Articles

Bluegrass is a genre of music that’s been evolving since it first came out of the oven.  The original recipe created by master chef Bill Monroe had five cornerstone ingredients:  mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo, and bass.  When Josh Graves joined Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1955, he introduced a…

Anyone who has followed Junior Sisk’s career knows what a wonderful traditional bluegrass singer he is. From Virginia’s Blue Ridge area, Sisk cites influences like the Stanley Brothers, Larry Sparks, Dave Evans, and The Johnson Mountain Boys. Sisk was the founder of the successful and award-winning Rambler’s Choice, and he was awarded SPBGMA’s 2017 “Male…

Volume Five is based in Mississippi and since 2008 has become quite a popular band with a unique approach to bluegrass music. The group on this new project consists of Patton Wages (banjo), Aaron Ramsey (mandolin, octave mandolin, bass), Jeff Partin (bass, resonator guitar), Jacob Burleson (guitar), and Glen Harrell (fiddle). Collectively the band has…

An American Treasure    Photos by Mike England   In this day and age of shake-and-bake stardom, reality television, and fifteen minutes of fame seekers it is comforting and refreshing to know that there are still authentic individuals out there diligently working at their craft and continuing to leave their mark and make a difference. …

Queries Q: I have a question about the photo of The Traveler album by the Country Gentlemen [Rebel SLP-1481, 1968]. According to my friends, the photo was taken in the Shenandoah River in 1968. I think this photo was modified later because it’s hard to believe that four big men with very expensive instruments would…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine February 1983, Volume 17, Number 8 As the decade of the 1960s dawned, at the peak of a rediscovery of American folk and mountain music, John Herald found himself at the forefront of the movement as part of the critically heralded group called The Greenbriar Boys. Now—with a revitalized band…