Tag Archives: Bluegrass music

Hilarie Burhans’ Put On The Skillet, Hubie King and Diane Jones’ There Are No Rules! and Reed Island Rounders’ Goin’ Back

Tim Hoke wrote this review. I was lucky to get to hear some good old-time banjo recordings recently. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground when it comes to banjos. There are the folks who love them, and then … Continue reading

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Hotpoint Stringband’s Steppin’ On Cords and The Road To Burhania

Tim Hoke wrote this review. I’ve said before that good contradance bands rarely make good sit-and-listen-to bands. I’ve also noted that there are exceptions to that rule, and Hotpoint Stringband can be added to that list. All of the tunes … Continue reading

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Hotpoint Stringband’s Hotpoint Special

[Editor’s note: Sadly, we’ve lost track of who wrote this review.] Casually throwing Hotpoint Special into my CD player, I chose a track at random. My ears were greeted by an infectious groove of drums and shaker. This stood in … Continue reading

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Mike Barnett’s Lost Indian, Cast Iron Filter’s Falls of Rough, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Welcome to Woody Creek, and various artists’ Close Harmony: a History of Southern Gospel Music

“The street balladry of the people who began migrating to America in the early 1600s is considered to be the roots of traditional American music. As the early Jamestown settlers began to spread out into the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky and … Continue reading

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Niall Toner Band’s There’s a Better Way

Dublin’s Niall Toner has been called the father of Irish bluegrass music. Certainly, his dedication to playing and preserving American folk and old time music has proven both a vocation and a calling card. Having played for four decades with … Continue reading

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Sandy Weltman’s The Klezmer Nuthouse

Judith Gennett wrote this review. You may have been told at some point that bluegrass is a genre with rigid rules. Sometimes it is, but the rules have not restricted the musicians of the bluegrass underworld. They also have not … Continue reading

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Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves’ Hurricane Clarice

The coronavirus pandemic of the early ’20s has played a huge role in all kinds of arts and entertainment, which I’m sure scholars will be studying for decades to come. One thing I’ve noticed is that every musician or musical … Continue reading

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Justin Moses’ Fall Like Rain

Highly respected bluegrass picker Justin Moses steps into the limelight with his first full-length project under his own name, and Fall Like Rain is an auspicious debut. Moses is a prodigious talent in many, many ways: he can play seemingly … Continue reading

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Gary’s favorite roots and Americana music of 2020

This was an amazing year for creativity of all sorts, not least in roots music. This list could easily be twice as long, especially as everybody else’s year-end lists come out and I learn about releases that I haven’t heard … Continue reading

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Various artists’ The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Volume 1

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the passing of John Hartford, his family and friends and many of the musicians he influenced are working to ensure we don’t forget him. Hartford is best known by the public as the … Continue reading

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