Articles

Tim Stafford has a rather extraordinary resume.  He’s an alumnus of Alison Krauss’s Union Station. He’s a founding member and long-time guitarist with the eminently popular band, Blue Highway, and he’s recorded five solo albums along the way.  In the studio, he’s backed everyone from Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney to Tony Trischka and Larry…

Nashville musician and songwriter, Charles Butler (banjo, resonator guitar) has gathered together a nice cadre of fellow musicians to back him up on this new project of all-original material from Butler. He is joined on the various selections by Brandon Birkedahl (bass), Billy Conteras (fiddle), Ian Craft (fiddle), AJ Fox (mandolin), Geoff Henderson (bass), Jeremy…

University of Illinois Press Although not as well-known as the Southeastern United States, the Ozarks region of Missouri and Arkansas has long been a hotbed of fine old-time fiddling, folk ballad singing, and bluegrass music. One of the primary reasons that so many ballads and tunes from the Ozarks have been faithfully preserved over the…

Photos by Haley Gjertsen Mandolin whiz Ashby Frank who lays down the groove for progressive bluegrass group Mountain Heart has spent a quarter of a century recording and touring for other people. But in all that time he hasn’t used his abundance of talent as a singer/songwriter/instrumentalist to showcase his own music until now. His…

Ogden Heart is a family trio consisting of sister/brother Isabel and Evans Humphreys along with their mother, songwriter Kathryn Caine. Due to the lack of any liner notes (other than song titles), a search of the internet was made for their web site (below) where information about them was found. Isabel is the lead singer…

Coulee Creek features singer-songwriter Sarah Jackson and poet Rita Mae Reese. The group also includes Beth Becker (fiddle, cello), Michael James (resonator guitar), David Strudthoff (banjo), Tom Baker (guitar, bass), and Cori Vought (vocals). Guest artists are Brett Huus (harmonica), Terry Nirva (cajon), and Josh Rabie (mandolin). Most of them hail from the Wisconsin/Minnesota area…