Developing Kid Musicians

One of the great opportunities we have as a result of our travels is seeing a wealth of young, promising bluegrass musicians in a variety of settings. Often we get to see children between the ages of eight or nine and mid-teens brought to the stage to perform with...

Devine Tension

(Editor’s Note: Those of us here at cbaontheweb.org-central miss our young colleague and thought it would be nice to dredge up one of his musings posted here a while back, so here goes….) Hey everybody! You have once again dipped yourself into the hot, bubbling sulfur...

Devine Tension

Hey everybody! You have once again dipped yourself into the hot, bubbling sulfur pit that is Bluegrass ‘n Stuff! You may have noticed that at the end of every Bluegrass ‘n Stuff, I usually give a preview of my next article. I’ve said I was going to show you how an...

Did You Hear What I Just Heard?

One of the very best things about bluegrass is the stories in the songs, and naturally, those stories are usually told by the lyrics. Most times, it’s pretty straightforward, but sometimes, credulity is challenged and occasionally entirely denied. Below are some...

Didn’t He Ramble?

The world of old-time music is mourning the loss of Tom Paley who died recently at the age of 89. A wonderful musician and an ambassador for old-time music, Tom was resident for long periods in the UK and Sweden, and died in Brighton, England, on September...

Different…Interesting….Wrong?

Dear readers, your devoted Wednesday Columnist was up too late at a local music venue last night, and could not activate the muse in time for this morning’s Welcome Message. With apologies, I offer this column from 2014.From time to time, bluegrass...

Different…Interesting….Wrong?

From time to time, bluegrass encounters some sounds that don’t fit the general definition of bluegrass. Let me clear – I’m talking about odd tonalities – not bad players. Aside from the “standard” bluegrass instrumentation of guitar, fiddle, mandolin,...

Different..interesting…wrong?

From time to time, bluegrass encounters some sounds that don’t fit the general definition of bluegrass. Let me clear – I’m talking about odd tonalities – not bad players. Aside from the “standard” bluegrass instrumentation of guitar, fiddle, mandolin,...

Dinner With Hitler

The guy was sitting on my right at the round oak table, along with seven other people (my relatives) who were serving themselves ample portions of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, and vegetables. Adolf had a closely cropped hair cut, that unmistakable weird...