Articles

Detroit’s  Miracle Mandolinist The muzzle of the .38 Special revolver looked as big as the mouth of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Six shots rang out and four bullets struck him right in the gut. Forty years later, Nolan Faulkner remembered that cold Michigan night – “Lucky for me, he was a bad shot!”  Faulkner’s near-death experience…

“You can’t talk about women in country music, vocal styles, rhythm guitar styles . . . without also talking about Wilma Lee Cooper.” – Alice Gerrard in SING OUT! Aug 24, 1977 For more than 30 years, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper were among our nation’s premier country and bluegrass acts. Wilma Lee and Stoney…

Bluegrass Girl Photos courtesy of CDC Artists, Milton, Florida Amanda Cook and her band have become a household name and regulars on the bluegrass circuit. With three CD projects under her belt, a seven-year, five-CD project contract with Mountain Fever Records and recording engineer and producer job, it is clear that Cook has her own…

Bluegrass music is about storytelling. All music is. Rooted in ancient ballads and country music story-songs, bluegrass songs (and tunes, too, to a lesser extent) tell us about the true life blues, the little cabin on the hill, the flag-covered casket, the walls of time. All of them are perfect three-minute stories.      …

Saved by Bluegrass Photos by Scott Simontacchi Forty minutes into conversation, Dan Tyminski drops an unthinkable truth. Without flinching, perhaps the most globally recognized voice in modern bluegrass explains the conflict that’s defined his journey. In spite of a tone so instantly head-turning it defined George Clooney’s character in O Brother, Where Art Thou, he…

Rhonda Vincent Brings in Zack Arnold as New Guitarist In the world of NASCAR, they call it the “silly season.” It is the time between late fall and early spring after the race season has ended when various race car teams either fire a driver or crew chief, bring in new talent and start a…