Category Archives: Musicks

Songs and concerts are important.

Bobby Hutch

Ain’t that a great face? I’ve been posting a ton of pix from the 2017 Milan festival this week, so there’s some danger this one will get buried amongst the others. I’m hoping not; this is one of my favorites.

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Leigh Gibson

While I’ve been attending the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival for decades, last week’s Milan festival was my fifth. It had always seemed too far away–until 2013, when it looked like the Charlotte festival wouldn’t happen.

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Terry Eldredge

Terry sings lead and harmony with the Grascals, and is a terrific, but I think under-appreciated, musician. His ability to meaningfully stagger the rhythms on high-speed songs never ceases to amaze me. He’s seen here at the 2012 Charlotte Bluegrass Festival.

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Wayne Benson

IIIrd Tyme Out’s excellent mandolin player.

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It all began with Sahlgren

Mark changed my life.

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Kurt Hickman

In recent years Kurt and his band Harbourtown have been a fixture at the Charlotte (MI) Bluegrass Festival. They’ll be appearing on Thursday, this year (this week). I’m looking forward to hearing them again.

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Mark Stoffel

When I photograph bluegrass musicians I generally use a better camera and get closer to my subject. But rarely do my good cameras capture such motion.

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Bean Blossom by Thomas A. Adler: a review

But the best parts are the author’s explorations and explications of the temporary, recurring communities that are annually (re)built at bluegrass festivals. He captures the culture well.

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Bluegrass Odyssey by Carl Fleischauer and Neil Rosenberg: a short review

Someone looking for a more thorough history of the music would indeed be better served by one of Rosenberg’s other books. But this book is valuable in its own right.

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Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism by Thomas Brothers: a review

This is not a general biography–it’s a musicologist’s biography, and best read as such. Those looking for a general biography of the artist would probably be better served by reading Terry Teachout’s fine Armstrong biography, Pops.

All that said, this is a great book, and highly recommended.

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