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IssueM Articles
In The West
The Horsenecks hail from the western Oregon area of Astoria. They are the duo of Gabrielle Macrae (fiddle, bass, banjo, harmonium, guitar, vocals) and Barry Southern (guitar, banjo, resonator guitar, vocals). This new project, their fourth, is a mix of mostly original tunes from Macrea along with a few from Southern. They are joined by…
Leave a Light On
[Editor’s Note: We ran this review in the September 2025, however, there were some inaccuracies in that review. Because of those inaccuracies, I decided to run the review again with corrections included. Our apologies to Volume Five for the previous inaccurate review.] Mississippi fiddle player Glen Harrell founded Volume Five in 2008, originally as a…
The John Reischman Banjo Book
In my opinion, John Reischman does everything that relates to playing the mandolin extremely well. His tone, timing, dynamics, phrasing…you name it, he does it at the level of mastery. A few other things that he can do extremely well—which proves to me that he is not only a phenomenal mandolin player, but also an…
Sis Draper returns in new concept album from Shawn Camp & Guy Clark
Sis Draper, one of the most beloved bluegrass song characters in recent years, has returned to tell us a little more about her life and music through a concept album co-written by Shawn Camp and Guy Clark, The Ghost of Sis Draper, released September 12 on the Truly Handmade Records label. Sis Draper was a…
Bluegrass Unlimited Celebrates the IBMA Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2025
Featuring The Bluegrass Cardinals, Hot Rize and Arnold Shultz Whenever I have interviewed bluegrass musicians who were born and raised west of the Mississippi River, not only do I tend to ask them about the bluegrass scene in their part of the world, I also ask them if they felt like they grew up far…
Mary Meyer
Now Touring with Molly Tuttle Molly Tuttle showed up at the ROMP Festival in June of 2025 with a new band (it was their fifth performance). The configuration of the band she traveled with during the previous few years, Golden Highway, included acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and upright bass. Her new band was a…