Articles

Jerry Salley can best be described as a songwriter’s songwriter. Since 1982, Salley has written over 540 songs and has had them recorded by country artists such as Loretta Lynn, The Oak Ridge Boys, Chris Stapleton and Reba McEntire, and bluegrass artists like the Osborne Brothers, Joe Mullins, IIIrd Tyme Out, Rhonda Vincent, Seldom Scene,…

Harry Carpenter “Junior” Sisk, who has been penning, playing and singing songs modeled in the truest fashion of traditional bluegrass music for many years, has brought us another great record. Known for his tremendous vocals and locomotive sound, Sisk is sure to please the diehard purist. His 2020 album Load the Wagon, won the IBMA…

That may be the understatement of the year, when assessing the ways which Tony Trischka has been spreading the Gospel of Scruggs in the 100th year of Earl’s birth. Not only was Tony an integral part behind-the-scenes of the new exhibit Born of the Broad River: The Life and Career of Earl Scruggs in His…

Photos by Jeromie Stephens Franklin Delano Roosevelt “Frank” Wakefield (June 26, 1934 – April 26, 2024) was an “authentic certified musical genius. He is the only man to build a complete, original mandolin style on the Monroe base.” Columnist Bill Vernon made that assessment in the pages of Muleskinner News magazine in 1972 when he…

The past academic year has been marked by top-shelf performance experiences for members of Belmont University Bluegrass Ensemble. On April 9, the group made their debut on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, an ultimate musician’s bucket list item. Ryan Joseph, director of the ensemble and coordinator of strings at the university, has played…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1987, Volume 21, Number 7 His shoulders are braced back, at the ready, and his sharp eyes peer keenly forward, like a dedicated lifelong explorer who knows with certainty that his greatest discoveries lie just ahead. The muse that adrenalizes his creative genius is a restless one (“I don’t…