Best New Nashville
Moving forward, giving back. Teddy Gentry may be best known as one of the co-founding members and bass player of the legendary group Alabama. But if you ask those closest to him, both personally and professionally, they will tell you that Teddy is first and foremost a giver. After 30-plus years in the business, 150 industry awards, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and career sales topping 73 million records, Teddy could justifiably sit back and prop up his feet.... Read More
Mountain Fever Records
Mountain Fever Records • Mountain Fever Records in Willis, VA is nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Mark Hodges started Mountain Fever Records in 2008 as a local label in Willis. Mark is the CEO, Brandon Hodges, Vice President in charge of radio promotions, is also a mastering engineer, while Sammy Shelor, Vice President, works primarily in the studio with the artists. Mountain Fever Studios is a 72 Track Full Service Recording Studio.... Read More
Compass Record Group
Compass Records • Co-founded in 1994 by musicians Alison Brown and Garry West, Compass is a new breed of roots-music label: eclectic, sophisticated, and artist-friendly. Called “one of the greatest independent labels of the last decade” by Billboard Magazine, Compass Records has provided a thriving haven of creativity for artists and a reliable beacon of quality for music fans. Its 2006 acquisition of the Green Linnet catalog and the 2008 acquisition of the seminal... Read More
Rural Rhythm Records
Rural Rhythm Records • Rural Rhythm Country • Rural Rhythm Christian • Sage Brush Music Publishing • In 1955 Uncle Jim O’Neal started Rural Rhythm with a few dollars and lot of dreams. He knew he couldn’t produce all the bluegrass & old-time country records, so as he used to say he just “made the best of it”. Today, over 50 years later Rural Rhythm has produced and distributed hundreds of classic performances by many of the legends of bluegrass... Read More
Echoes of America: A History of the 5-String Banjo
Echoes of America: A History of the 5-String Banjo is a one hour documentary which deals with the history and music of the five string banjo and its transition from African slave banjo to classical instrument in the1800′s, It’s decline in the early 1900′s to its re- emergence (and re-invention) in the 1920′s and 1930′s and it’s continuing evolution to the instrument we know and love today. “Echoes of America" is an absolute must for... Read More
Pinecastle Records
Pinecastle Records • Created over sixty years ago by a proud Kentuckian named Bill Monroe, bluegrass music has grown from regional popularity to a worldwide phenomenon. Starting in the late 1930s, the world-famous Grand Ole Opry beamed Monroe’s high, lonesome sound, with its soaring vocals and dazzling fast-paced instrumentals, all over the United States. A new revolution in music was started and the tradition has thrived ever since. Today, bluegrass is heard more and... Read More
Mon River Ramblers
Artwork by Jessica Scott The Mon River Ramblers • WINNERS OF THE 2011 DelFest BAND COMPETITION • Concocting songs of love, whiskey, heartbreak, and everything in between, Pittsburgh, PA’s The Mon River Ramblers have gone from street corners to Telluride stages; all along the way creating their unique vision of bluegrass music. What started as late night pickin’ sessions around a dimly-lit candle and a robust bottle of whiskey soon blossomed into a five piece... Read More
John Hartford
John Hartford • John Hartford was many things in life, from steamboat captain, fiddle and banjo player, to hit songwriter, Grammy-winning artist, author, folklorist and father. Born John Cowan Harford on Dec. 30, 1937, in New York City, the Grammy-winning artist grew up in St. Louis, MO, with a love for two things: the Mississippi River and music, especially old-time music and bluegrass. Moreover, when it came to the latter, he brought new life to his genre of choice, influencing... Read More
Gentle On My Mind
"I went to see the movie Doctor Zhivago the night I wrote it. Everyone’s made a whole lot out of that. I know it gave me a feeling that caused me to start writing, but as far as saying it came from that, I don’t know. It just came from experience. While I was writing it, if I had any idea that was going to be a hit, it probably would have come out differently and it wouldn’t have been a hit. That just came real fast, a blaze, a blur." ~ John Hartford, ... Read More
Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy & The Cajun Country Revival
The Right Combination by Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country RevivalJesse Lége, Joel Savoy & The Cajun Country Revival • The Cajun Country Revival is putting the Country back in Cajun music. It’s well known that honky tonk and Cajun music share a past- the South is infamous for the musical cross-pollination that gave birth to some of the great American musical genres that exist today. There are Cajun songs that come from Country songs and there are Country... Read More
