They’re falling into the new Bluegrass CD bins faster than a knife fight in a phone booth … just in the nick of time for holiday gift giving. We’ll be unveiling recent releases from Robert Hale with the 8th Wonder Band, the David Grier Band, Phil Leadbetter & the All Stars of Bluegrass, Turning Ground, […]
Bluegrass Breakdown: Feelings, Part One
It’s an emotional state or reaction. According to Plutchik’s Weel of Emotions, there are eight of them: fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, surprise, trust and anticipation. In bluegrassland, there’s basically one: sadness.
Bluegrass Breakdown: 1980, Part Nine
We’ll be careening back to 1980 when, among other things, Ronald Reagan is elected president; Libya invades Chad; CBS bans Brook Shields’ Calvin Klein jeans commercial, 83,000,000 watch Dallas’ “Who Shot J.R.” episode; the pope visits West Germany; Dolly releases her 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs LP; and Larry Sparks, Ralph Stanley, John Starling […]
Bluegrass Breakdown: Elvis Grass, 1956-1960
After the release of his first single, in 1954 — That’s All Right, backed by Blue Moon of Kentucky — the music world experienced a siesmic shift. The young man from Tupelo, Mississippi had planned to become a truck driver. Instead he would become a singer, actor, genre pioneer, sex symbol and cultural icon, who […]
Bluegrass Breakdown: Birmingham
We’ll be paying homage to one of BluegrassLand’s greatest cities–the first town to celebrate Veteran’s Day; the only place in the entire world where the three major components for making steel (iron ore, coal and limestone) can be found in close proximity to one another; the birthplace of Emmy Lou Harris, fiddler Tommy Jackson and […]
Bluegrass Amandas, Mandys And Amys, Part Two
It’s a name that’s been around since the middle ages, meaning worthy of love and often symbolizing steadfast friendship and loyalty. Surfacing in the U.S. around 1880, this common variant of the name Amanda made the Top 10 in baby names 6 times, hitting its peak in 1969 and was 2nd only to Jennifer as […]
Bluegrass Breakdown: Bluegrass Amandas, Mandys And Amys, Part One
Latin in origin, meaning “worthy of love” or “deserving to be loved,” the name first appeared in 1212 in a birth record from Warwickshire, England, but it wasn’t until the 17th century that the name hit its stride, thanks to its use by poets and playwrights. Its heyday in the U.S. was between 1976 and […]
Bluegrass Breakdown: New Releases
Few things in life conquer the coronavirus blues faster than the appearance of new bluegrass CD’s and we’ll unleashing a torrent of them from the likes of the Dillards, Jerry Salley, Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, Alecia Nugent, the Wildmans, Lindley Creek and Tacie and the Sunshine Band.
Bluegrass Breakdown: 1980, Part Eight
We’ll be catapulting back to 1980 when, in September of that year: The rock group Yes performs its last concert; the television shows “Taxi” and “Lou Grant” win Emmy awards; John Lennon & Yoko Ono sign with Geffen Records; and Butch Robins, Tony Rice, Peter Rowan and the Roustabouts unleash some serious high, blue and […]
Bluegrass Breakdown: Fifteens
It’s the natural number following fourteen and preceding sixteen; the atomic number of phosphorus; number of minutes in a quarter of football; the drinking age in Ethiopia; the name of a Taylor Swift song; the number of promises in the Book of Matthew; and the subject matter of some superlative bluegrass songs. Grandpa Jones; Sutton, […]