in Aaron Burdett, and kept going. Sharp’s distinctive…
Way Down Upon the Suwannee River
Beth and Randy Judy’s nationally recognized music festivals have changed the lives of many and changed names from MagnoliaFest (held in October) and Suwannee SpringFest (held in March) to Suwannee Roots Revival and Suwannee Spring Reunion respectively. While I’ve always considered all four of these festivals to be one and the same, I used to…