Preserving The Tradition of Bluegrass Into The Future

3:00 a.m., the spooky hour here on the Wee Farm. Why do my eyes fly open consistently at this time of a morning? If I fell asleep at 2:45 a.m. I would still come out of a dream around 3:00 a.m. …sigh. I cain’t have nuthin’ nice. Now granted, most times I lie there and argue with my sleepy self, insisting I fall back to sleep but it’s usually a battle. I always wake up the next morning patting myself on the back for winning the war. But this morning, yep, here I sit in the sil

“SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUEGRASS” Choosing Tunes for Wedding Playlists As spring turns into summer, weddings in city churches, country chapels, and the great outdoors are echoing with tunes familiar to Bluegrass brides and grooms. “If a June night could talk,” said English writer Bernard Williams,

Don’t tell Rebekah Speer she can’t do something. She will, no doubt, prove you wrong. In the eight years that I have known her, I haven’t seen much that Rebekah can’t do, and what she does, she pours her heart and soul into. Early Years Maybe it was growing up on a family farm in Lincolnton, Georgia, where she did hands-on work like tending to cattle, logging, carpentry, brick masonry, and even septic services, that Rebekah became a real jane-of-all-trades. Childhood was dif

A few years ago musician, vocalist and songwriter Zach Williams stretched himself to do something he didn’t want to do. It was outside his comfort zone. For Williams and his bandmates, however, an unexpected reliance on community would leave a creative mark. The Lone Bellow is known for heartfelt Americana soulfulness, and rootsy, emotionally sensitive lyrics. The group’s gospel-esque harmonies are capable of making even the hardest among us get a little misty when the music

For “worldgrass” trio Tanasi, music is about ideas that are understood personally but felt globally. The people, ideas, and music of different places and cultures provide inspiration and prove yet again that music is a universal language. “One of the things the three of us realized early on – beyond our shared love of tight Appalachian harmonies and beautiful melodies – is how deeply we all value travel and the chance to meet people from around the world who share that same l

On a Saturday afternoon in March, three musicians stood on a wooden stage built around the base of an old-growth sycamore tree on an idyllic piece of property outside of Kosciusko, Mississippi. They were playing for the kickoff of Heart Farms, the passion project of Terry Hunt. “I call Rosalee Walsh my niece,” Terry says. “I just knew I had to get her band to play today.” It was the end of a week of teaching for The Little Mercies, the band Rosalee has with her friends, Shan