Boston, MA is home base for the Americana band, Los Goutos. Five multi-instrumentalists made up the original core of the band, three of them being singer-songwriters. Over the years the group has morphed and expanded to now include a fourth singer-songwriter (Emily Grogan), a two-piece horn section, and sometimes a fiddle. They’ve described themselves as an off-kilter and infectious concoction ...

Mark Wayne Glasmire was just 10 years old when his parents gave him a guitar as a Christmas present. Although now residing in Arlington, TX, Mark was born and raised in Bethlehem, PA. “I always wanted to be a rock star,” he told me. A child of the 60’s, Mark grew up listening to the singer-songwriters of the day like ...

It’s probably not evident here in the article, but the ladies clearly enjoy each others company, picking on and laughing with each other constantly. You can listen to the full interview on our podcast, Americana Music Profiles. I was fortunate to have all five together on the phone at the same time, and it was quite hilarious, and lot of ...

The bluegrass/roots/folk scene has expanded exponentially in recent years, and the talent level has progressed right along with it. Artists are doing things today with traditional string instruments that Jimmy Martin and Bill Monroe probably never imagined wereto be you could probably count the number of top acts with 10 fingers, to a time when there are better than 10 ...

Gregg Welty’s initial exposure to bluegrass music is like so many other musicians growing up in musical families. “I remember listening to my dad (the 1993 Winfield national bluegrass banjo champion) play music throughout childhood,” Gregg told me recently. “I really hated the Banjo for the majority of my childhood. When I was in middle school/early high school, I decided ...

Alan Bibey has been entertaining audiences professionally with his mandolin chops since the early 1980’s. He picked up the instrument at the of age of five, and since then, has become one of the most creative and technically gifted mandolinists in bluegrass and acoustic music today. Alan was an original member of three of bluegrass music’s more contemporary pioneering acts; ...

Billy Droze was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, the 10th of 12 children, in 1986, but he grew up in Alabama, knowing the whole time that music was going to be his life, “as far back as I can remember,” he said. Billy said he got his start in gospel music before finding his way into a traveling bluegrass band with ...

Beaver Creek, CO resident Jim Stanard grew up listening to, loving, and absorbing the music of all the greats. He grew up in an era when he could watch first hand entertainers like Tom Rush, Doc Watson, Bruce Springsteen, hanging out at the legendary Main Point Coffeehouse in Bryn Mawr, PA. He even attended Woodstock in 1969 although his perspective is less than ...

It’s always good to get the chance to revisit with artists that we’ve featured here in previous issues. Rob and Kristen Smith are excellent examples of an act that just stays with it, stays at it, and keeps the musical fires burning as they pursue their passion for sharing their gift with whomever will listen. Rob is a graduate from Virginia ...

Musician/songwriter Rick Monroe is no stranger to moving around, but he feels like it’s part of what makes his musical style unique. “I definitely come by a gypsy soul legitimately,” he told me recently. He was born in Clearwater, FL, moved to England, moved back to Kansas, then Connecticut, North Carolina, and back to Florida, then L.A., and now he ...