Articles

This new project is a continuation of the Tribute Band created in 2005 by Bill Yates, former Gentlemen bass player. The band at that time consisted of Yates, Mike Phipps, Darren Beachley and David Propst. This group produced an album in 2006 and toured around the mid-Atlantic area until Yates’s passing in 2015.  Now this…

The story of Tony Trischka’s Earl Scruggs tribute album sounds like the makings of a song itself.  During the pandemic, the banjo virtuoso received a package in the mail that contained a thumb drive. This wasn’t one with old photos or spreadsheets — it was recordings of Scruggs and John Hartford jamming, mostly made at…

Dan Levenson’s name will be well known to anyone who is familiar with old-time music, especially banjo and fiddle players. He is a performer, recording artist and educator. He has published instructional books, produced videos, written magazine articles and taught many workshops. If you are familiar with any of this previous work, you will know…

A Bluegrass Journey On March 28, 2024, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum opens its largest and most interactive temporary exhibition to date—Jerry Garcia:  A Bluegrass Journey.  The exhibition traces the bluegrass career of Jerry Garcia, a music icon known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead.  Born out of the counterculture…

The Long Strange Trip of Spud, Dawg, Red, Mule and Vassar Jerry Garcia’s burning ambition as a young musician was to play banjo in Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. He never made it, and had to satisfy himself with being the leader of one of the most successful and beloved bands in rock music, the…

On January 6, 2024, Earl Eugene Scruggs, the most influential and imitated banjo picker on the planet, would have turned 100 years old. To celebrate the occasion, Jerry Douglas served as musical director and assembled some of the best and brightest pickers in bluegrass for a magical three-and-a-half hour show in the historic Ryman Auditorium…