Articles

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1995, Volume 30, Number 2 There were a couple of directions we could have gone with this album,” says singer/songwriter Kathy Kallick of her current release, “Matters Of The Heart,” on Sugar Hill Records. “We could have done cover tunes, or we could have done a mixture [of covers…

The Widow of Earl’s Brother Horace, she was a Family Member for Many Decades Photos by Thomas Goldsmith Born April 15, 1925, Maida Greene arrived on this earth one year, three months, and nine days after her future brother-in-law Earl Eugene Scruggs, a notable champion of American music.  Maida knew the Scruggs family from elementary school…

A Look Back at Early Urban Bluegrass (Or, The Short But Lively Career of the Lonesome River Boys)  The Lonesome River Boys (not to be confused with the more modern Lonesome River Band) was a bluegrass group from the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area that was popular in the early and middle 1960s. Although largely unknown…

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…

Louisa Branscomb Marks 36 Years of Songwriting retreats March 2025 marked the 36th consecutive year of songwriting workshops, usually twice a year, hosted by veteran songwriter Louisa Branscomb. Louisa founded Woodsong Farm Songwriting Retreats in 1989, at her farm in Georgia, and continued to hold 2 to 4 retreats a year for the next 30…

Since his 2019 debut with the album North Country, Irish-born Danny Burns has received his share of accolades. He possesses a robust baritone and a deft songwriter’s eye and ear for emotional detail that lends itself well to his unique blend of Celtic, folk, country and bluegrass music. Burns’s new album features a pair of…