Billy Bright of Wood & Wire talks about an elephant’s birthday party and the ancient traveling techniques of the early minstrels and cowboys
Golden Shoals – Golden Shoals
One of the best things about travel is the occasional chance to just sit there and observe the people around you. Not being held to a schedule opens your mind to different perspectives. Musical duo and long-time friends Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski were afforded probably a lot more of that perspective than most while […]
Monday Morning Video – On the Road Again
Another day, another week, another month without live music to sustain us. The Willie Nelson classic has never been as relevant as it is today. Here’s Billy Strings performing “On the Road Again” just last year and Willie, along with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson, closing out a show with it back in […]
Mayer’s Picks – The Best of 2020 (So Far), the Songs
No Time for Love Songs, The Mastersons (from the Red House Records release No Time for Love Songs) I love you so much but it’s no time for love songs We’re starting to unravel at the seams Maybe I care too much and this world is hard enough How come everybody’s gotta be so mean? […]
On the Road: A Tribute To John Hartford
For the most part, Bill Monroe invented the bluegrass genre over a period of years. The progressive/new grass/indie grass branch of the tree, though, can possibly be related to a single album, John Hartford’s Aereo-Plain. Therefore it’s fitting that so many of that strand’s best known groups jumped in to contribute a cover of one […]
Kristen Grainger & True North – Ghost Tattoo
As a writer, I suppose it’s natural for me to have a soft spot for well-written lyrics. I was gobsmacked, though, at some of the turns of phrase on the latest record from Oregonian Kristen Grainger. For instance, “outside the traffic clattered, like a sky full of geese drawing fire.” Does that draw you a […]
Nate Sipe of Pert Near Sandstone on Good Veggie Burgers and Pure Midwestern Gibberish
Nate Sipe talks about AAA membership, a record-breaking night of broken guitar strings and an uncashed million dollar check.
Turkeyfoot – Promise Of Tomorrow
With the festival season cancelled this year I’m discovering my longing for live music is taking twists and turns in its desire. Recently, no doubt partly due to summer settling in on the central California coast, I was having acute pangs for some hardcore bluegrass. Fortunately, out of the blue the Postal Service delivered the […]
Pharis & Jason Romero – Bet On Love
When we last checked in with our intrepid heros, musicians and banjo builders Pharis and Jason Romero, they were celebrating the release of a new album two years after losing their shop and cabin to a fire. The trauma had helped them appreciate some of the simpler things in life and they put that feeling […]
Dave Wilson of Chatham County Line on Youthful Exuberance and Profitable Band Rehearsals
Dave Wilson of bluegrass band Chatham County Line talks about how the band won the 2004 Rocky Grass Band Competition, rehearsing in an abandoned tire factory, and the tax benefits of buying guitars.