Being in Mexico, I don't have any shows to talk about right now, but that doesn't mean music isn't still a central part of my life. In a different moment, I might have used this for a Film Club post, but let's lead this week's...
bluegrass
This is the grave of Lester Flatt. Born in 1914 in Duncan's Chapel, Tennessee, Flatt grew up around music. He learned the banjo, the mandolin and the guitar at the.
This is the week that the last two major figures of the great generation of bluegrass musicians that started in the 1950s died. Probably the most important of the two.
This is the grave of Bill Monroe. Born in 1911 outside of Rosine, Kentucky, Monroe grew up in a musical family. His uncle Pendleton Vandiver was a major regional fiddler, for example. Being a younger child, he was forced to take what was considered the...
This is the grave of Earl Scruggs. Born in Flint Hill, North Carolina, a small community in Cleveland County, in 1924, Scruggs became one of the most interesting and innovative.
This is the grave of Don Reno. Born in 1926 in Buffalo, South Carolina, Reno grew up with a banjo in his hand. He started playing at the age of.
This is the grave of Jimmy Martin. Born in 1927 in Sneedville, Tennessee, Martin grew up in a poor farming community that was typical of any number of people in southern Appalachia. The church was a central part of life and so was the music...
This is the grave of Pendleton Vandiver. Born in 1869 in Butler County, Kentucky, Vandiver was an old-time fiddler. That wasn't uncommon. No one made any real money at this,.
The great Ralph Stanley died last night at the age of 89. Stanley was the last major living figure of the early bluegrass era. He began recording with his brother.
I had no idea that Tex Logan, noted fiddler for Bill Monroe, was also an engineer who worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. Dead at 87.
There's been way too many great musicians dying lately. I'm sick of writing these posts.
This is very sad. Scruggs was one of the last connections to the first days of bluegrass and one of the most innovative, not only in his style of banjo.