Music has always had a resounding presence in the lives of twin sisters Leanna Price and Lauren Price Napier. Growing up, their parents sang traditional and old-time country songs and as the sisters grew up hearing duet harmony, they naturally became accustomed to singing together themselves. Lauren and Leanna were gifted instruments for their eighth birthday and began taking lessons within a year or so afterwards, though they didn't take as strong an interest in bluegrass music specifically until their mid-high school years. The girls then began attending as many festivals and workshops as possible. In the spring of 2016, Leanna and Lauren signed to Rebel Records and subsequently recorded and released an EP that August, thus beginning pursuit to tour professionally as The Price Sisters. The Price Sisters have now performed at numerous venues and festivals across the United States as well as in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Canada. The Sisters released their first full-length album for Rebel Records, "A Heart Never Knows," in the spring of 2018 and in 2019 hired their first full-time touring band. 

While Lauren and Leanna front the band and are recognized for their twin-sister harmony singing, the girls are supported by band members who are each accomplished musicians in their own right, all within the group having earned regards from those in the business whom they admire. The band is made up of young multi-instrumentalists and vocalists and showcases and traditional, yet fresh and innovative sound. Lauren is a five-time instructor at the Monroe Mandolin Camp and continues to be an in-demand instructor at music camps across North America, having added the DelFest Academy, Camp Bluegrass, and more to her teaching roster. In June of 2019, Lauren was honored with a feature interview for Mandolin Cafe. Leanna has been a featured artist in Fiddler Magazine, presently works as an apprentice of set-up and repair at Nashville's The Violin Shop, and is a frequent fiddler on WSM's Grand Ole Opry. Banjo player Trevor Holder was awarded first prize on the banjo at the prestigious Old Fiddlers' Convention in Galax, VA, in 2019. Bobby Osborne Jr on bass is no stranger to bluegrass and country music, having made his career thus far playing music with his father, Bobby Osborne. Conner Vlietstra is not only a talented guitarist and vocalist, but is an award-winner on several instruments and is well-versed in material stemming from the pre-bluegrass and country music catalogs. Both collectively and individually, band members have instructed and hosted various vocal and instrumental workshops/lessons in private and festival/group settings.

Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has featured articles on The Price Sisters in two separate issues to date; both releases on Rebel Records earned "highlight" reviews in the magazine as well. The Price Sisters have garnered significant press through outlets such as No Depression, Paste Magazine, For Folk's Sake, The Bluegrass Situation, and The Eddie Stubbs Show. Lauren and Leanna have been Artists in Residense for the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, KY, performing bluegrass music programming across 24 area elementary schools. The Price Sisters band collectively has been nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Momentum Band of the Year (2019) while Lauren has received nominations for Momentum Vocalist and Instrumentalist of the Year (2019 and 2020, respectively) and Leanna for Momentum Vocalist (2020.) The group has also been featured as an official showcase act for the IBMA, and has appeared at ROMP, DelFest, the University of Chicago's Folklife Festival, Bean Blossom, and . Presently, The Price Sisters have signed on to McCoury Music and are anticipating their first record for the label, produced by Ronnie McCoury, to be released in 2023.

Sunday December 10, 2023

The Becky Buller Band

Becky Buller is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter from St. James, MN, who has traversed the globe performing bluegrass music to underwrite her insatiable songwriting habit. Her compositions can be heard on records by Ricky Skaggs, Rhonda Vincent and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, to name just a few. Becky has written songs for Grammy award-winning albums: she co-wrote “Freedom,” the lead-off track of The Infamous Stringdusters 2018 Grammy-winning album Laws of Gravity as well as “The Shaker” on The Travelin’ McCourys self-titled release that brought home the 2019 Best Bluegrass Grammy. Becky is the recipient of 10 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards, including the 2020 Song Of The Year, “Chicago Barn Dance” (co-written with Missy Raines and Alison Brown); 2020 Collaborative Recording for “The Barber’s Fiddle”; 2016 Fiddler and Female Vocalist and the 2018 Gospel Recorded Performance for the song “Speakin’ To That Mountain”. She tours extensively with the Becky Buller Band and has released three albums on the Dark Shadow Recording label, including Distance And Time, which was a nominee for the 2021 IBMA Album Of The Year. Equally passionate about bluegrass music education, Becky has 20 years experience teaching fiddle, singing, and songwriting at workshops and camps around the world.  She currently serves on the board of the IBMA Foundation.

