Articles

Q: I love seeing the old black & white archival photos of bluegrass from the days of old. In the early 1980s, while living in Los Angeles, I met and befriended Marshall Freedland, and we shared our love of bluegrass music and artists. He told me he had a wealth of photos that he took,…

Twenty-five years passed between the first time I saw Bill Monroe play and the day I covered his funeral. In the interim, I had many chances to hear him perform, to meet and interview him, and to study his music. After I became a journalist, I also wrote many articles about Monroe, as well as…

written By Derek Halsey This past December, the news of the death of the great Texas singer and songwriter Joe Ely reminded the world once again of the previously little-known disease called Lewy Body Dementia. The bluegrass scene faced its Lewy Body Dementia moment when the news came out about two-and-a-half years ago that the…

In 1975, John Cowan, the newest member and lead vocalist of New Grass Revival, a band that would come to forever alter people’s perception of an entire genre of American music, walked into the Doo Wop Shop in Louisville, Kentucky, picked up a 1962 Olympic White Fender Jazz bass and immediately fell in love with…

Tim May and Steve Smith had met while teaching at Camp Bluegrass in 2012; a friendship was sparked that would ignite an enduring musical journey. Five albums and a slew of shows across the country have ensued in the following years, leading up to their latest duo album Hillsboro Bay Incident.  Like their predecessors such…

Jim Hurst would be the first to tell you his soon-to-be-released Travels & Time isn’t a pure bluegrass recording. The 13-cut disc that comes out in March features a colorful palette of country, jazz, blues, and bluegrass, taking listeners on a captivating emotional journey. That, of course, is reflective of Hurst’s musical travels. His resume…