By Greg Tutwiler Cory Hemilright was your typical bluegrass music fan. After college, he moved from Dare Country, North Carolina to Bristol, Tennessee to go to work for a local law firm. “I had a cabin on the river,” he told me recently, “And a lot of my bluegrass buddies would come out and play music. We often joked about ...

By Paul Livornese When, at age 50, you finally realize life is too short, what then? I found myself in that moment of epiphany three years ago when my father passed away. There I was, staring the “life is short” mantra square in the face … with more than half of my life in the rear view mirror. Where had ...

By Mark Whetzel The accolades continue for the restored State Theatre in Culpeper, Virginia. “I can’t wait to go back”, “Acoustics and sight lines are superb”, “Comfy and super friendly staff”, and “Love the nostalgic feeling the minute you walk in the door,” are just some of the comments from recent visitors. Patrons unanimously agree that this renovation project successfully ...

By Andrew McKnight “What is the single most important money-making tip you would give a new singer/songwriter?” That question was asked of Featured Artists at *The Standing “O” Project, and answers from 16 of those working musicians are collected in this book; some are single sentences, others are pages long. Killing it In the Streaming Age offers a different take ...

By Tori Gold Back in the winter, we attended the DC Bluegrass Union’s indoor festival. It was a top notch festival held in the ballroom of an up-scale hotel and unique in that we stayed on the same floor on which the ballroom stage was located. This convenience provided plenty of opportunity to mingle with the performers between sets. One ...

By Donna Ulisse As I sit here in the quiet of my home office with the computer screen throwing contrived lighting across my hands, I am reminded of how natural and unchanged the craft of song writing is. We can invent all these wonderful new tools to use for writing songs but it still comes down to the very basics; ...

By Edward Tutwiler During this magical, mystical, Americana string-music tour that I’ve been so blessed to take, I have had the privilege to document the stories of many fine instrument makers. Some have been renowned musicians who also construct a special instrument that delivers the perfect sound to their ears and then build a copy of that instrument one at ...

By Edward Tutwiler – About two years ago, in (Issue 44) Americana Rhythm, we delved into the use or absence thereof of drum sets in the old-time and traditional bluegrass genres of Americana string music; and for that matter at that time, also in progressive and new-grass iterations as well. I even went so far as to observe that I ...

Every so often, we here at Americana Rhythm like to break out the topic of House Concerts. It appears to me to be one of the most underused options available for listeners to experience live entertainment. Artists are eager to play music—it’s what they do. And when it’s cold outside, the outdoor opportunities are greatly limited. You might be surprised ...

At the 2015 Grammy awards, Prince paid homage to the  pioneering musical format with this comment; “Albums … remember those? Albums still matter.” And with that, I invite you to read on. – editor Climb into Mr. Peabody’s way-back machine with me, and travel back to the mid 1960s to downtown Lynchburg VA. There, one chilly, misty Saturday morning, I ...