Sunday January 14, 2024

Lonesome River Band

Since its formation decades ago, Lonesome River Band continues its reputation as one of the most respected names in bluegrass music. Five-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Banjo Player of the Year, and winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, Sammy Shelor leads the group that is constantly breaking new ground in acoustic music. With two stellar lead vocalists, Jesse Smathers (guitar) and Adam Miller (mandolin), and the impressive talents of Mike Hartgrove (fiddle) and Kameron Keller (bass), the band seamlessly comes together, performing the trademark sound that fans continue to embrace

Sunday February 11, 2024

The Grascals

Great musicians will always find a way to make good music, but for great musicians to make great music, they must form a bond – one that, more often than not, goes beyond the purely musical to the personal. For The Grascals, that bond has been forged at the intersection of personal friendships, shared professional resumes and an appreciation for the innovative mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a hallmark of the Nashville scene for more than forty years. 

Their cutting-edge modern bluegrass is delivered with a deep knowledge of, and admiration for, the work of the music’s founding fathers. Timely yet timeless, The Grascals make music that is entirely relevant to the here and now yet immersed in traditional values of soul and musicianship. It’s a unique sound that has earned three Grammy® nominations and two Entertainer of the Year awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association, as well as national media attention that seems to perpetually elude acts entrenched in niche genres. Such appearances include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Fox & Friends, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and CBS’ The Talk. Honors also include performing twice for President George W. Bush and at President Barack Obama’s inaugural ball at the Smithsonian. 

The Grascals have over 200 guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry to their credit and have also performed on the revered stages of Radio City Music Hall, the Ryman Auditorium and the Kennedy Center as well as music festivals such as MerleFest, Stagecoach, and the CMA Music Festival. In addition to performing across the United States and Canada, the awarding-winning band has traveled the world to take bluegrass music to Japan, Greece, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Belgium. 

The Grascals have also had the opportunity to record and share the stage with several country music legends including Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Hank Williams, Jr., George Jones, Kenny Rogers, Brooks & Dunn, Patty Loveless, The Oak Ridge Boys, Steve Wariner, Tom T. Hall, The Jordanaires, and more. 

As their recordings prove, The Grascals’ rare musical empathy gives them an unerring ear for just the right touch to illuminate each offering’s deepest spirit – whether they’re digging into one of their original songs or reworking a bluegrass classic or a pop standard. Take for instance, fan favorite, “Last Train to Clarksville.” Non-bluegrass listeners enjoy a new take on a familiar song, while diehard bluegrass audiences who may have never heard the Monkees classic, respond in-kind, not even realizing that the song has been Grascalized. 

As they look toward their 20th anniversary, The Grascals can truthfully say they have the best of both worlds — the steadiness of a veteran group that knows who they are and where they’re going, and the excitement and energy of an ensemble that knows it still has something to prove. With a renewed spirit and zeal to continue create and blazing new music trails, be on the lookout for much more to come from The Grascals!

Sunday March 3, 2024

High Fidelity

Many folks remember the great bluegrass records from the 1950s and ‘60s. The power and soul of that music has won the hearts of people across the globe. Few bands have come along in recent years that directly draw their influence from that classic era of the music’s history. High Fidelity is a rising group whose love and devotion to that music is unsurpassed. The name alone says it all: HIGH FIDELITY. How many record albums have you seen from the ‘50s and ‘60s that bear those words? Herein lies the heart of what this group of young performers is all about.

Formed in early 2014, the group received its first achievement with a first place win in the International Band Championship at the 40th Annual Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) Awards in February of 2014. In 2019, they were nominated for International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) New Artist of the Year. 

The band consists of five outstanding musicians and singers who are steeped in the sounds of tradition. Jeremy Stephens, guitarist and lead vocalist for the group, has worked for the world famous gospel group The Chuck Wagon Gang, on the television show Ray Stevens’ Nashville, and most recently with Jesse McReynolds & the Virginia Boys. Corrina Rose Logston, fiddler and harmony vocalist, has worked with a who’s who of today’s traditional-based bluegrass performers, most notably Jesse McReynolds & the Virginia Boys and Jim Lauderdale. Kurt Stephenson handles banjo duties and harmony vocals. He is the 2010 National Bluegrass Banjo Champion at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, and is a staple performer of the greater west Tennessee area. Vickie Vaughn, who plays upright bass and contributes vocals, has worked in recent years with Patty Loveless and Ricky Skaggs. Multi-instrumentalist and harmony vocalist Daniel Amick, has won numerous instrumental contests across the southeast and is a recipient of IBMA’s 2019 Instrumentalist of the Year Momentum Award.

