bluegrass

Launched as the River Of Music Party in 2003, ROMP found its modern identity in the 2010s as a dynamic, eclectic festival celebrating bluegrass music along with its roots and branches. Organized by and on behalf of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, KY, the fest kicked off a cycle of growth and development that’s helped the city and an important cultural institution prosper in synergy. News of a new Jerry Garcia exhibit for 2024 promises more visitors than ever to this charming, out-of-the-way town. Craig Havighurst enjoyed the 20th anniversary edition of ROMP and filed this story.

Historians mostly agree that bluegrass was born in Nashville, on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, when Bill Monroe reconfigured his band and sound around banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt in late 1945. There’s a statue at the Ryman commemorating that momentous chapter of roots music. What the Nashville region has lacked, with a few short-lived exceptions, is a multi-day bluegrass festival to call its own. That may be about to change. On July 1 and 2, The Caverns down the road in Pelham, TN will stage the first Big Mouth Bluegrass Festival, with a state-of-the-art lineup.

Musicians are always getting gigs, and in bluegrass, pickers move around among bands like musical chairs for terms both long and short. It’s part of the business. But fiddle star Jason Carter has, I swear, the greatest got-the-gig story I ever heard.

Guitar-playing jamgrass juggernaut Billy Strings was named Entertainer of the Year at the 33rd annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards for the second year in a row, but Thursday was an even bigger night for banjo innovator Béla Fleck.

AmericanaFest is back in Nashville, running Sept. 13-17 for its largest and longest edition since 2019, inviting us all to consider again the variety and meaning of the music that lives in the Americana house. The category and community was born in the 1990s largely to preserve and protect traditional country music and country rock, but acoustic and traditional roots have been part of the mix from the beginning, ebbing and flowing in the mix. This year’s convention is an especially good one for lovers of old-time and bluegrass, or for making new fans, with a mixture of veterans and youth that suggest that trad is rad once again.

After two postponements, the Earl Scruggs Music Festival premiered on Labor Day weekend in southwestern North Carolina. Its equestrian center venue proved a comfortable and highly functional space for thousands of fans, while the lineup told the story of Earl Scruggs the sonic pioneer and open-minded collaborator. Craig Havighurst took it in and filed this report.

Western North Carolina bluegrass and roots band the Steep Canyon Rangers has filled the vacancy left by the recent departure of founding member Woody Platt with songwriter/guitarist Aaron Burdett of Saluda, NC. Platt surprised the band and the Americana world in April when he announced he’d be stepping away after 23 years. The Rangers have been touring with Burdett on a trial basis for a number of weeks and are announcing today that he’s officially a member.

American original Peter Rowan will turn 80 on Monday, the Fourth of July. June 24 saw the release of Calling You From My Mountain on Rebel Records, which comes in the middle of an impressive roll for a septuagenarian. Craig spoke with the one-of-a-kind bluegrass and roots star about the influence of Bill Monroe, his global inspirations and a new album that takes on 21st century America.

We've visited so far this year with the Infamous Stringdusters and Greensky Bluegrass about their journeys to top billing slots in the acoustic hybrid scene known as jamgrass. In Episode 202, Craig interviews Adam Aijala and Ben Kauffman, founding members of Yonder Mountain String Band, possibly the dominant jamming bluegrass band of the past two decades.

Bill Monroe's most devoted student Mike Compton has unearthed 13 tunes by the father of bluegrass and recruited Music City's finest to bring them to life. With a record at the top tiers of bluegrass since the 80s, nobody is more qualified.