Current Issue
December 2021

The Tradition

George Shuffler

By Dan Miller

Bluegrass Innovator Seventy-five years ago the Stanley Brothers developed a distinctive sound in country music (a music that would later become known as bluegrass).  Carter’s lead voice, sparse rhythm guitar…

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Notes & Queries – December 2021

By Gary Reid

Queries Q: I recently sold off some of my bluegrass memorabilia, including a 1951 Stanley Brothers song and picture folio. The booklet contained a photo of a disc jockey by…

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75 Years & Counting

By Gary Reid

The year 2020 was proclaimed by many as the 75th anniversary of the birth of bluegrass, a time that celebrated when the stars aligned in 1945 to provide Bill Monroe…

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Promotional photo that Roy believed was made at Bullet Park in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Kneeling, from left to right: Ray “Pickles” Lambert and Gaines Blevins. Standing, left to right: Pee Wee Lambert, Roy Sykes, Carter Stanley, and Jack Belcher, ca. early 1946. Photo courtesy of Roy “Scooter” Sykes, Jr.

Roy Sykes

By Gary Reid

Bluegrass  Incubator Many times, people who are known as but a footnote in history actually have vibrant lives that belie their postscript status. Such is the case with Roy Sykes,…

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The Artists

Don Rigsby Stands Alone

By Bill Conger

Bluegrass veteran Don Rigsby’s reputation speaks for itself. The award-winning musician has been a member of top bluegrass music groups including The Bluegrass Cardinals, JD Crowe and The New South,…

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Ralph Stanley and Ralph Stanley II at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival in 1999. Photo by Jeromie B. Stephens

Ralph Stanley II Shares Stories of his Dad and Uncle Including a Sign From Beyond the Grave  

By Derek Halsey

It was a dramatic moment when Larry Sparks walked onto the stage at Ralph Stanley’s funeral in the summer of 2016 to sing a song of tribute. Before he hit…

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The Sound

Bessie Mauldin, Bill Monroe, and Carter Stanley. Photo by Ann L Streeter

Story Behind the Song Wild Bill Jones

By Casey L. Penn

Any tribute to The Stanley Brothers calls for an inside look at a favorite Stanley Brothers song. I’m not the expert some are on The Stanley Brothers or Ralph Stanley,…

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Ralph  Stanley and the Whisnant Eagle Banjo

By Chris Smith

Photos by Jamie Alexander For many of us, the first-generation bluegrass pioneers were the link that pulled on our heart strings and gave us a lifetime infatuation for bluegrass music.…

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Tyler White Mandolins

By David McCarty

Photos by Bud Osborne  DSecades ago, someone approached me at Bean Blossom and asked for feedback on a mandolin he’d built. The F-5 style instrument looked like a C- grade…

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The Venue

Ralph Stanley Museum and Traditional Mountain Music Center

By Bill Conger

Photos Courtesy of Ralph Stanley Museum Nestled in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains about eight miles northeast of Ralph Stanley’s birthplace, McClure, Virginia, sits a bastion of traditional mountain music.  Old…

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The original festival stage. // Photo by John Lee

The Dr. Ralph Stanley 

By Dan Miller

Hills of Home Bluegrass Festival The Dr. Ralph Stanley Hills of Home Memorial Day Weekend Bluegrass Festival held at the Hills of Home Park in McClure, Virginia is one of…

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