Non-traditional Bluegrass

Non-traditional Bluegrass

About sixty years ago on July 25th,1965 Bob Dylan created a firestorm at the Newport Folk Festival. He introduced electric guitars to the music set and many people didn’t like it at all. Well Dylan survived the criticism about the changes in his musical direction over...
Losing Your Pick and Other Stuff

Losing Your Pick and Other Stuff

I lost my pick tonight while practicing. The pick fell into my instrument because it is a sin to grip the pick too tightly and I don’t like to sin. You get the best tone when your grip is loose and if you haven’t ever dropped a pick you have too much of a death grip...
Flood

Flood

Hurricane Helene dealt a devastating blow to the heartland of bluegrass and Appalachian mountain music last week. I grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and I remember well the devastation Hurricane Camille caused in 1969 when it pounded the mountains...
The Letter

The Letter

Technology has made so many things obsolete during the years of our industrial revolution. The traditional letter may be one of the next things on the list of obsolescence: If only I could hear just one little word From Mother and Daddy, my heart would fill with cheer...
World Bluegrass Day

World Bluegrass Day

Every October first, people celebrate World Bluegrass Day. It happens this Tuesday but unfortunately you don’t get the day off. Often the date coincides with the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival here in northern California so you might want to take the day off...