Articles

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine September 1983, Volume 18, Number 3 The Sally Mountain Show’s stage presentation carries a great deal of visual appeal but its real story concerns the group’s refreshingly different sound, loaded with “punch” and vocal force that has to be heard to be appreciated. The raw power is supplied by 20-year-old…

Calling My Children Home At recording sessions in August 1977, the Country Gentlemen recorded their last album for the Rebel label before showing up at Sugar Hill Records. The album was a gospel collection, their second, and it featured Charlie Waller, Bill Yates, Doyle Lawson and James Bailey. The title of the album was Calling…

Although Sally Jones is fairly ubiquitous in the world of bluegrass music, this album travels a little off the beaten path. These recordings start in the earlier years of Sally Jones’s transatlantic tour with the Sidewinders, featuring Kristin Scott Benson on banjo, Mickey Harris on bass, and Brad Meinerding on mandolin. The rest of the…

Fifty-Seven Years on Stage and Still Going Strong When a writer for the Wall Street Journal reviewed Rhonda Vincent’s first Rounder release, Back Home Again (2000), proclaiming Vincent to be the “New Queen of Bluegrass,” that reviewer could not have predicted how long the “new” queen’s reign would last.  The music industry tends to be…

Dives Into No Fear You might think it would send shivers down the spine of a teenaged Maddie Dalton joining one of bluegrass music’s hottest acts, Sister Sadie, and that’s exactly what it did. On top of auditioning for the 3-time IBMA “Vocal Group of the Year” and making her Grand Ole Opry debut on…

Songwriter & So Much More North Carolina-born and raised, Jim Lauderdale has devoted his life to music. Not only is he a singer, he is a prolific songwriter. For his eleventh bluegrass album, he collaborated with the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. The Long and Lonesome Letting Go (2023) features twelve powerful bluegrass tunes that Jim Lauderdale co-wrote…