Articles

In 1975, John Cowan, the newest member and lead vocalist of New Grass Revival, a band that would come to forever alter people’s perception of an entire genre of American music, walked into the Doo Wop Shop in Louisville, Kentucky, picked up a 1962 Olympic White Fender Jazz bass and immediately fell in love with…

The 145s (one forty-fives) are four Chicago-area musicians who got together in 2022 when they decided to combine their love of bluegrass music and its various styles and form a band. Led by Andy Miller (mandolin), the group includes Laird Patten (banjo), Elizabeth Loring (bass), and John Huber (guitar). Also on this project are guest…

A Bluegrass Adventure This is a story about how a two groups of young people learning to play bluegrass music connected across 2,003 miles to share 13 banjos, 4 mandolins, 6 guitars, and 20 fiddles. In September 2024, immediately after the IBMA Business Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, the world was just beginning to hear…

written By Derek Halsey This past December, the news of the death of the great Texas singer and songwriter Joe Ely reminded the world once again of the previously little-known disease called Lewy Body Dementia. The bluegrass scene faced its Lewy Body Dementia moment when the news came out about two-and-a-half years ago that the…

At the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee in September of 2025, I ran across a mandolin builder from Kansas City named John Boyd who is building mandolins under his name. I tried out the Boyd F-style mandolin and was impressed with its playability and tone. I later asked Lauren Price Napier,…

Tim May and Steve Smith had met while teaching at Camp Bluegrass in 2012; a friendship was sparked that would ignite an enduring musical journey. Five albums and a slew of shows across the country have ensued in the following years, leading up to their latest duo album Hillsboro Bay Incident.  Like their predecessors such…