Current Issue September 2021
The Tradition
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…
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The Teenager Who Filled In for Earl Imagine that you are a high school kid who has learned how to play the banjo. It is the mid-1950s and Lester Flatt, Earl…
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Notes In response to the July “Notes & Queries” piece on West Virginia fiddler Woody Simmons, we received the following note from UK-subscriber Frank Weston: “I have just received your…
Read MoreThe Artists
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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“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…
Read MoreThe Sound
Covering All—Or at Least Some Of—the Basses Once upon a time the A. P. Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers were revolutionaries. A traditionalist scholar once complained that—by introducing guitar into…
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Photo by Joe Worthem It’s been a few years since Volume Five cut the poignant “Tell Me You’re Not Leaving” for Milestones, the band’s seventh record for label Mountain Fever.…
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Photo by Snap Jackson Photography One constant in Bill Evans’ 40-plus-year banjo career is helping others learn to play and listen to music. He began teaching in his hometown, Norfolk,…
Read MoreThe Venue
The New Executive Director of the IBMA Photo by Casey Campbell After an impressive run, the Executive Director of the IBMA, Paul Schiminger, has stepped down and Pat Morris has…
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