Former record store owner, Mike Felten, has parlayed the end of 30 plus years of hawking vinyl into a singer/songwriter career full time, and celebrates his most recent CD release, Diamonds and Televisions. Beginning in 1979, Mike began dabbling in selling records. He eventually opened several Record Emporium stores and developed a pretty strong internet sales following. He also worked ...

Bluegrass music has a new family. That’s right. It’s the Mafia. Blue Mafia, that is. Led by husband and wife Tony and Dara Wray, Blue Mafia was formed in 2011. Tony says, “Basically because my wife wanted to be in a band, too.” The result for this Indiana band was a highly acclaimed 2013 release, My Cold Heart. That led ...

Americana Music Profile – Nashville, TN based singer Holly Norman’s newest CD, Taking Care Of Bluegrass, is a tribute to one of the world’s favorite, iconic singers, Elvis Presley. Her first single, “Moody Blue,” a tasteful interpretation of one of Elvis’s last hits, is already gaining national attention. Holly grew up in East Tennessee, just outside of Knoxville in a ...

Americana Music Profile – Violinist, Annie Savage grew up learning to play via the Suzuki method from the age of two. By age 10 she was jamming in bluegrass circles in southeastern Iowa, and Missouri. She went on to attend the Interlochen Arts Academy and eventually pursue an active classical music career on the east coast. After years of recitals, ...

Americana Music Profile – Husband and wife, Michael and Jennifer McLain, have performed in 27 states from New York to California. They’ve appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, Kentucky Educational Television, Iowa Public Television, The Nashville Network, Country Music Television, RFD Television, National Public Radio, and the PBS show, Song of the Mountains. Michael and Jennifer both grew up in ...

Americana Music Profile – After relocating to West Virginia in 2006, Robert Mabe (Banjo) joined the bluegrass band, Drymill Road, in 2010. There, along with band members Sean Loomis (Guitar), Doug Ross (Mandolin), and David Hurt (Bass), they became an international touring band, mixing old and new sounds with surprising twists and turns of musicality and phrasing. They’ve performed at ...

Singer/songwriter Doug Irving just released his 16th studio album, Songs Of The Wood. Although guitar is his instrument of choice, he’s equally comfortable on the keyboards. As a song writer, he spent eight years in Nashville, TN inking 34 independent cuts before moving back home to upstate New York in 2006. After writing songs for 16 different projects, I asked ...

New Orleans, Louisiana is once again home for folk/blues/jazz artist Ted Hefko. After a stint in Brooklyn, Ted and his group, The Thousandaires, are bringing his originally penned stories to life with the “spontaneity of jazz, the bare-bones sensibility of early folk and the vibrancy of New Orleans.” The guitarist/tenor sax/clarinet is also excited about his new CD, Distillation Of ...