Articles

A great song can be deeply personal yet decidedly universal in its ability to touch listeners. “Patch of Blue,” written by Claire Lynch and released on her award-winning Dear Sister album (2013, Compass Records), is a case in point. It wasn’t a hit single. It isn’t the fastest, grassiest number on the album. Instead, it’s…

The ToneSlabs Story At some point in their musical life—after acquiring a basic chord vocabulary and conquering the down-up picking pattern—most mandolinists or guitarists who play with a pick begin to think about how a pick’s shape, thickness and composition contribute to the sound they want to create. It’s just another worrisome concern if you…

Teaching Millions to Play the Banjo You might look at the title of this article and think, “Are there really millions of people learning how to play the banjo?”  If you look at Jim Pankey’s YouTube channel and check out his “Learn To Play Bluegrass Banjo – Lesson 1,” you will see that this one…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine May 1994, Volume 28, Number 11 Sometimes the best way for a writer to tell an artist’s story is to tell as little as possible, instead politely getting out of the way and allowing the artist to put things in their own words. Such is the case with Claire Lynch….

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February 1985, Volume 19, Number 8  Ben Eldridge is not your “typical” banjo picker. He is not from the hills of Tennessee, did not quit high school to go on the road with Jimmy Martin, has not written a banjo instruction book, did not join a family band at the…

Reprinted From Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1986, Volume 20, Number 7 “Wide open” best describes the picking and singing style of the Lost & Found —one of southwest Virginia’s latest contributions to bluegrass music. Twelve years in the business seem to have taught the group several things. One is that planted-in-the-sod bluegrass lovers like their…