by Maggie Sokolik | Dec 24, 2021 | Welcome Column
If you’ve ever played or heard “New Camptown Races,” then you know the music of Frank Wakefield. He is known for playing with Red Allen as well as the Greenbriar Boys. Back in 1960, he offered private mandolin lessons; and his star pupil was none other than David...
by Patrick Campbell | Dec 16, 2021 | Announcements
MAKE MARK RUN! THE PITCH: You DON’T like running. You DO like music. And kids are, at times, likable. Finally there is a way to combine all three of these preferences and raise money for a great cause! READ ON! THE DEAL: CBA member Mark Peet is pledging to run...
by Bert Daniel | Dec 10, 2021 | Welcome Column
Bluegrass music is full of songs about the open road. These songs are among my personal favorites. They reflect the fact that we Americans are a very mobile people. We travel for many reasons and our songs mirror those reasons. We are fortunate that we have a...
by Bert Daniel | Dec 6, 2021 | Welcome Column
When I worked up north near Ukiah, my commute used to take an hour. That’s a lot of down time, in the car all by myself, with nothing else to do. Empty hours and larger fuel bills were two of the sacrifices my wife and I, commuting in opposite directions, had to make...
by Bert Daniel | Dec 3, 2021 | Welcome Column
If you been following along for the almost 8 years I’ve been inhabiting this space, you would know I’ve made a welcome column career sharing my views and tales regarding a number of areas and topics in my musical life that have caused me some level of frustration,...
by Patrick Campbell | Dec 9, 2021 | Uncategorized
I’m writing as a member of the IBMA Foundation’s Arnold Shultz Fund Committee to ask you to let your readers know about our work. The fund was established last year to support activities increasing participation of people of color in bluegrass music. Last...
by Patrick Campbell | Dec 2, 2021 | Bluegrass Musicians
Bill Keith and Earl Scruggs and their collaboration to create Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo (Peer International Corporation, New York. 1968). This book, a collaboration between Earl Scruggs, Bill Keith and Burt Brent, is the first serious and certainly...
by Bert Daniel | Nov 28, 2021 | Welcome Column
I was going through the newspaper a few years ago and I came across an article about how the east bay city of Albany relocated homeless people from a waterfront peninsula called the bulb in order to make way for a new park extension. A couple dozen or so of the last...
by Maggie Sokolik | Nov 26, 2021 | Bluegrass History, Welcome Column
Digging through the archives, I found this article by Lon Suiter, which appeared in the 1986 Bluegrass Breakdown. It presents an interesting slice of perhaps lesser-known bluegrass history. There is a lot of music referenced in this article, much of which is readily...
by Patrick Campbell | Nov 24, 2021 | Announcements
BLUEGRASS SIGNAL: What’s Goin’ On? Broadcast on www.KALW.org (91.7 FM) on Nov. 27, 2021, 5-6 pm (Pacific Time) Available on demand for one week via www.KALW.org/local-music-player (select ‘Bluegrass Signal’) First hour broadcast four times...
