“Arcadia” might not be the best album to introduce your friends to the power of bluegrass, but it might be the ideal specimen to introduce them to the beauty of it.
Collectively, the current members of Alison Krauss and Union Station have 70 Grammy nominations between them. Both their upcoming tour starting in April, as well as Arcadia will be highly anticipated.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the legendary pairing of Alison Krauss and Union Station will be officially reuniting in 2025 for a massive nationwide tour. In total, the pairing will perform some 70+ tour dates.
Right before Billy was set to take the stage for his headlining performance Friday night to play songs from the new album, he got a call from back home. His wife was in labor, and about to give birth to the couple’s first child.
Even Billy Strings himself admits openly that the best way to imbibe in his music is in the live setting. But that doesn’t mean he can’t get into the studio between shows and see what kind of trouble he can get into.
Bluegrass is no longer the cute little subgenre of country just trying to keep the traditions going in fiddle camps across the country. It’s that too, but Billy Strings has taken it to the arena level with others on his heels.
Noam Pikelny—the banjo maestro and member of both The Punch Brothers and Mighty Polar—he said it best in his always humorous statements from the stage. “Telluride is like ‘Lord of the Flies’ meets the Grand Ole Opry.”
Yes, yes, and yes. Finally we have a Swamp Dogg album that fits in the country music world. It’s bluegrass. It’s “blackgrass” if you will. And it’s also decidedly a Swamp Dogg album, which means it’s all served with offbeat weirdness.
In lieu of Randy being able to sing new, original songs due to his continued aphasia, he has partnered with his old label Warner Music Nashville to release a new song called “Where That Came From.”
There are few experiences like the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in picturesque Telluride, Colorado. Simply stepping foot into town is like entering a real life fairytale village, not to mention the world class music you’ll experience.
The only way the original roots of American country music have been able to endure in popular culture throughout all of these years is by finding willing hosts that allow the music to exist in their hearts.
“City of Gold is a Western bluegrass album that is unafraid of broaching the subjects that are actually relevant to many bluegrass fans of today while stretching the sonic limits of the genre ever so slightly in spots.
The Telluride Bluegrass Festival has been around for 50 years, and turned in some legendary moments over that time. Sierra Ferrell’s set June 17th feels like one that will be entered into those annals of legendary festival moments.
Looking to capitalize on the attention and momentum she’s captured in her Golden Highway era, Molly Tuttle recently ventured back in the studio, and recorded “City of Gold.”
Despite his punk country popularity, Fulks actually started out as a folk and bluegrass musician who was raised in the Blue Ridge of Virginia and the Piedmont of North Carolina. And after performing in the club scene in Greenwich Village and attending Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk, joined Special Consensus.
Dierks plays both sides of the country music cultural divide, and in the past he’s put out albums that very much appeal to folks who wouldn’t be caught dead listening to corporate radio. But that’s not exactly what “Gravel & Gold” is. It’s definitely not like his 2016 album “Black” either.
Why is Mo Pitney not more of a thing? I mean seriously folks. Now I know that to Mo Pitney fans, he is a huge thing. They don’t need to be sold on the talent and authenticity of this young man. But you don’t always see Mo Pitney listed off with all the other names of newer artists.
20 years in the business now, Dierks Bentley should be at the point where he can call his own shots. And seeing him paling around with Charlie Worsham lately, and hanging out in the rain to watch Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway play their set at Telluride last summer are all good signs.
How much does the listening public care about a batch of ol’ stuffy bluegrass cover songs? Apparently quite a bit when they’re coming from Billy Strings. His recent collaboration with his dad Terry Barber has brought in career-record numbers for the bluegrass phenom, and put him at or near the top of charts.
If there was an ideal time for Billy Strings to hop off the bluegrass train, it would be right now. So what does he do to codify his dominance of the live music space? He goes off and records the most straightforward album of bluegrass and country standards as possible, and invites his father.
We knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Though we all have fallen in love with bluegrass phenom Billy Strings as he’s taken the roots music world by storm to the point where his popularity has spilled out into the greater music landscape, you knew that sooner or later he would jump the bluegrass tracks…
Certain events and venues take on an exceptional status in music, simply from the moments that happened there, the memories made, and the artists discovered. Such is the case for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, which celebrated its 49th Anniversary in 2022.
Sunday night (5-29), Tyler Childers returned to the main stage of DelFest. But unlike in 2019 when he played a straightforward, daytime supporting set, this time Childers was the headliner backed by the festival’s namesake backing band, The Travelin’ McCourys.
Beginning in the 00’s, songwriting in country music began to change, and by the early 2010’s, the population of country music songwriters had contracted by as much as 90% by some estimates, as the royalties that helped sustain these writers also began to dry up.