The year 2020 has not been kind to small business. The pandemic has imposed true hardships on the small business community. From our prospective here at AR, none seem to have been hit harder that the music business. Local music stores seem especially vulnerable. Some weeks ago, several of us from AR were spending a few days on North Carolina’s ...

While the effects of the pandemic have crippled the music industry, still, for some, there is the occasional opportunity to get out and perform under the right circumstances. Long time friend and musician, Scott Murray, had one such opportunity recently, and it seemed too good of a story not to share. This is Scott’s story. I was living close to ...

In the time of Covid-cancelled tours and shows, I am on our floating home, Ocean Girl,  considering what to write for an ‘on the road’ article. Time to tap the well of past experiences. Some years back Amy and I were in the Canary Islands, off Spain. We were waiting for a storm to blow itself out to start sailing across the ...

We are always on the hunt for stories about that genre of roots Americana music known as the blues. On that note, a press release from Gary Atkinson of Document Records Ltd. recently landed on the publisher’s desk telling about a project that his company is releasing. This project is titled, Searching for Secret Heroes and its focal point is ...

Often we here at Americana Rhythm wax poetic about the romantic mystery of the Appalachian Mountain region; the music; and the people who reside there. Nevertheless, just like other places in the world have their sad parts, our beloved mountain region does as well. Anyone who pays attention to the news is aware of the pockets of poverty that exist ...

One of the things I love about being a traveling musician is the people I get to meet and where I get to meet them. About four years ago, while recording Wayward Troubadour, I started playing this nice, steel resonator that was one of the studio guitars. I would play it, put it down and keep going back to it. It ...

Country music fans of the 1950s can easily call up a mental picture of their favorite performers and visualize those folks in their glitzy stage garb. You may remember when singer Glen Campbell immortalized those fancy suited folks as Rhinestone Cowboys. During that era, anyone who was anyone that performed on the stage of the Nashville, TN Grand Ole Opry ...

Originally founded in 1988, Merlefest was created to honor the memory of the son of the late Doc Watson. Eddy Merle Watson was a renowned guitarist in his own right, and traveled and performed often with Doc. The festival is traditionally held at the end of April every year on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, NC. (4/23 ...

Over the years, we have told you many stories centered around those famous Bristol, TN recording sessions—those sessions held in July and August 1927 now often referred to as the Big Bang of Country Music. I fear that we may have caused some folks to believe that happening was the beginning of commercial recorded sound. This is an incorrect belief. ...

Mayhem, Music, and Inspiration were the tag words as the 32nd Annual Folk Alliance International (FAI) conference took over the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana. Did I say music? Well let me tell you…180 official showcases, spontaneous shows and jams in the lobby, stairwells and elevators, as well as five complete floors of independent showcasing starting at 10:30 pm ...