Articles

On their latest, Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers serve up a box of treats that seem destined to please old fans as well as new ones.  The album opens with the philosophical “Time Adds Up (If You’re Lucky)” (co-written by Missy Raines and Tim Stafford). Next up is “Something To Look Forward To” (Ronnie…

Why Carter Stanley Ranks as the No. 1 Bluegrass Songwriter Carter Stanley’s song “The Memory of Your Smile,” came on strong as Tracy Nelson picked songs for an upcoming 1972 album.  Blues-rock singer Nelson grew so committed to the bluegrass number that she brought in banjo king Earl Scruggs and A-level fiddler Vassar Clements for…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1989, Volume 24, Number 2 In October, 1988, Banjo Newsletter, the 5-string banjo magazine, celebrated fifteen years of continuous publication. That’s one magazine a month for fifteen years! That’s 180 magazines—all devoted to the 5-string banjo. “Surely,” you ask, “can there actually be that much to say about the…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine July 1995, Volume 30, Number 1 [Sixty Years Ago This Month — Bluegrass Unlimited ran a column for a number of years titled “Thirty Years Ago This Month.”  Now that we are in our sixtieth year of publication, we thought it would be fun to look back at some of…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1994, Volume 29, Number 2 Ralph Rinzler—one of the most influential figures in bluegrass, folk and old-time country music history—died on July 2,1994, at his home in Washington, D.C., after a lengthy illness. He was 59 years old. During an active life as a folklorist, promoter and musician, Rinzler…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine December 2008, Volume 43, Number 6 “It’s time for the uneasy listening portion of the evening, when bad things happen to good people.” Mike Henderson grins under the brim of his black cowboy hat and hits a bluesy lick on his Gibson mandolin, surveying the packed-to-the-walls Station Inn. Nashville’s bluegrass…