Articles

Although Sally Jones is fairly ubiquitous in the world of bluegrass music, this album travels a little off the beaten path. These recordings start in the earlier years of Sally Jones’s transatlantic tour with the Sidewinders, featuring Kristin Scott Benson on banjo, Mickey Harris on bass, and Brad Meinerding on mandolin. The rest of the…

Annick Odom, lead singer and principal songwriter of this trio—named after a wild flower that proliferates in Appalachian West Virginia—grew up in two cultures and spend her formative years in both West Virginia and the Netherlands, where she formed this band.  Sweet Joe Pye currently divides its time between Europe and the Morgantown, West Virginia,…

Even early in his life, John Cowan’s vocal talents surprised and impressed those who heard him. As Cowan, now 70, recalls in his memoir Hold To A Dream, it was the cute sister of one of his friends telling him—“You sing really good!”—that scotched his interest in playing football and motivated him to give his…

Bluegrass Radio Show Hits the 50 Year Mark While various areas of the Appalachian region are considered the main hotbed for bluegrass music, there are other faraway parts of the U.S. where the music is appreciated and thrives. One excellent example of this is Orin Friesen’s bluegrass radio show, which has been broadcast from Kansas…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1991, Volume 26, Number 2 New grass, bluegrass-fusion, country-rock, new-country, super- picker. All these terms and more have been used to describe or explain the new breed of hot pickers such as Jerry Douglas. They are usually in their late ’20s or early ’30s. Their parents were born in…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine October 1976, Volume 11, Number 4 Bluegrass banjo’s ever-widening popularity, both here and in Europe, has been greatly broadened through the innovative efforts of one 29 year old native of Norman, Oklahoma, Alan Munde. As an integral component of The Country Gazette for almost five years now, Al has more…