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Coulee Creek
Coulee Creek features singer-songwriter Sarah Jackson and poet Rita Mae Reese. The group also includes Beth Becker (fiddle, cello), Michael James (resonator guitar), David Strudthoff (banjo), Tom Baker (guitar, bass), and Cori Vought (vocals). Guest artists are Brett Huus (harmonica), Terry Nirva (cajon), and Josh Rabie (mandolin). Most of them hail from the Wisconsin/Minnesota area…
Ballad Hunting with Max Hunter – Stories of an Ozark Folksong Collector,
University of Illinois Press Although not as well-known as the Southeastern United States, the Ozarks region of Missouri and Arkansas has long been a hotbed of fine old-time fiddling, folk ballad singing, and bluegrass music. One of the primary reasons that so many ballads and tunes from the Ozarks have been faithfully preserved over the…
Bluegrass Friendships, Associations and Storytelling
Photo by Ed Henry When Bill Monroe reportedly said, “Bluegrass has brought more people together and made more friends than any music in the world,” he could have been describing the history of the Seven Mountains Bluegrass Association (SMBA), which is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year in York County, Pennsylvania. As Monroe’s quote continues,…
Kentucky Morning by Darrell Scott
Written by multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Darrell Scott (“You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,” “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive”), “Kentucky Morning” is a decidedly southern song that oozes family—and Kentuckian—pride. Scott has just released the song on his album Old Cane Back Rocker (August 2023). It was also released by the late, great Kentucky native…
Kentucky ROMP Bluegrass Festival Celebrates 20th Year
Traveling to a “bluegrass roots and branches” music festival in Kentucky is like ordering lobster at a restaurant in Maine or gumbo in Louisiana. Expectations are high. If they don’t know bluegrass music in Owensboro, Kentucky—less than 40 miles from Bill Monroe’s birthplace—then who does? And how could an event named “ROMP” (an acronym for…
Smoky Mountain Favorites
Mountain Fever MFR230200 In 2019, while Troy Boone and the late Aaron “Frosty” Foster were regularly performing at a local Tennessee distillery, they decided to put together an album project of the popular tunes they had been playing. However, it was near the end of these sessions that Foster passed away. Foster had played guitar,…