I walked into a studio some friends of mine own several months ago to play a little guitar and have a good time. The studio is well equipped with just about every kind of musical gear known to man which often draws my attention as we tinker with every little sound.
On this [...]

My wife and I are children of the 80s. During said period of time neither of us had what you might call good taste in music and I dare any of my contemporaries that claim they did. Our collection from the 80s is somewhat frightening but not everything is horrible.
A good example that [...]

With my upcoming visit to my first real folk festival of the year I realize that I’m just not a folk festival person. I dig folk music and the atmosphere but you’re either into the festival thing or you aren’t. I am not.
Here’s my problem: they’re not about the music usually. [...]

Bluegrass music is as rich in heritage as many other celebrated forms of music and few musicians are as celebrated in the genre as Ralph Stanley. He’s a member of the Grand Ole Opry, recipient of the Traditional Music Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and was named a Living Legend by [...]

Some friends have recently been talking in cryptic acronyms that confused me until I garnered the humility to stop pretending I understood and asked what the initials actually meant, “What is OKOM anyway?” Without hesitation I was informed that it means “our kind of music” and in this context meant alt-country, folk, no depression, [...]

While flipping channels this morning I came across an old friend, a video on MTV. I thought they had switched to producing reality shows and dance shows on the beach with celebrity hosts. But where I usually find a pack of college-aged drama-queens living in a house they couldn’t collectively afford I found [...]

Tune into your local NPR station this afternoon to catch Adrienne Young and Little Sadie on All Things Considered.
For those of you who are in the know, this is a great chance to hear a little more from the up-and-coming alt-country starlet. For those of you new to the experience, Adrienne Young is a [...]

Apple recently released iLife ‘04 which includes GarageBand, a consumer-grade composition tool. Being both an Apple fan and a musician I’ve been giving it the once-through.
My first impression is that GarageBand is a nice first attempt to provide entry-level musicians a tool with which to create music. The inclusion of pre-recorded loops is [...]

Clearly someone is listening to country radio these days or we wouldn’t have several stations in every market playing nothing but Buddy Jewell, Keith Urban, and other contemporary country acts. I’ve heard the stories that country radio is targeting twenty-something women, NASCAR dads, or other demographic groups within the American landscape. Actually, the [...]

I just spent the last hour watching “The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour” with my wife. Sure, go ahead and laugh, but I have to admit to a variety show addiction. I loved the Muppet Show, the Mandrell Sisters, and the Smothers Brothers. Actually, I had a crush on Louise Mandrell but [...]