If Bill Monroe is the father of bluegrass, then Ralph Stanley’s the godfather. His distinctive clawhammer style of banjo and ability to hit the high notes and hold ’em made him and brother Carter’s band, The Clinch Mountain Boys, one of the best-loved bands in bluegrass. His popularity faded, then came back with a vengeance […]
Grant Britt
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Shakori Hills: Localized at last
Are you crushed because Hendrix didn’t make it to your favorite outdoor festival? Steamed because George Jones wasn’t on the bill? If you don’t like what you’re seeing and hearing when you visit the great outdoors for musical stimulation, now there’s something you can do about it. The Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music and […]
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in African sounds
‘I feel like I’m being used to put this music out, to sing for the poor, the sick, old people, or to talk to some sad person sitting there,” says Uganda’s Samite Mulondo, founder of the nonprofit organization Musicians for World Harmony. ‘All it means is giving time, and it makes the world a better […]
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Fat Possuming with Solomon Burke
When Epitaph Records’ Andy Kaulkin first approached Solomon Burke about being part of the Fat Possum family–the Mississippi label home to blues guitarists R.L. Burnside and T-Model Ford–the soul singer thought he was being recruited to don an animal suit and entertain at athletic events. He had just been asked to sponsor The Fat Bears, […]
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Texas juice
We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what genre we want to be a part of,” says Gourds guitarist Kev Russell. People have been trying to do just that since the Austin, Texas band first got together around ’95. “It’s kind of a day-to-day thing with us, the kind of mood we get […]
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Sneaking in a revival
Although he’s credited with introducing steel guitar into rock and creating a new genre of music, former Flying Burrito Brother “Sneaky Pete” Kleinow says he never heard a lot about it from other musicians. “Nobody ever came up to me and said ‘What the hell were you trying to do?’ ” says Kleinow. “It was […]
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Keepin’ on
Great God almighty! Coming out of Durham’s New Shiloh Holiness Church, is something that sounds like Wilson Pickett in a battle to the death with Satan. Has Pickett got religion? Not likely–those sounds are coming from Pastor Landy Void and his gospel group the Void Brothers. Void started practicing his craft at an early age […]
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Giving it up
Taylor Doggett was painting houses in Greensboro’s black neighborhoods when the music first got to him. Working for his father’s real estate management company one hot summer, Doggett got a chance to soak up the best R&B the ’50s had to offer, listening to the music of people sitting out on their front porches playing […]
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in prime picking
Cleveland County native Earl Scruggs didn’t invent the three-finger style of banjo picking, but he revolutionized bluegrass by smoothing out his rolls into a regular rhythmic pattern, emphasizing the melody. Scruggs’ “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” won a Grammy in ’69. His latest, Earl Scruggs and Friends, includes Sting, Elton John, Melissa Etheridge and Steve Martin. He’s […]
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Little Charlie heads to Hillsborough
The band is out of Berkeley, but the sound came from the back alleys of Chicago–with a few stops along the way. Poking around in yesteryear Texas for some Western swing and some snooty joints for a taste of upscale jazz, Little Charlie and The Nightcats came up with a sound unlike anything else in […]
