Articles

Paul Van Vlodrop hails from Amsterdam in the Netherlands and over the years has become one of Europe’s well-known musicians and artists. He learned to play guitar at an early age, influenced by the popular music of the day by such as the Beatles, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Simon and Garfunkel, and others. Later he…

By Jody Stecher Beautiful and unusual instrumentation, rare points of view, and intricate, natural imagery come together to create “The Only Sunshine,” an atypical love song written by Jody Stecher and released in December 2023 on his album Mile 77.  The writer behind this powerful statement song has a musical career that spans decades and…

Michael Prewitt Special Consensus mandolin player Michael Prewitt grew up on an old tobacco farm in Whitley County, a 45-minute drive east of Somerset. It wasn’t until he left Eastern Kentucky for an English degree at grad school in North Dakota that he began to reexamine his bluegrass roots. “As far as making a conscious choice…

Pours his Heart Out on Stage “This is the boss of the family; she’s 17,” Dave Adkins explains as he introduces Lila Jean, one of his many canine friends. The Pikeville, Kentucky, singer/songwriter is definitely a huge animal lover. He can’t turn away those adorable pooch and cat faces and often fosters and adopts four-legged…

[Editor’s Note:  In our January, 2024 issue we ran an article about the new Earl Scruggs exhibit at the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina.  Part of that exhibit includes information from a 17,000 word document that Earl had written about his life.  In our previous article, we included a few excerpts from that…

The 86-year-old didn’t play music as a child, but picked it up a little later in life. In 1959, after a stint in the Navy, he came to Danville, Virginia, and decided to take up music in his spare time.  “Old friends that I went to school with were plunkers. I wanted to be a…