High Fidelity draws much of their inspiration from bands like Don Reno & Red Smiley, The Stanley Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, Jim & Jesse, and a host of lesser known regional artists from the same era. Many have described them as the new Johnson Mountain Boys, interpreting classic era bluegrass through the fresh, young perspective of today’s generation. Maybe it is this quality that makes High Fidelity so warmly received and widely loved by every audience they perform for – both by the grandparents and the grandchildren.

Sunday March 24, 2024

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

"Playing music is the easy part,” says Russell Moore with an ever-so-slightly rueful laugh as he looks back on more than thirty years of doing what he grew up wanting to do. “By the time we put this band together”—he’s talking about IIIrd Tyme Out, his musical vehicle for over twenty-five years now—“I was realistic enough to know that bands come and go. Being able to stay together is the hurdle that everyone faces. So I didn’t have a preconceived notion that someday I’d be celebrating twenty-five years with IIIrd Tyme Out—but I did feel like I would be playing music for the rest of my life.”

As it turns out, while many bands have come and gone since that May in 1991, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out have endured. In the process, they’ve managed to climb to the top not just once, but twice—winning a slew of IBMA vocal awards, including two Male Vocalist of the Year honors, in the mid and late 1990s, then persevering through rough times to see Moore recapturing the Male Vocalist trophy for the three more years. Along the way, they’ve made a whole new generation of fans, and with the release of Timeless Hits From The Past… BLUEGRASSED by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and their latest self-produced album, It’s About Time, the quintet are poised to deliver their distinctive kind of music more widely than ever.

For Moore, it’s been a long journey from his childhood Texas home. Raised in Pasadena, near Houston, he heard a lot of country music growing up—“I was five miles from Gilley’s right during the Urban Cowboy craze,” he notes—but it was bluegrass that really turned his head as he moved into his teen years. “Bluegrass was accessible,” he recalls. “The bands, the musicians, they were so approachable—and even though we weren’t in the bluegrass mainstream geographically, I was able to see artists like Bill Monroe, Larry Sparks ands the Lewis Family, and you could just be around them. That was intriguing to me.”

Within a few years, Russell was playing mandolin in a regional band, and by the time he was in his early 20s, he had teamed up with a couple of like-minded youngsters to create Southern Connection, making the move to North Carolina to pursue bluegrass success—though it turned out that when he first found it, it was as a guitar-playing sideman. Joining Bluegrass Hall of Famer Doyle Lawson and his legendary band, Quicksilver, Moore quickly found himself in the bluegrass forefront, remaining there with Lawson through six years and as many bluegrass and bluegrass gospel albums. And though his tenure with Quicksilver barely overlapped the establishment of the IBMA’s awards, Moore shared in the first of many to come when the group took home the Song Of The Year crystal in 1990 for “The Little Mountain Church House.”

Still, a desire to make his own mark impelled Russell, along with bandmates Mike Hartgrove and Ray Deaton, to take the bold step of creating their own group in 1991. Naming themselves IIIrd Tyme Out—a reference to the number of professional bands they’d already been in, complete with a memorable twist on spelling—the group hit the ground running, releasing three well- received albums on the venerable Rebel Records label in just four years. “We weren’t immune from the same things that any other band starting up has to endure,” Moore recalls. “You have to prove yourself—you have to let people know that you’re sincere, and that you’re going to work hard. But once we were able to get enough show dates that we didn’t have to have day jobs, we felt pretty good that as long as we continued to work hard, put the music out that we knew we were capable of, be personable and humble and appreciative—we felt that we could continue on if we chose to.”

And continue on they did. In 1994, they earned the first of an unsurpassed seven consecutive IBMA awards for Vocal Group of the Year, along with Russell’s first Male Vocalist of the Year title. For the remainder of the decade and into the new century, IIIrd Tyme Out was among the most important acts in the field, earning acclaim for the compelling artistry—especially vocal—they brought both to a string of well-received albums and to stages across the United States. Yet all was not well within the group, and in the early part of the new century, partnership tensions and personnel instability came to a head—and with them, the very real possibility of an end to the group.

It was at that point that Russell Moore stepped up. “I was stubborn,” he says with a smile. “I knew there was a lot that could be done with this group, and I was stubborn enough to say, I have put too much into this to let it just get away. So when everything came down to it, I knew that it was time. I could have started something brand new, but I would have had to give up everything that we had worked for. So I decided to stick it out. I kept hoping that everyone would start pulling in the same direction—and I kept praying, too.”

