Like biscuits and fried chicken on Sunday afternoon, there were magical moments in the origins of bluegrass music, when two great things came together. A Fateful NightSuch was the occasion when sometime around 1926 or ’27, a teenager named Bill Monro...

As mentioned in part one, The Origins of Bluegrass Music: A True-grass History, Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys were still, more or less, just a good ole’ hillbilly string band when they joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1939. At the time, they had not yet a...

“Let little Ricky sing! Little Ricky can play!” In 1960, Bill Monroe found himself faced with an enthusiastic crowd in Martha, Kentucky. He and his Bluegrass Boys were playing a gig at the local high school.  In between songs, the crowd implored...

One night in 1969, Ralph Stanley was racing to a show in Louisa, Kentucky. Bam! One of his tires blew out. He was gonna be late. When he finally made it to the show, he heard singing, and the ring of a mandolin. “They sounded exactly like us!” he tol...

Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. That’s just as true for the history of bluegrass music, as it is for music as a whole. In fact, there really was no plan.  Bill Monroe had no plan, as a teenager, to meet and play with Arnold Shultz, an...

 “Hey Bill, how about havin’ Courtney here fill in on banjo?” “No Sir!” Bill Monroe turned to the upstart Courtney Johnson. “What’d you call that music there?” “Newgrass??” “Yes, I hate that.” Sometime, in the early 70s, probably at one of Bill ...

[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE] Lorraine Jordan Honored in the 2024 Women to KNOW in North Carolina State BookRecognition Highlights Her Professional Achievements and Community Impact Raleigh, NC, July 2024 – Lorraine Jordan, renowned as the “Lady of Bluegra...