Singer-songwriter Larry Jay was a guitar player first. When he heard a cousin playing guitar, he says, “I just vibrated with the strings.” He spent his younger days in various bands, honing his playing skills mostly on cover tunes. When asked about his early influences, Gary quickly names the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and Willie Nelson. ...

Who could have predicted that the music world would have to shift in a digital direction, in a hurry, like it did in 2020? For those musicians who were able to dig in and hold on, many found a way to use the opportunity to create new music and develop new avenues of sharing. John Driskell Hopkins, a founding member ...

Trey Hensley has for years won over bluegrass fans with his signature smoking guitar style. Yet outside the niche of bluegrass, music lovers of all kinds are drawn to his playing and his music. Call it bluegrass, blues, rock, jamband music—it doesn’t matter. When asked how he’d define his style of flatpicking, Hensley chuckles and simply responds, “My style is ...

John McDonough spent most of his last 30 years in Austin, Texas as a part-time musician/full-time psychotherapist in one of the most intensely creative cities in the world. Nine years ago he committed himself to the full-time music life. During that time he has written and recorded five CDs (including his latest, Second Chances), played over 500 gigs, performed in ...

For almost four decades, Richard Lynch has been cultivating the legacy of greats like George Strait, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, and the list goes on. He has a deep appreciation of the power of inherited tradition, as his passion for music dates back to his earliest days, when his dad, country musician Woody Lynch, gave him his first chance to ...

It’s Been A Long Time is the title of the debut album by Hugh Phillips, and the addition of one word to that phrase might describe the singer-songwriter’s arrival as an artist: It’s been a long time coming. In 2016, after a lengthy career as a Toyota auto technician, including 11 years as the owner of his own repair shop, ...

Cory Keefe my seem like a “new” artist, with his debut album, I’ll Keep It Country, just out in April 2021. He did, however, grow up around music, and performed professionally after high school around his native Florida Gulf Coast stomping grounds. But he really “got serious” about it only three years ago. With his twin brother Dustin as his ...

The Dinallos—the husband and wife team of Michael Dinallo and Juliet Simmons Dinallo—have quite a story to tell. Currently, they are making roots music that is gaining attention throughout the Americana music world, featuring an exciting blend of classic country, blues, gospel and rock & roll. The story of how they ended up on that musical road together is just ...

Grace Pettis was drawn to songwriting at an early age. Although her father, acclaimed songwriter Pierce Pettis, didn’t pressure her to be a songwriter like he was, the apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree. Grace says “I can’t actually remember a time before I was writing songs. It’s just something I’ve always done.” With this organic beginning as ...

Like so many musicians, Steve Wilson’s family taught him to love music at an early age. He initially tried out the instrument he would later know so well—the banjo—at age 12, but, like many a young player, didn’t stick with it. The difference for Steve was that his first brief banjo experience became only the first step on a long ...