by Bert Daniel | Jul 18, 2021 | Welcome Column
Every musician who plays an acoustic instrument knows that some instruments sound a lot better than others. A really good musician can make any decently made instrument sing but the voice of an acoustic instrument crafted by an expert using the best tone woods...
by Bruce Campbell | Jul 14, 2021 | Welcome Column
I have a lifelong war with socks. I never wear matching socks – it’s a habit since adolescence, and that has made my tense relationship with socks (and shoes) a little better, but we’re still basically enemies. I have a LOT of socks, and at any given time, at...
by Marty Varner | Jul 12, 2021 | Welcome Column
In recent years, after seemingly leaving the traditional bluegrass scene, the Infamous Strindusters have made a conscious effort to show the traditional sound to a more diverse audience. Banjoist Chris Pandolfi of course created waves with his article introducing the...
by Bert Daniel | Jul 10, 2021 | Welcome Column
Many things attract our attention simply because they are so unusual. You have in your mind a preexisting concept of what is normal and then you see something that is so outside the box you don’t know how it could have possibly come to be. In the bluegrass world I...
by Bruce Campbell | Aug 11, 2021 | Welcome Column
Well, it happened again. I played a gig last weekend and it went really well. The band was tight, the audience was delighted (and they let us know, enthusiastically). I played well, and felt really good about myself. The next day, I saw another band play, and they...
by robin | Jul 1, 2021 | Welcome Column
Things happen that are out of your control and if you want to keep going, you have to be able to make the appropriate adjustments or accommodations. That’s great intro for a welcome column on a bluegrass web site… he says facetiously or as they say “says no one ever”...
by Patrick Campbell | Aug 24, 2021 | General News
If you like the “twang” of country music or the “whine” of blues, then you should thank the influence of Hawaiian musicians, specifically Joseph Kekuku, credited with inventing the slide guitar, and Sol Ho’opi’i, Frank Ferrera, Sam Ku West, and “King” Bennie Nawahi...
by Maggie Sokolik | Jun 24, 2021 | Interview, Welcome Column
If you don’t know Melissa Carper’s music, you really ought to. Her recent solo album, Daddy’s Country Gold, while not bluegrass, is the kind of traditional country that bluegrass fans will appreciate. Bass player Dennis Crouch produced this album, and plays on several...
by Bruce Campbell | Jun 23, 2021 | Welcome Column
Now that we’re gradually coming out of a period of isolation. It’s a good time to remember our manners as we re-enter public scenes. I’m thrilled to be out and about more, but I have witnessed some lapses in common courtesy, and wish to address it before things get...
by Bruce Campbell | Jun 16, 2021 | Welcome Column
In the mid 1960s, my parents decided to move to the suburbs. With 3 young kids, they wanted to move away from a crowded, foggy urban environment to a grassier, roomier spot in the nice, temperate Diablo Valley. Our new home was being built in a nice neighborhood and...
