Bluegrass

There are days when I am simply plum-tickled to have the opportunity to write about bluegrass music. This is one of them. My review of Doctor’s Orders: A Tribute to Ralph Stanley is posted over at Fervor Coulee Bluegrass. In a year that has already produced several excellent albums, this may be the album of the year. It is only now that I’ve posted the album that I realize, within the review’s 600+ words I fail to mention Rigsby’s amazing vocals. I am a dunce. I guess I could make the argument that anyone who would expect anything less than bluegrass vocal perfection from Rigsby hasn’t likely been listening. The first time I heard the album’s lead track, “The Mountain Doctor,” I was pulling into the parking lot of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Mansfield, Missouri at the edge of the Ozarks. While those mountains and Dr. Ralph’s mountains are separated by several hundred miles, while listening I had me a profound and lasting bluegrass moment, one that will stick in my memory for a long while. Thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee. And thanks to Rebel Records for keeping me in the loop; I appreciate it. Donald

This week we have been, once again, remembering the life and times of America’s Blue Yodeler, the Singing Brakeman, and the Father of Country Music: the late, great Jimmie Rodgers.Tomorrow, Jimmie Rodgers will have been gone 80 years. Arguably the most significant man in American [...]

Growling Old Men, Ben Winship and John Lowell, play East Virginia Blues at the Cornish Bluegrass Festival, September 2011.

Collings Guitars and Mandolin is excited to introduce the new MF Deluxe mandolin. Based on their popular MF model, the MF Deluxe combines premium tonewoods, meticulous workmanship and striking upgraded aesthetics that are sure to stand out on stage.

Some of my real bluesy banjo playing.

Some Scruggs-style picking.

I played a funky 2nd break.

My clawhammer version of "John Henry".

Italy

Italy