News/Thoughts

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Mary Beth Cross

Wisconsin singer/songwriter, Mary Beth Cross, is no stranger to Americana music. Her most current CD, Beyond Good And Evil, is a folk Americana collection of original and cover tunes, and earned her the Rural Roots Music Commission Folk-country CD of the Year in 2014. Mary Beth’s rural Wisconsin upbringing and the Rocky Mountains where she currently lives make for a ...

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Celebrating Tradition Plus and the Watsons

Founded in 1988 in memory of Eddy Merle Watson, son of the legendary Doc Watson, MerleFest has been a major fundraiser for Wilkes Community College, and a tremendous celebration of traditional plus music, as Doc always called it. “When Merle and I started out we called our music traditional plus, meaning the traditional music of the Appalachian region plus whatever ...

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Washboard Slim and the Bluelights

New Haven, Connecticut based Washboard Slim and the Bluelights have been performing together for over 40 years, and have evolved into “one of the most versatile and original of jug bands around.” Led by founder Peter Menta (a.k.a. Washboard Slim), the act features not only the washboard, but also instruments like the wash tub bass, jug, banjo, kazoo, harmonica, fiddle, ...

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How Blue

By Greg Tutwiler I can’t think of many genre’s of music where the entire family can be in the band all at the same time. One of the neat things about bluegrass/string music is that it affords those families who choose to pursue music as a shared passion, the opportunity to share the stage and life style together. Currently, there ...

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On Top Of His Game

By Greg Tutwiler With a voice like Dave Adkins, you just can’t stay out of the game for long. In the roots/bluegrass/Americana world, there are some of the most pure vocalists I’ve ever heard, and for me, Dave is in the top of that group. His musical career lead him straight from high school to a two year stint playing ...

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Ryan Cain and the Ables

One of the earliest forms of rock and roll music came out of Memphis in the early 50s on labels like Sun Records. This hyped up, rhythmic music became know as hillbilly, or rockabilly music, and took the nation by storm. Like all forms of music, rock and roll changed over the years, and rockabilly slid into the ranks of ...

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