Articles
IssueM Articles
A Quarter Century of Bluegrass Fiddling — Clarence “Tater” Tate
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November 1973, Volume 8, Number 5 Among bluegrass musicians, fiddlers have frequently achieved special attention. At a number of festivals in recent years fiddlers such as Tex Logan, Chubby Wise or Howdy Forrester make guest appearances and occasionally several fiddlers perform at once on stage. Not even the banjo —…
Notes & Queries – November 2024
Q – Did the Stanley Brothers, or Ralph Stanley for that matter, ever record with a Dobro? I’ve got just about everything the Stanley Brothers recorded, including the Rich-R-Tone stuff, the Columbia, Mercury, and King recordings. I don’t remember them recording with a Dobro. Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs pre-mid ‘50s, and Reno…
The Basic Goodness of J. W. Gallagher
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1979, Volume 14, Number 2 A couple of summers ago in Harris, North Carolina, guitar maker John William Gallagher sat on a board stretch across some concrete blocks for seating at a bluegrass festival and remarked, “I don’t play myself, but I take pleasure in others enjoying what I…
A Small Business With Big Impact
The old saying “good things come in small packages” rings true for Lowe Vintage Instrument Company in Burlington, North Carolina. The small store front located beside a photography studio and vintage vinyl record store in the historic downtown district appears neat, clean, and quiet from the outside, but it’s what’s on the inside that draws…
A New Era for Gallagher Guitars
Photos Courtesy of Gallagher Guitar Company Gallagher is a name that for nearly sixty years has been associated with finely crafted acoustic guitars. For nearly that same length of time, Gallagher Guitars has also been tied to one of the finest flatpicking guitar players to ever put a pick to strings—the legendary Doc Watson. The…
The Wayne Henderson Festival Ends After 30 Years
Henderson Reflects on Its Long Run Photos by Derek Halsey Southwest Virginia’s Wayne Henderson happens to be one of the most famous guitar builders in the world. He has also been one of the best fingerpick guitarists in the country for many years. And yet, for the majority of his amazing career, Henderson has lived…