Warren Hellmann, Bluegrass & Philanthropy
Photo Credit • Winni Wintermeyer • The Wall Street Journal The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park is one of the greatest events I’ve ever experienced. It’s remarkable for so many reasons, chiefly in that it was and remains free to the public, a gift to the city of San Francisco and the nation by financier and philanthropist Warren Hellman,... Read More
Bluegrass – It’s not the music • Jon Weisberger
Bluegrass – It’s not the music • Jon Weisberger Thanks to recent conversations on- and off-line with a bunch of folks ranging from members of the IBMA’s Board of Directors to the Farewell Drifters‘ Zach Bevill, and prompted more immediately by Chris Pandolfi’s fine meditation on the state of bluegrass, I’ve been inspired to drag out... Read More
Blurring Lines • Ron Block
I don’t look at bluegrass as a religion. I have never been out to "spread the gospel of bluegrass." It is a great American music form. There are others which are great as well. I get people to listen to bluegrass. But I also played Bonnie Raitt for Sierra Hull on a road trip. Just yesterday I was talking to a young banjo player who listened to me and other... Read More
Bluegrass Traditions Share The Stage
Bluegrass Traditions Share The Stage in Lucketts, VA • Mike Ward • May 5, 2011 Bluegrass music fans in the northern tip of Virginia were treated to a double bill of the high, lonesome sound on Saturday, April 23 when the long running Lucketts Bluegrass series presented Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers and the Fitzmaurice band. Each group brought different bluegrass... Read More
New Labels Sprouting in Bluegrass
Written by Nancy Cardwell & posted originally in the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Newsletter It’s a tough time to be in the record label business, with sales impacted by unauthorized peer-to-peer networks and shrinking shelf space at retail—at the record stores that still exist. According to Billboard magazine, only 13 albums scanned more than 1 million... Read More
A Letter To Dan Tyminski, August 17th, 2009
I’m not much into hero worship because people are people. And while they may often do heroic things, very few people are “a hero” all the time while alive, if they are human. We are all struggling each in our own way, almost everyone is heroic sometimes, and no one person is really fundamentally better than another person. That caveat aside, I saw The Dan Tyminski Band... Read More
I had a dream last night • Big Mike D
I had a dream last night… well, actually, I had a dream Monday night, for real. In the dream, I was having a conversation with Del McCoury (for whom I have the greatest admiration). Something sort of like this: We were talking about how bluegrass has changed. We also talked about how we loved the earlier sounds like Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, The Stanley’s etc.,... Read More
To Sell Out or To Sell Out, Options • Echo
A friend of mine posted this morning on Facebook, lamenting the sound of the new Alison Krauss and Union Station album. In his words, “I hate to say it, but I don’t know if I’m digging the new AKUS album “Paper Airplane” this stinks for me, because it’s been like 7 yrs since they released a Union Station album… I guess bluegrass truly doesn’t... Read More
Bluegrass? • Chris Pandolfi
I’ve been paying attention to the recent news about Bluegrass Nation–an interesting and potentially very exciting new development for the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association). For some more background on BG Nation check out Craig Havighurst’s blog. I salute the folks trying to give the music a boost, but as a young professional in an up and coming ‘bluegrass’... Read More
The Recording Academy’s Restructuring & Bluegrass
The Recording Academy recently held their annual Nashville Chapter GRAMMY 101 educational event at the Hutton Hotel in downtown Nashville, TN on Monday April 18th. The event has gotten a heightened amount of attention due to the recent changes in The Recording Academy Awards Categories (details of the restructuring can be read at the official “micro” site), which limit... Read More
