Articles

IssueM Articles

Live From Los Angeles

The band is the brain-child of Portland, Oregon native Kenny Feinstein, who spent the past 15 years putting this group together. His original band was the Water Tower Bucket Boys which then became the Water Tower String band. He moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and reformed into the current Water Tower, whose members are…

Read More »

The Infamous Stringdusters. // Photo by Alex Culbreth

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…

Read More »

Southern Sky

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…

Read More »

High Lonesome

Colorado and the Midwest have always been locations where bluegrass music has flourished. The bands from that area have based their sound on bluegrass but have also been known for pushing the edges of the music. High Lonesome is one of these newer groups that do just that. Founded in 2018 by guitarist Chuck Sitero,…

Read More »

Highfalutin Hillbilly

With their ten-gallon hats, rhinestone suits and boots, and high-energy, Jimmy Martin-style sass, there’s little understated about the Kody Norris Show.  The band’s new album, and third for Rebel Records, really captures the band’s high-energy, good-timey live vibe, which is shot through with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. This is exemplified by a delightful, rapid-fire cover…

Read More »

Kentucky Troubadour: The Rebel Collection

Don Rigsby has had a distinguished, if rather nomadic career over the four decades covered by this retrospective. He’s released a half dozen or so solo albums and been in and out of as many bands – J.D. Crowe, the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Lonesome River Band, Rock County, and Longview among them. This rock-solid song…

Read More »