John Lawless

Roanoke

Online Editor at Bluegrass Today

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Muddy Waters from Becky Buller

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Becky Buller’s next album with Dark Shadow Recording will be an all-covers project, with each track one that has had an impact on her music and career. Before she even had a band, Becky was known for her songwriting skills, and contributed her compositions widely across bluegrass music, often with the headliners for whom she worked as a younger artist. So you know that it wasn’t a simple thing for her to choose songs recoded by others for this next record.
Weekend photos from DelFest 2025

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Prince Sisters with The Del McCoury Band at DelFest 2025 – photo © Jay StrausserHere we have some more photos from DelFest 2025, a major festival in Maryland each spring which began as a bluegrass event, and has evolved to include exceptional entertainers from across the popular music spectrum. These are from the Saturday and Sunday fare, taken by Jay Strausser, Heidi Holloway, Taylor Lewis, and Gary Jared.
Lilly Anne Svrlinga accepts the Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Lilly Anne Svrlinga with Randall Franks at the Boxcar Pinion FestivalSouth Carolina teen grasser Lilly Anne Svrlinga has been named as the designee for the 2025 Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship. Upon entering college, she will receive a $1,000 award to apply to tuition and student costs from the Share America Foundation.
The Pacific from Balsam Range

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Balsam Range has always been able to offer a wide range of sounds within one act, with a number of lead singers and songwriters in the band. For that reason, it has been tough to easily categorize them into a specific style, plus it gives them the ability to appeal to a large audience. For their latest single, The Pacific, they employ the distinctly bluegrass voice of guitarist Caleb Smith, topped by the lonesome tenor of visiting fiddler Don Rigsby.
Midnight Fire from Matt Wallace

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Bluegrass bass player and vocalist Matt Wallace has a new single dropping tomorrow with Huckleberry Music, a grassy remake of Steve Wariner’s 1983 hit, Midnight Fire. Matt is stepping out from the sideman role these days, after years working with Audie Blaylock & Redline, Paul Williams & Victory Trio, and Pine Mountain Railroad. And he is singing the lead on Midnight Fire, one he especially likes, written by Dave Gibson and Lewis Anderson.
Heavy As A Stone in Her Heart from Jaelee Roberts

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Jaelee Roberts, the current IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, has released a single for Mountain Home Music, written by the finest songwriting team we have seen for some time in bluegrass music. A great song, sung by a fine singer… what more could you want? Heavy As A Stone in Her Heart comes from Tim Stafford and the late Steve Gulley, a very brief piece that carries a bleak emotional payload. They wrote it for two guitars, and Roberts keeps a simple arrangement, which serves the song well.
Mojo's Mixtape debuts on SiriusXM

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Stephen Mougin – photo © Madison ThornSpeaking of Stephen Mougin, as we were just a couple of days ago…Stephen, or Mojo as his friends call him, is something of an overachiever. Not satisfied to be touring with one of the top acts in bluegrass, the Sam Bush Band, having a solo recording career, coaching bands and producing, and managing a successful recording studio and record label in Dark Shadow Recording, he has decided to also serve as host for a new program on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction.
Fox Chase drops for Larry Cordle

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Larry Cordle, the Mighty Cord himself, has another new single from his seemingly inexhaustible imagination. This time it’s Fox Chase, a remembrance of an ancient tradition he experienced as a youngster growing up in Kentucky. “I wrote this during the pandemic. Fox hunting Appalachian-style is a far cry from the English version of men in suits on horseback.
Raleigh announces 2025 Wide Open Music Festival

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

As the had promised to do in the event that the International Bluegrass Music Association should move its convention away from Raleigh, NC, the city, in conjunction with Pinecone, has announced a free weekend music festival downtown on the first weekend in October. The Wide Open Music Festival, which took place immediately following the IBMA’s annual World of Bluegrass convention in Raleigh (2013-2024), will continue on in its absence.
Rollin' On from The Asheville Mountain Boys

1 week ago | bluegrasstoday.com | John Lawless

Western North Carolina has long been a hotbed for acoustic string music, often of a more modern or progressive strain, to go along with the politics of the region. But there is one bluegrass group from that part of Carolina, The Asheville Mountain Boys, that sticks hard by the traditional sounds of the genre. They prove it on their latest single, Rollin’ On, which traces back to Bill Monroe’s pre-bluegrass days. Banjo man John Duncan describes it thusly.