More Encounters with Bill Monroe
‘I know him, but he don’t know me’ Bill Monroe was properly regarded as the very model of a traditional American musician. However, he could also be full of surprises, whether poking fun or providing unexpected revelations about life and music. Part One of this coverage included my experiences seeing, hearing and talking to Monroe…
This Issue
the artists
Della Mae and the Spirit of the Sisterhood
It’s a dreary January evening, but a quiet euphoria emanates from the four members of hard-driving all-female bluegrass group Della Mae. Earlier in the day, Kimber Ludiker, the group’s founder and a fifth-generation fiddle player, had laid eyes for the first time on the finished product of their new album, Magic Accident, on Compass Records….
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Olivia Jo
Who I Am Photos by Sierra Cochran Finding ourselves is a journey that can be hard with a lot of ups and downs along the road. For rising bluegrass star Olivia Jo, she has traversed two different paths in her thirty years. The singer of “Down Life’s Road” drove the country music freeway before doing…
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Jacob Burleson
Joins Alison Krauss and Union Station Featuring Jerry Douglas for their 2026 Tour Photo by Thomas Crabtree One of the most memorable things to come from my many interviews with friend and IBMA Hall of Fame musician J.D. Crowe centered on what he learned from Earl Scruggs. With Crowe and Scruggs both playing the banjo,…
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from the archives
The Lonesome River Band—The Water Rolls High
Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine January 1988, Volume 22, Number 7 The parking lot of a shopping center in Carney, Maryland, is neither the choice site to spend a damp Saturday afternoon nor the best place to interview an emerging force in bluegrass music. It doesn’t appear to be a great venue for the sparsely…