Bluegrass music

The World

Meet Canada’s answer to bluegrass — and its ambassador

Music

April Verch, a Canadian fiddler, comes from the Ottawa Valley that straddles the border between Ontario and Quebec. It’s the home of a bluegrass-like “old time Canadian” style with deep roots, but an uncertain future.

VIDEO: Mongolian mandolin player mixes bluegrass with sounds of his homeland

Arts, Culture & Media

Legendary bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs dead at 88

Arts, Culture & Media

Musician plays through “open-head” surgery

Arts, Culture & Media

Tom Pang Plays Bluegrass with a Mongolian Twist

Arts, Culture & Media
The World

Stalking the African Banjo

Banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs died this week. He took the instrument to dizzying technical heights for the bluegrass genre. And he influenced a new generation of banjo players […]

The Takeaway Pays Tribute to Earl Scruggs

Earl Scruggs, the man who reinvented the banjo as a solo virtuoso instrument, has died at the age of 88.  Scruggs invented a style, the three finger picking style of banjo playing distinct from the ancient Clawhammer technique. Scruggs style is precise, rhythmic, dizzyingly fast and took the banjo from the back of the band and […]

Steve Martin on ‘Give Me the Banjo’

In music, there are few things more insane than an amateur going and trying to sit down with a real player. But that’s just what John Hockenberry did earlier this week, when he went to the house of comedian, author and banjo  aficionado Steve Martin. A documentary called “Give Me the Banjo” airs tonight, and is […]

Clay Ross and Brazilian Bluegrass

Arts, Culture & Media

The World’s Alex Gallafent profiles South Carolina guitarist Clay Ross who fuses Brazilian rhythms with American Jazz beats.

Bluegrass Plays a Greener Tune

The 35th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival will feature Sam Bush, Leftover Salmon ?and carbon offsets.