Articles

1971/7/15 Thursday — Rehearsal In the early evening we started rehearsing “Mocking Banjo” in the apartment but soon we realized we needed a bass so we drove over to Dick Freeland’s house and resumed rehearsing “Mocking Banjo” & “Fuji Mountain Breakdown.”  Once we were done practicing, Dick played Ralph Stanley’s master tapes for his new…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine August 1992, Volume 27, Number 2 California is Byron Berline, champion fiddler; Dan Crary, flatpicking guitar master; John Hickman, banjo legend; Steve Spurgin, hit songwriter, vocalist and bassist and newcomer John Moore adding expert mandolin, guitar and vocals. Individually these artists are masters at their respective instruments, collectively they are…

Reprinted from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine November 1972, Volume 7, Number 5 With few established roots in the hierarchy of bluegrass music, The Country Gazette have entered the scene with the commercial clout to make a difference. Byron Berline never had much time to absorb the fiddle styles of any one person whether it be Chubby…

Fifty years ago bluegrass music was roughly 25 years old and hitting its full stride.  Multi-day bluegrass festivals were gaining in popularity around the country, the first-generation bands were still performing and in their prime, and the second-generation bands were developing strong reputations.  During 1971, Tony Rice joined J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson joined the Country…

Week 04  (7/08 – 7/14) During the fourth week of Bluegrass 45’s 1971 American tour, we find them going into the studio to work on their first album for Rebel Records.  Additionally, Josh and Akira traveled to Ohio to visit their sister, Heidi. The album titled Bluegrass 45(Rebel SLP-1502), included the following tracks:  Bridge Over…