Tag Archives: bluegrass

The Bluebird Café – 50 Years

the Bluebird Café’s real mission was to form a center and school for acoustic music of all types on the central coast. Folk, Cajun, blues and bluegrass all found a home there, along with early country and a smattering of classical, jazz, eastern, and experimental musics. Continue reading

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CONVERSATION: Rodney Dillard

I was contacted recently by a publicist for Rodney Dillard, who has released a new digital album on Pinecastle titled Old Road New Again.  Rodney’s band for the project includes the current Dillards, plus Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Herb Pederson, … Continue reading

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Bluegrass: Country Soul

1971 was a banner year for bluegrass music. It had come of age the decade before, following its invention as a musical style by Bill Monroe in the mid-1940s. Little known, except by country music fans for its first twenty … Continue reading

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The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover: Little Annie

What got me excited was Don’s “tag” or ending of his banjo break. It’s four beats of pure delight, sort of going off sideways like a plot twist in an Alfred Hitchcock film! Continue reading

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The Origins of Bluegrass Music

I think Bill Monroe might have hired Stringbean more as a comedian to break the ice than for his banjo picking. Either that or because he was a good shortstop! Many early bluegrass bands had at least one member who did the rube comic act . . . a relic from minstrel and medicine show times. Continue reading

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