Louvin Brothers Part 3

Louvin Brothers Part 3

“THE CHRISTIAN LIFE”: SACRED SONGS OF THE LOUVIN BROTHERS.            Charlie and Ira Louvin’s music retained the identifying characteristics borrowed from shape-note singing and balladry that set them apart from their peers, and the brothers successfully created a...
People Get  Ready

People Get Ready

Now that things are opening up to a point where folks can get together and play music, and even play gigs, it feels nice to get back into the joyous work of music. Like most folks, I enjoy wide-open “anything goes” jams where solos and harmonies parts are doled out by...
Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Usually, at this time of year, we’d be on our way to the Strawberry Music Festival, or thinking ahead to Father’s Day Festival. Of course, those aren’t happening, but life definitely feels like it’s making its slow return after an absence. One thing that is changing...
Theory of Relativity

Theory of Relativity

“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.” ― Albert Einstein. Time is indeed relative as my pal pointed out.  Folks of a certain age become aware that time...
Louvin Brothers, part 2

Louvin Brothers, part 2

In the 2012 biography Satan Is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers, famed singer- songwriter Kris Kristofferson states “the legendary Louvin Brothers’ hauntingly beautiful Appalachian blood harmony is truly one of the treasures of American music”. In order to gain...
Jan Vincent – Bluegrass Webmaster and Historian

Jan Vincent – Bluegrass Webmaster and Historian

There wouldn’t be bluegrass without someone to play it, but there also wouldn’t be bluegrass without fans to hear it. Jan Vincent is a bluegrass fan who has made a difference. Her Jan’s World website (https://jansworld.net/) has collected and preserved the...
Live Music

Live Music

It’s so encouraging to see Patrick Campbell’s recent headline on the CBA pages: “Live Music is BACK!” Playing music with other people in the same space has attained the status of an endangered species for over a year now, and we can but hope and pray that things will...
The Grand Reopening

The Grand Reopening

Dare I say it? It looks (cautiously) like the pandemic is winding down. Things definitely seem to be getting better in California, but that’s a very general term.  I’m excited about the possibilities, but I’m mindful of how many people have been so affected by this...
The Pentatonic Scale

The Pentatonic Scale

Most bluegrass fans are familiar with Lester Flatt’s classic G run on the guitar.  We hear that run over and over from guitarists at every bluegrass festival and it never gets stale.  Most people play the G run by starting with the root G note and then sliding up from...