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I have spent many hours driving through the Southwest Virginia region. In recent years, that has meant traveling to the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention on the east side of this unique section of the commonwealth, or while on another journey, spending three days at the newly-created Blue Highway Fest in Big Stone Gap, which is…

Exploring Roots and Creating Culture at Common Ground on the Hill This is the story of a musician whose career path led him back to his roots to develop a music and arts community known as Common Ground on the Hill, where “the big tent of bluegrass” is welcoming. Walt Michael, whose peaceful outlook, and…

Over the weekend of March 28-30, 2024, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened up its newest exhibit—Jerry Garcia “A Bluegrass Journey” with a star-studded event that included many artists who had performed with Garcia over the years, including David Nelson, Peter Rowan, Eric Thompson, Pete Wernick and Maria Muldaur.   In addition…

Q: Chubby Collier played some awesome hardcore fiddle on several Charlie Bailey songs that I like extremely well. I believe he was from far southwest Virginia. I wonder if he recorded on more songs; I can’t think of any. Can you come up with anything about him? I’d love to learn as much as I…

Dierks Bentley Embraces Two Western Kentucky Traditions Photos by Zach Belcher Owensboro (Kentucky’s fourth largest city) is known as the culinary and cultural hub of western Kentucky due in large part to its extraordinary three B’s—Bluegrass, Bourbon and Barbecue.  As the birthplace of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and the home of the Bluegrass…

Bluegrass Music Loses Another Banjo Legend Photo by Dan Miller Benjamin Rolfe “Ben” Eldridge (August 15, 1938 – April 14, 2024) was a co-founder of the Seldom Scene and served as the group’s banjoist and longest-tenured member; he logged a total of 44 years with the band from 1971 until 2015. As an instrumentalist in what…