Current Issue November 2021
The Tradition
Queries: Q: There is a gospel tune the Gillis Brothers recorded which, as far as I can tell, has not been recorded elsewhere: “I Always Call Your Name.” I and…
Read More
I consider myself to be just an ordinary soul. I never reached the national spotlight. But as I grow older, I often look back on the many aspects of my…
Read More
Robert Lewis “Zeke” Hutchison, banjoist, singer and family man, died August 2nd, 2021, after a long illness. Born on September 13th, 1948 (Bill Monroe’s 37th birthday) in Belmont County, Ohio into…
Read More
Country music legend Don Maddox has passed away, at age 98, on September 12, 2021. The last surviving member of The Maddox Brothers and Rose, Don was a fiddler and…
Read MoreThe Artists
Longs For Return To Playing Photos By Stacie Huckaba After four years of hard work, Grammy-nominated fiddler Mike Barnett was pumped to release his dream duets project when tragedy struck.…
Read More
Goes Deep into his New 19-cut Album My Bluegrass Heart Photos by Kevin Slick “I want the recording to sound like the musicians own that music, and not sound like…
Read More
A Great Banjo Picker and a Good Person Steve Dilling is a very humble and thankful man. Instead of listing his many accolades from 40 years in the music industry,…
Read More
How He Hears It Photos By Amy Richmond Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jeremy Stephens of the bluegrass group High Fidelity is a devoted student of traditional bluegrass and country music.…
Read MoreThe Sound
On November 14, 1995, a Stelling Sunflower banjo—serial number 4356— began its journey from the Virginia factory to Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. Ten months later it was purchased by a…
Read More
“When COVID-19 hit, it was obvious things were going to slow down,” recalled Buddy Melton, lead singer and fiddler for repeat IBMA “Entertainer of the Year” Balsam Range. “We wanted…
Read More
Photos by Cindy Matheson At an age when most people have slowed down, 99-year-old Buckeye luthier and instrument repairman Jeff Littell rises by 7:30 and is at his well-equipped, dimly…
Read MoreThe Venue
The Man Behind the Curtain “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,”is a famous line from The Wizard of Oz. Musical promoters often are the ones behind the…
Read More
