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Bluegrass Tracks
Andy Statman grew up in Queens on rock and roll music, took mandolin lessons from David Grisman, wanted his Jewish heritage to be a part of his art and his work is described on his website as “spontaneous American-roots music and personal, prayerful hasidic music, by way of avant-garde jazz.” So naturally, listeners would expect…
Lester Flatt
Bluegrass Original Photos from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine archives Some bluegrass enthusiasts like to argue about how and when bluegrass music, as we know it today, was founded and by whom. Some will say that it was founded and developed by Bill Monroe. There is certainly a good solid argument for that point of view. Regardless…
Collings’ Hill Country Guitars
Formally announced at this year’s IBMA, Collings’ Hill Country Series of guitars continues the company’s move to stretch the acoustic guitar envelope by re-instituting labor-intensive hand-building construction components. The product of more than 24 months of research and development (resulting in multiple prototypes for both the D and OM sizes), the Hill Country line is…
The New Sound of Bluegrass America
The story of one of America’s greatest bluegrass bands begins in Maine in the French-speaking home of Eric and Mildred LeBlanc. The LeBlanc family was of French-Canadian stock from New Brunswick, Canada, and they were a musical lot. Three of the LeBlanc sons were especially musical. Sometime around 1950, the family began using the Anglicized…
IBMA 2024
Musicians and Community Support One Another Photos by Ricky Davis 2024 was preordained to be a bittersweet IBMA year, like a high school graduation, throwing caps in the air, fully realizing that the World of Bluegrass landscape as we knew it was about to change. After 12 years in Raleigh—a period long enough to be a…
Shady Lane
Claw hammer banjo player Brad Kolodner has long been a spark plug on the old-timey-Celtic music scene. He’s toured and recorded extensively with his father, Ken, founder of the ground-breaking band Helicon. Brad is also a founder of the acoustic roots quintet Charm City Junction. For his latest outing, an all-instrumental collection of kick-up-your heels…