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Writing Songs One Idea at a Time Charles Humphrey III is equally adept playing bass guitar as he is casting a trout fly toward a school of rainbows on a winding mountain stream. But one could argue his true calling is writing songs for Songs from the Road Band (SFTRB), the Asheville-based bluegrass/jamgrass quintet he founded…

Celebrating the Crooked Miles Consider Laurie Lewis. She modestly calls herself a “California hippie girl fiddler.” She’s a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, a two-time winner of IBMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year and a two-time winner of the California Women’s Fiddle Championship. She’s performed on both the Grand Ole Opry and the Prairie Home Companion…

The Luck of The Draw Luck plays an uncomfortably large role in life. Though we like to think we have control over our fates, the truth is that a great number of events, actions and encounters are simply out of our hands. Sometimes, God will smile upon you and you will receive an opportunity that…

“I’ll Be True to the One I Love” – The Rest of the Story In the June 2001 “Notes & Queries,” Walt Saunders fielded a question from a reader who was seeking the title of a song for which they recalled only a verse of lyric. The song was identified as “I’ll Be True to…

Donna Ulisse is an award-winning singer-songwriter who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She was influenced by the bluegrass sounds of the Stanley Brothers, and spent time in the Clinch Mountains of Virginia and other areas, learning the source of those sounds of the music that she has come to love. Her songs have brought her renown,…

Missy Raines grew up in the northeastern corner of West Virginia near the Pennsylvania and Maryland borders. She came of age listening to and working the festival circuit with other performers from the greater Mid-Atlantic and Washington, D.C. Regions. And she’s included some of them on her latest album. Danny Paisley, for instance, really tears…