On a hot day, about a month after a forest fire engulfed the village he lived in, along with all his worldly possessions, minus only one, Israel Portnoy picked up the last object he owned (a vintage 12-string he calls “Guilda”) and began an incredible healing journey. “Maybe I couldn’t bring myself to play her as I could sense some ...

Sometimes music grabs people at a young age, and never lets go, pushing them along from one milestone to the next along the musical journey of a lifetime. That’s how it’s been for Aukland, New Zealand native, Jesse Wilde. After seeing the Elvis ’68 Comeback Special at age 11, Jesse requested a guitar from his mom. He took lessons from ...

Born in a little farm town in northeast Iowa and raised in Kansas City, MO, Randy Seedorff grew up in some fertile ground for country music. The seeds that would later bloom into his current success were planted deep early on. He got his first guitar at age 11 from his mom, who was a country music artist known as ...

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 ...