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IssueM Articles
Mike Clark Memorial Scholarship and the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Fest Help Bluegrass Students Achieve Their Dreams
Photos By Cassidy Wayant Photography In many parts of the country, the wonderful roots music genre known as bluegrass continues to flourish due to targeted efforts to keep the music alive and flowing into the future. In some states, it is the Junior Appalachians Musicians program that facilitates the teaching of over 1,000 students in…
Daggomit
Max Wareham, who’s spent the last several years in Peter Rowan’s band, really knows his way around the banjo, as his debut album attests. Rowan produced Daggomit, and contributes generously, with several cowrites with Wareham and two lead vocals. Though Wareham only sings on a couple of tracks, including “Hard Times Are Far Behind” (cowritten with…
Jim Rooney
Photos and article by Jim Carrier Long after Jim Rooney is gone, the sounds of bluegrass that he recorded will remind us of the beauty of acoustic stringed instruments played with taste and subtlety. Not famous as a performer — although he was one, certainly — Rooney’s lasting contribution to bluegrass music is embedded…
Kelley Mandolins
Banjo Slayers Today, many small-shop mandolin builders produce what have come to be called “boutique mandolins.” The mandolins of one of those craftsmen, Thomas “Skip” Kelley, have been mentioned on the online blog, MandolinCafe.com in conversations with other high-end names. The website, Mando Mutt, is the exclusive dealer for Skip Kelley mandolins. Mando Mutt’s owner,…
A Fresh Look at Crockett’s Kentucky Mountaineers
The histories of old-time country music are pretty clear on the subject: everything important happened in the southeastern part of the U.S. Except it didn’t. The music was everywhere. In fact, one the most popular and celebrated old-time stringbands of the late 1920s and early 1930s came out of California. This band toured widely on…
Woody Platt
Brings The Culture of the Mountains of Western North Carolina to the World Photos By Bryce Lafoon Before Woody Platt officially left the Steep Canyon Rangers in 2022, some hard inter-band conversations had to happen. The Steep Canyon Rangers formed down in the Piedmont of North Carolina where everyone in the original lineup was in…