"I felt, in writing this piece, that there was an openness, or a kind of a renewed freshness, I had working with music materials, because I was working in a new form. It took out all the cobwebs in ...
If bluegrass quintet the Steep Canyon Rangers were booked at the New Orleans Jazz Fest on their own, they'd likely be on the intimate Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage. The Steep Canyon Rangers ...
Some years ago, I briefly toured the Midwest playing harmonica with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Quite how an English teenager came to be there still mystifies me as much as it surely ...
Earl Scruggs' name is almost synonymous with the banjo. And for a good reason, too — he helped pioneer Bluegrass music with his three-finger banjo picking technique, now known as "Scruggs Style." This ...
For better or worse, Earl Scruggs will be remembered by most Americans for his banjo picking alongside partner Lester Flatt in a dated 1960s cultural artifact: “The Beverly Hillbillies.” For better, ...
The raucous singer turns thoughtful on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker calls Upland Stories a "marvelous mongrel mixture" of bluegrass banjo-picking, honky-tonk pedal steel and stark folk phrasings.
Violinist Tessa Lark takes flight in Sky, a violin concerto written just for her by Michael Torke. Inspired by her Kentucky roots, Torke weaves a touch of Bluegrass into the classical form, ...
If you know American bluegrass music, you know Earl Scruggs. Today, Google's doodle team created an animated illustration in honor of the famed banjo-picking pioneer, who would have celebrated his ...