Articles

Jody Stecher has been around forever—or at least since the 1960s when he emerged from the remnants of the folk music revival.  On his latest album, a collaboration with the distinguished Boston-based string band Mile Twelve, he sounds better than ever. His warm, lived-in voice and his intriguing original songs bring to mind a West…

New Mexico’s Higher Ground Bluegrass is celebrating 25 years of music with this ninth project. The band was established in 1998 by Duke Weddington, banjo player and primary songwriter, and in the past the band has opened for such artists as Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Tim O’Brien, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Peter Rowan, and…

Originally from Michigan, Jeremy Rilko relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, after serving in the Air Force and graduating from Western Michigan University. It was while in the service and at college that he became enamored with bluegrass music. He has been a banjo player since he was 24, and was influenced by the likes of…

with Greg Cahill and Ben Wright To understand how bluegrass in Chicago has changed over the years, I had the pleasure of chatting with two of the best banjo players based in the city. I spoke with Ben Wright of the Henhouse Prowlers, a progressive-leaning bluegrass band with an international and educational focus entering its third…

Maryland’s Roger Cline has put together a nice collection of mostly original material on this new project of stories about bravery, courage, tenacity and about those who have it. He is joined here by a host of musicians including: Scott Freeman (mandolin), Debbie Durant & Tom Hensler (bass), Gary Hultman (resonator guitar), John Scott Walker…

Appalachian Reign was formed in 1975 by Washington, DC area musician Tom Knowles. Between 1976 and 1984 Knowles and the band played many of the DC area venues, clubs and festivals. This project is a retrospect of those years that Knowles had the band and the cuts are culled from cassette tapes of some of…