Articles

[Editor’s Note: Two of our reviewers sent in reviews for this album. I decided to run them both.] Review #1 byMichael K. Brantley Readers of a certain age might remember an episode or two of The Beverly Hillbillies when the characters would pour Granny’s moonshine into the family truck, and it would take off like…

Nancy Cardwell is passing the baton for the IBMA Foundation. She has been a lifelong supporter, educator, and player of bluegrass music and is in no way losing her passion for the genre. After ten years, the IBMA Foundation Executive Director feels it is the right time for her to take another path in her…

Master of the 5-String Banjo Photo by Caty Smith Balsam Range banjo powerhouse Marc Pruett has spent 59 years gracing stages, playing bluegrass music. He has recorded and/or appeared in concert with Balsam Range, Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, James Monroe, Lester Flatt, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Tony Rice, Emmylou Harris, Mac Wiseman,…

University of Texas Press With the release of The Devil Is In It, guitar maven and author John Stubbings has created one of the definitive histories of the origins, evolution, and acceptance of the acoustic guitar and its rise to prominence in American music. Scholarly in its approach, but deeply readable and engaging, the book…

Photo by Joe Zauner Maggie’s Journal, based on “true life” stories (as Bill Monroe would say) from Valerie Smith’s great-grandmother, was released January 5, 2026. The 30-track double album is a testament to the survival and incredible resilience of an ordinary American woman from Missouri in the post-Civil War era. It’s also one of the…

Georgia family band Headin’ Home delivers an album of honest-to-goodness, all-natural, down-home music. Of course, with a family band, you expect the theme of home to be prominent, and that’s certainly the case here, although with a band that plays out as much as these folks do, home isn’t just a cabin on the hillside….