With Moore in charge—and with his name now in front, recognizing both his new leadership role and the group’s single biggest musical focus—IIIrd Tyme Out began to rebuild. Signing with Rural Rhythm Records in 2007, the quintet solidified a new lineup, and the 2009 release of Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, with its hit single, “Hard Rock Mountain Prison,” paved the way for Moore to take another Male Vocalist honor in 2010. Prime Tyme and its irresistibly catchy “Pretty Little Girl From Galax” followed in 2011, as did another Male Vocalist trophy, and Moore was called to the stage yet again at 2012’s IBMA awards to accept still further recognition of his preeminence as a singer.

Yet IIIrd Tyme Out is hardly a one-man show, even with a frontman as spectacular as Moore. Wayne Benson, who joined the band over 20 years ago—just in time for the aptly titled Grandpa’s Mandolin—and stayed for nearly a decade before taking a job with the John Cowan Band, returned in 2007; his tasteful, influential approach to the mandolin is a focal point of the group’s instrumental prowess even as he continues to contribute in the vocal department. Keith McKinnon, who served memorable stints with his brother Kevin in singer Carrie Hassler’s band and in their own Still-House, holds down the banjo slot, Dustin Pyrtle, a six-year member of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and a self-proclaimed Russell Moore fan, is the bass player, and Nathan Aldridge, the youngest member of the band and formerly with Sideline is the fiddle player. All men also contribute to the group’s award-winning harmonies.

The quintet’s Cracker Barrel Old Country Store release, Timeless Hits From The Past…BLUEGRASSED, made Billboard’s Top 5 Best-Selling Bluegrass Albums of 2013. The success of that album, released separately from an established bluegrass record label, gave Moore the idea to release the band’s next album on his own. So he started Break A String Records and released their latest album, It’s About Tyme in September 2015. Recorded at Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Studio in Nashville, TN, the album has been a record-breaking, career milestone for Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out. To date, it’s produced three #1 Hits; “Brown County Red,” “CottonTown,” and the Moore original, “I’m Leaving You And Fort Worth Too.” And the album debuted at #2 on the National Bluegrass Survey’s Top 15 Albums chart in November 2015 then climbed to #1 in December 2015 where it lived for SIX consecutive months – a first for the band. The success of It’s About Tyme has resulted in a 2016 IBMA Nomination for Album of the Year.

Add it all up, and the future is looking very bright for Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out. Indeed, if one measure of success is the degree to which younger and newer musicians look to a group for inspiration, then IIIrd Tyme Out is about as successful as a bluegrass group can be, for a whole generation of young pickers and singers can be heard across the country trying their hand at IIIrd Tyme Out classics. “It’s one of the greatest compliments you could ever have,” Moore acknowledges. “It’s humbling to know that they think that much of what we’re doing—and sometimes it makes you think wow, we really are making a difference. People are taking notice.

“All the awards, all the recognition, those things are just by-products of doing what we love to do —and of having everybody pulling in the same direction. So to get them is a little overwhelming, sometimes. But when you know that somebody else out there is getting something from you because of your music, well, that’s the thing about music that got me into it—just the love of the music, and the way it made me feel. It always has been therapeutic, and it still is—and you can’t ask for more than that.”

Sunday April 28, 2024

Dave Peterson & 1946

Every so often a new day dawns...

 In 1946, Bill Monroe (along with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) had all the right ingredients come together for the first classic recordings for Columbia, and Bluegrass music was formed. This new music captured the imagination of a whole new generation of fans and musicians and changed forever the face of American music.

Over the past three quarters of a century Bluegrass has changed and evolved, but no group of musicians has recaptured the original essence of the founding group of Mr. Monroe's quite like this band. 

David Peterson & 1946 has drawn upon the style and content, recaptured the primal excitement and energy, and attracted the same kind of popular interest as that of the first Bluegrass group. Listen closely and you will hear strains of Bill Monroe, Chubby Wise, Cedric Rainwater, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. You'll also hear traces of other early Bluegrass and seminal country music pioneers interspersed among the varied tunes that 1946 plays. Driving instrumentals, solemn Gospel quartets, heartfelt trios and old-style duets. "Tears in your eyes" vocal solos, blazing original tunes, and a "treat for the eyes" stage appearance are what David Peterson & 1946 are all about.

 You must hear this band. You must see this band. You must experience this band, and you must experience David Peterson & 1946.