While the masses of music lovers gather at music festivals all summer long, and congregate in renovated theaters, coffee houses, and such; the backbone, if you will, of bluegrass music, exists all over rural America in small towns and communities on any given night of the week at something called Jams. They’re often free, usually involve dinner and/or desert, lots ...

When I was a young kid in the late 1940s, a local radio station, WSVA-AM, aired live country music daily from their Harrisonburg, VA studio. My mother kept that string-music (her words) playing in our home every day. Mac Wiseman was a musical renaissance man at WSVA. He read the news, weather and commercials; was the MC for the live ...

Not long ago, I had the sad mission of attending the graveside service for the husband of a friend. The service was held at a hill top cemetery located above the small village of Singers Glen in western Rockingham County Va. A preacher from the church located at the bottom of the hill soothed our hearts and minds by playing ...

‘On the Road’ articles can be metaphorical or plain old reality. Let’s talk about the reality of being on the road, getting from gig to gig to gig and home again. Sam Bush said at a concert, “I get paid to travel. I play for free.” True words Sam, very true words. We all got into this business to feed ...

Have you ever wondered how your favorite act magically wound up appearing at the local theater Friday night? Maybe you happened upon your ideal festival featuring nearly all of your favorite bands or you dial in to your favorite local radio or internet station and hear an amazing new song … do you ever wonder how they got hold of ...

Don Brown has spent the better part of his career doing what he calls, “helping people with people.” He’s written five books, including his latest, Simple Truths in Music and Life. This latest project is a collection of wisdom gathered from Don’s experiences and time spent with Uwe Kruger of the Kruger Brothers. It was a seemingly chance meeting for ...

It is funny how this musician, singer/songwriter life goes. Much of the time you are running down new roads but sometimes you find you have just circled back to a familiar road, one that you’ve traveled before. That circling back is what brought about this article. About 10 years ago, I wrote for a publication that Greg Tutwiler was involved ...

We all accept that a written sentence consists of a noun and a verb strung together in sequence. Choose this word sequence so it conveys a thought to a reader; begin that sequence with an uppercase letter; finish it with a period; and congrats; you are a writer—NOT! No, to be a writer, one must be able to modify those ...

Album of the Year American Band Drive-By Truckers, Produced by David Barbe Close Ties Rodney Crowell, Produced by Kim Buie and Jordan Lehning Freedom Highway Rhiannon Giddens, Produced David Bither, Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell The Navigator Hurray for the Riff Raff, Produced by Paul Butler A Sailor’s Guide to Earth Sturgill Simpson, Produced by Sturgill Simpson Artist of the ...

Canadians Matt Epp and Faouzia Ouihya are this year’s International Songwriting Contest grand prize winner(s). The winning duet, “The Sound” is the perfect synergy between the seasoned Canadian troubadour Matt Epp and the Morocco-born Manitoba-raised 16-year old phenom Faouzia. A great duet can be magical, and “The Sound” is just that. It showcases the talents of each songwriter and singer, ...