Preserving The Tradition of Bluegrass Into The Future

Photo Credit: Wes Hobbs Better Focus Photography Amanda Cook works all sides of the music industry, stepping in and out of various roles with ease. She is a talented musician, engineer, and label executive. But in the end, it's all about the music. Growing up in Pensacola, Fla., Amanda was surrounded by music. "My mom was always playing music – in the car, in the house, and she loved to sing. I listened to strong female singers like Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie of Fleetwo

If you've attended the IBMA awards over the past several years, you've heard Katy Daley's voice. She announces the nominees for the annual awards show. But last year, she stepped from behind the microphone to the spotlight when she was inducted into the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. When she started working on the radio, Katy had never dreamed of such accolades. The Washington, DC native went to college in Brevard, North Carolina. "Everyone there was born with an instrum

From the Blue Ridge ridgelines to the Ohio Valley and the eastern Kentucky hollers, Appalachia’s brewing scene pours history, place, and personality into every pint. The region’s mix of deep-rooted tradition and creative independence shows up in its beer, its breweries, and its people. These eight breweries illustrate how craft beer in Appalachia is rooted in land, labor, and local storytelling — each one offering a glimpse into how communities across these mountains celebrat

Happy 2026!  This year marked the latest in an unbroken string of midnight countdowns that I wasn’t invited to perform on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve With Ryan Seacrest.” I was in good company, though, since not many Bluegrass entertainers were featured on TV specials welcoming the New Year. But maybe that’s because a good number of pickers and fans were just hours away from kicking off the first festivals of 2026. Before most of us had finished our first

Crooked Still, Punch Brothers, and Hawktail fiddle player Brittany Haas continues to push creative boundaries. Her latest is pairing with Dallas/Fort Worth native guitarist and composer Ben Garnett on his new album Kite’s Keep . Haas, who appeared on Garnett’s debut album Imitation Fields , says the pair have agreed to form a trio. “We just kind of developed a friendship,” Haas points out. “There is that moment where we thought, Shouldn’t we also play together professionally

“I grew up in Union, South Carolina,” she recalled, “and the first banjo I got, I was about nine. We’d only had it a month or two, and our house burned down.”   It’s the kind of memory that could have ended a childhood dream, but for Kristin Scott Benson, it simply began another story.   “The first thing that I remember well — you know, small towns can be so special. I remember how sweet the town was to us when it happened. I remember going back to school, and all these kids