July

Who is this inventive mandolinist who turns 84 this month?

Along with his older brother, this mandolin picker came to Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry in 1964 to play bluegrass music.

But, he recalls nearly 50 years later, there "wasn't that many bluegrass groups then really around Nashville ... and there really wasn't that much work for bluegrass musicians getting on the package shows that was going out of Nashville."

So, to put food on the table, they went country -- for a time. They recorded several country songs, including"Diesel on My Tail" (1967), which peaked at no. 18 on the Billboard charts.

"That got us ... a lot more work so we could stay in the business," he says.

They eventually came back to bluegrass, their first love, and became regular performers at Bill Monroe's Bean Blossom festivals. This younger of the two brothers also developed a unique and influential style of playing the mandolin, called crosspicking, in which he applies certain bluegrass banjo techniques to the mandolin.

Significant July dates in bluegrass history

• 1st: Keith Whitley (Clinch Mountain Boys) and Dempsey Young (Lost & Found) were born (1954)
• 4th: Charlie Monroe (1903) and Peter Rowan (1942) were born; the Country Gentlemen formed (1957)
• 8th: Kenny Baker, longtime fiddler for the Blue Grass Boys, died (2011)
• 9th: Jesse McReynolds (1929) and Ronnie Bowman (1961) were born
• 10th: Bela Fleck was born (1958)
• 13th: Rhonda Vincent was born (1962)
• 18th: Ricky Skaggs was born (1954)
• 23rd: Alison Krauss was born (1971)

The Adcocks

Martha and Eddie

On June 14, 1987, the state of Virginia held Eddie Adcock Day to coincide with his induction into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame.

Be that as it may, since 1958, Eddie has called Nashville home.

"Used to be that the capital of bluegrass was Washington, DC, but that changed," he says. "Everybody moved down here ... and it's where things are happening."

Martha "moved down" in the early 1970s, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

"When I started writing songs, and then when I was a teenager, I started thinking about Nashville," she recalls. "It had become a hotbed, an amalgamation of the kinds of music that I was really enjoying -- everything from folk to bluegrass to old timey and country."

It still is a hotbed, and it still is where things (musically, at least) are happening.

June

Who are these bluegrass lovebirds?

This husband-and-wife duo have been performing together for nearly 40 years. They met in Nashville in 1973, after his notable banjo-playing stints with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and the Country Gentlemen.

Together, they performed in II Generation and Talk of the Town before striking out as a duo under their own names. I saw them perform a few times at festivals in the Midwest during the '90s. They always can be counted on to put on a high-quality and entertaining show.

Significant June dates in bluegrass history

• 1st: Hazel Dickens was born (1935)
• 7th: Clarence White was born (1944)
• 8th: Tony Rice (1951) and Sara Watkins (1981) were born
• 14th: Eddie Adcock was inducted in the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame (1987)
• 16th: First recording of "Orange Blossom Special" by the Rouse Brothers (1939)
• 19th: Lester Flatt was born (1914)
• 20th: Ira Louvin died (1965) and Dan Tyminski was born (1967)
• 22nd: Jim & Jesse record "Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes" (1962)
• 26th: Kenny Baker was born (1926) and Bill Harrell died (2009)

Tradition!

l. to r.: Evan McGregor, Adam McIntosh, Joe Mullins, Tim Kidd,
Mike Terry

As a member of the Traditional Grass, Joe Mullins performed on the same stage with the likes of Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. Now, with the Radio Ramblers, he carries the torch originally lit by those luminaries.

The Traditional Grass broke up shortly before my passion for this music was kindled in the mid-1990s, so I never got the chance to see the band live (though I have practically worn out its fine recordings, especially the flat-out awesome 10th Anniversary Collection).

But I intend (Lord willing and the creek don't rise) to make up for that lack in my bluegrass experience by seeing Joe and the Ramblers twice this summer -- at Bean Blossom in June and at Rockome Gardens in August.

May

Who are these traditional pickers?

This group, led by the banjo man in the middle, toured extensively last year -- 35,000 miles in 20 states. And it plans to do the same this year, including stops at Bean Blossom and Rockome Gardens (both of which I plan to attend).

This banjoist is well known in bluegrass circles, having gotten his start in Nashville back in the 1980s with the Traditional Grass, a band that also included his father and the late Gerald Evans Jr. With his new mates, he has released two CDs on Rebel Records, continuing in the same traditional vein, the way, says one Nashville DJ, "God and Bill Monroe intended bluegrass to be played."

The boys are pictured here in front of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, where the music got its start in the 1940s.

Significant May dates in bluegrass history

• 2nd: Roy Lee Centers, lead singer with the Clinch Mountain Boys, died (1974)
• 9th: Keith Whitley, former lead singer with the Clinch Mountain Boys, died (1989)
• 10th: "Mother Maybelle" Carter was born (1909)
• 11th: Lester Flatt died (1979)
• 14th: Jimmy Martin died (2005)
• 17th: Red Smiley, half of the popular duo Reno & Smiley, was born (1925)
• 26th: Rob Ickes, dobro player for Blue Highway, was born (1967)
• 28th: Jerry Douglas, dobro player for the rest of the planet, was born (1956)

Driving at Night

l. to r.: Mark Stoffel, Ned Luberecki, Jon Weisberger,
Chris Jones

With fellow Weary Hearts Ron Block, Butch Baldassari, and Mike Bub, Chris Jones left behind a classic recording entitled By Heart (Flying Fish, 1989), produced by Hot Rize's Tim O'Brien.

In 1990, Chris relocated to Nashville.

"It was an interesting time," he recalls. "A little more of the bluegrass sounds were being accepted at that time and it was also a time when a lot of other bluegrass pickers were moving here."

He formed the Night Drivers in 1997, and, later that year, I saw them perform at Rockome Gardens in Illinois. I remember being surprised at the sound of his voice, which is somewhat low, not at all like the "high lonesome sound" one associates with this type of music. But it works, especially when accompanied by some tenor harmony provided by one of the Drivers.

Many musicians have worn that appellation over the years. Current mandolinist/fiddler Mark Stoffel, a native of Germany, is a former winner of the Illinois State Fiddle Champioship, held annually at the Illinois State Fair. Bassist Jon Weisberger is well known in bluegrass circles as a writer of articles and CD liner notes as well as currently serving as IBMA's vice chair. Former Rarely Herd banjoist Ned Luberecki hosts a bluegrass program on Sirius, as does Chris.

l. to r.: Ron Block, the late Butch Baldassari, Jones,
Mike Bub.

April

Who are these "night"time pickers?

Formerly a member of Weary Hearts, this bluegrass singer and songwriter formed his own band in the mid-1990s. The band's first CD, No One But You, appeared in 1997.

Since then, the band has recorded and traveled extensively. Its recent "best of" collection is entitled Lost Souls & Free Spirits.

Two members of the group host bluegrass programs on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and another member currently serves as vice chair of the International Bluegrass Music Association.

The band is based in Nashville and is pictured here in front of Gruhn Guitars, a music store in downtown Nashville featuring vintage bluegrass instruments.


Significant April dates in bluegrass history

• 2nd: Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver formed (1979)
• 10th: Gerald Evans, of Traditional Grass, died (2010)
• 13th: Sam Bush was born (1952)
• 16th: April Stevens, one half of the Stevens Sisters, was born (1974)
• 20th: Doyle Lawson was born (1944)
• 22nd: Hazel Dickens died (2011)
• 30th: Rob McCoury was born (1971)