News/Thoughts

Featured Articles

Birthday Bash To Bluegrass Fest

Sam Karr, founder of Sam Jam, says he’s been a fan of Bluegrass music and festivals nearly all his life. “I grew up with my father and his friends all going to Bluegrass festivals, and them taking all their kids along with them,” he recalled recently. “The bands we listened to became some of my favorite groups, and I grew ...

Read More »

The Gig Life

Editor’s note: We met Emily three years ago while she was co-producing a small jam festival with her boyfriend. Over these past years as I’ve seen her grow and mature, not only as a musician, but also as a person, I’ve found her story to be not unlike many young aspiring musicians. She also aspires to be a writer, so ...

Read More »

Lest We Forget

Pres·er·va·tion (prezYrÈvâSH(Y)n): The action of preserving something or the state of being preserved, especially to a specified degree. The action that one takes for preservation means different things to different folks depending upon the subject one is pondering. The subject of preserving this mountain sourced, string music that we now call Americana came up among a few of us after ...

Read More »

A Concert In My House

Editor’s note: Every year we like to take the opportunity to fly the House Concert flag. If you’ve never experienced one, you should. It’s the only music genre’ of which I know that affords musicians the opportunity to sustain a musician’s lifestyle simply by performing a few times a week, in someone’s living room. Gather two dozen friends all pitching ...

Read More »

Still Singin’ The Blues

Bluesman James Armstrong hails from Santa Monica California. Born into a family of music in 1957, it seemed his destiny to follow in the family footsteps. “My father was a jazz guitar player and my mom was a blues singer. When I was five years old dad and I had a duet in which I played drums and he played ...

Read More »

True Grass Again

Many revere Lorraine Jordan as the keeper of tradition in bluegrass music. She originally hailed from the coast of North Carolina but currently resides in Garner, NC, which is just outside of Raleigh, NC. She holds court in her namesake coffee shop/music venue, Lorraine’s Coffee House, when she is not out on the road with her band, Carolina Road. She ...

Read More »

Performing Across The Pond

So you want to perform overseas? Let’s talk about Europe. It has its own challenges and definitely has rewards. Being the wayward troubadour that I am (also the name of my new album) brings about it’s own pains and pleasures. As 2017 came to a close, I spent 10 weeks on the road with five days at home. The last ...

Read More »

Folk Alliance Turns 30

A few years before Americana Rhythm Music magazine came into being, the now publisher called me and asked if I wanted to accompany him to San Diego, CA. for a music conference. He hoped that I could help him and the publisher of Singer magazine staff a trade booth to free them up to do some networking at the conference. ...

Read More »

Yes, We Hear You Now

Every since Uncle Dave and Aunt Betty left their front porch and took their Guitar and Fiddle up on the stage at the local high school auditorium, there has been a need to electrically amplify the performer’s picking and singing. Almost any audio amplifier will work as a public address system and drive a garden variety loud speaker with enough ...

Read More »

Women Bluegrass Pioneers

Recently, at the International Bluegrass Music Association gathering in Raleigh, NC, the AR folks staffed a booth in the exhibit hall. Across from the AR booth was an exhibit promoting a filmmaker’s effort to honor music pioneer, Alice Gerrard. Should you not know, Alice Gerrard along with Hazel Dickens, her friend and fellow pioneering woman in bluegrass music, were among ...

Read More »