Articles

An Interview with Randy Lanham, Education Director, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum How do people learn to play bluegrass music, or any type of music for that matter? Is it handed down from generation to generation?  Do they teach it in school? Private Lessons? Group Lessons? Jam Sessions? Or are today’s options for…

Putting The Fun In Banjos All Photos Courtesy of Eric Sullivan “Banjos = fun” is the lifelong philosophy of one American luthier. “Sullivan Banjos is fairly recent,” its current proprietor, Eric Sullivan of Alabama, shared during a recent interview. “It started in 1970 when Dad (Bill Sullivan) was working at General Electric in the tool and…

Bands Blurring the Lines of Bluegrass “I tell people we are the tradition of bluegrass, the attitude of punk rock and the culture of hip hop,” explains Kenny Feinstein (singer, multi-instrumentalist) of Water Tower.  That declaration perfectly sums up the unconventional musical personality of Water Tower, a Los Angeles-based string-band that is keeping old-timey, traditional…

Dale and Darcy Cahill are joined here by long-time friends Neil Rossi and Will Patton to produce an interesting project of mostly Irish/Celtic flavored instrumental medleys.   Rossi and the Cahills have been playing together for over 15 years in the New England area and are often joined by Patton on bass. Dale plays guitar,…

Q: I thought I knew everything the Osborne Brothers had ever done, but a friend said they had their own television show sometime in 1950s-1960s. She said her mother had watched them; her mother passed away last spring at 100. My friend insisted that was true. I suggested that maybe she was thinking of a…

Growing up in Georgia, Reynolds liked rock and roll and performed around her home. While in college she discovered that country and bluegrass were the kinds of music she wanted to sing. In the 2000s, she moved to the Washington, D.C., area, found a home performing with local bluegrass bands and teamed up with banjoist…