Dave Higgs

We’ll be continuing our look at bluegrassical gravel with more homages to gravel roads with some moonshining, grit, and dust thrown in for good measure—subjects which all curiously intertwine.

They’re small fragments of rock used for the beds of roads and railroads. While they can be an irritant when some gets in your shoe, or worse, sheer misery when you have to make them out of big rocks with a sledgehammer, living on a road made of the same is sheer heaven. With the […]

They’re things that cause death, injury or harm. Throughout history they’ve been used to execute, murder, and control. On the bright side, they’ve provided the bedrock for some great bluegrass songs. With the help of Sierra Hull, the Trinity River Band, the Stanley Brothers, Charlie Sizemore, and The Old Yellers, we’ll be exploring poison ivy, […]

It’s any substance that’s capable of causing bodily harm. While most often introduced into one’s system by swallowing, inhaling, injecting or absorbing, the deadliest kind comes through words. We’ll be looking at poison love, poison lies, poison water, poison wells… and worse.

While the mention of BBQ, string ties, open road Stetson hats, and Martha White flour invariably lead to one to muse on things of the high, blue, and lonesome ilk, there are two words that scream bluegrass louder than any others: Mountain Boys! And we’ll have a slew of them… from the Kentucky Mountain Boys […]

They’re being dumped into the new BG CD bins faster than a scalded haint. We’ll be sampling the latest from the Punch Brothers, Don Schlitz, Echo Valley, Jesse Burdick, Zion Napier, Thomm Jutz & Tammy Rogers, J.D. Crowe & Ricky Wasson, and everyone’s favorite, Minnie Moore.

They’re the middle three days of the work week that are often given short shrift given the notoriety of the days that bookend them. Thanks to John Cowan, Greensky Bluegrass, Larry Cordle and Claire Lynch, we’ll be remedying this sorry state of affairs by giving Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays the rapt attention they deserve.

It’s the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday whose name is derived from an old English word meaning “Day of the Moon.” As the first day of the workweek, it has provided fodder for a number of great tunes–most of which deal with the anxiety and dread of returning to work. We’ll be […]

We’ll be basking in the bluegrassical glory of 1982 when, among other things: Johnny Cash Parkway opens in Hendersonville, TN; Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat; 75% of North America is covered in snow; and the Allen Brothers, Jimmy Arnold, Appalachian Express, and Mike Auldridge put smiles on BluegrassLand faces.

They’re a rapid succession of short, sharp, and hard sounds that can be created by mechanical objects, musical instruments, chains, animals, boxcars and snakes, to name just a few. We covered the creepy snake part last week—this week, thanks to the Stanley Brothers; Tom, Brad & Alice; Crary, Evans & Barnick; and County Ham–we’ll be […]