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Lloyd Loar stands, like Mario Maccaferri and Gibson’s Ted McCarty and Leo Fender, as one of the foundational stringed instrument designers in recent history. His acoustic engineering advancements in Gibson’s mandolin family instruments in the 1920s created (inadvertently) the ultimate bluegrass mandolin design—the legendary F-5 played by everyone from Bill Monroe to Wyatt Ellis.   …

United States Arizona  Bluegrass on the Beach March 1-4, 2024 699 London Bridge Rd,  Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86403-4655 570-721-2760 www.bluegrassonthebeach.com Desert Bluegrass Festival  March 8-10, 2024 Gladden Farms Community Park 12205 N Tangerine Farms Rd. Marana, Arizona  www.desertbluegrass.org Dave Polston 520-245-6126 [email protected] Pickin’ in the Pines Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival September 13-15 Ft…

For thoroughbred racing, it’s the Kentucky Derby. Golf has the Masters. The greatest spectacle in racing? The Indianapolis 500. Traditional bluegrass? That’s Bean Blossom. Only a handful of bluegrass festivals have accomplished as much and lasted so long to have achieved first-name status among the bluegrass and old-time country faithful. Names like Galax, Winfield, Telluride….

This Owensboro, Kentucky-based band’s second album is one of those projects where all the pieces fall almost magically together. This owes to Kentucky Shine’s fine singing, playing and songwriting as well as their sure-handed grasp of the music’s thematic and instrumental traditions. Night Watch features two covers. One is a revival of the Osborne Brothers’…

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…

When it comes to the nearly all-original material on this Milwaukee-based band’s second album, the term youthful exuberance comes to mind. The MilBillies’ (that’s with a CAPITAL “B,” mind you!) music is shot through with humor, rowdiness, wild times and angst. There’s an almost punkish, hard-partying edge to some of the ragged vocals, frenetic playing…