I Do Just What I Do is a musical expression with more than a little panache. Eleanor Ellis has recorded some very fine, musically superb albums over the years. This feels different. This record is an expression of love for those who mentored her and took her on stage with them. This is her rhapsody, her magnum opus. When listening to it, you metaphysically bond with all the musicians who loved and embraced her. This is her love note back to them, an album in a class by itself. If Eleanor Ellis had never recorded anything before and after this album, it would not matter. I Do Just What I Do is her ultimate masterpiece, the work of a mature artist who is solidly confident and on top of her game. ...more

“If I have seen further,” Isaac Newton once wrote, “it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Bluegrass musicians can certainly relate. Our music wouldn’t exist without the foundational work of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and all the others who established the sound in the 1940s and ’50s. But with each new generation, the list of giants gets longer. Today’s young musicians also stand on the shoulders of the Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene, the New Grass Revival and David Grisman, Alison Krauss and Doyle Lawson. The vantage point rises ever higher, and the vistas become ever grander.

On this, their third album, Serene Green is clearly enjoying the view, while paying ample respect to the shoulders under their feet. The band’s six original selections sit comfortably alongside a half-dozen well-chosen covers, and lose nothing in the comparison. The vocal trio of bassist Shane McGeehan, guitarist Michael Johnson, and mandolinist Quentin Fisher oozes conviction. Banjoist Steve Leonard adorns his solid breaks and backup with dazzling cascades of triplets, while the newest band member, Katelynn Casper, swings ferociously on fiddle and delivers a powerful performance of one of Dolly Parton’s most moving songs. more....

If ever there was a modern bluegrass band worthy of note as both a leader in innovation and a transmitter of tradition, it would be the Country Gentlemen.  They naturally and seamlessly fused those two paths, doing so with a contagious enthusiasm and high-level musical excellence that greatly increased the size and spectrum of the bluegrass fan base and inspired countless musicians' hearts and minds to stretch.  Without a doubt, the Gents impacted the entire bluegrass genre while catching the ears of folk, country, rock'n'roll and pop fans too.  

...And if ever there was any single bluegrass band today with the most respect for that iconic group's sound, it would be the Country Gentlemen Tribute Band, who are carrying on that tradition in the same spirit of high standards and expansive inclusiveness.   

A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Bernard's fascination with the resounding thunder of the drum set began at an early age. His legacy of playing percussion is rooted in his childhood, where he was the drummer for his church choir at age 9. Bernard reflects on such greats as Elvin Jones and Jazz Messenger phenomenon Art Blakely and attributes Steve Ellington and Billy Higgins as major influences in his style.

While studying at Rutgers University, Bernard formed invaluable and lifelong associations with some of the most respected names in Jazz, including Kenny Barron, Grady Tate, Michael Carvin, Larry Ridley, Paul Jefferey and Ted Dunbar.  A proven and articulate clinician, Bernard served as part of a clinic conducted by the legendary saxophonist Sonny Stitt. more.....

Dreaming about winning the lottery is just that for most people – a dream. It became a reality for banjoist Alan Munde when he won the 2021 Steve Martin Banjo Prize. The windfall allowed him to go to the studio and record his thirteen original compositions and two Elliott Rogers's penned tunes that make up this collection. Alan surrounds himself with many mandolin hugs and the sweet sounds from some of his favorite pickers on these new recordings. Excelsior is a collection of Alan's original music written to showcase his strong remembrances of people or places he encountered in his 50-plus years of music. more.....

On this live concert album recorded in 2017 and 2022, Stephen Wade draws from songs, melodies, and styles rooted in Southeastern folk tradition. Based on a lifetime of personal contact with exemplars of this music, his performances attest to a welcome truth: that individuals adapting a traditional tune can renew a shared repertory. These performances feature a variety of five-string banjos—open back, resonator, a wooden-hooped mountain design, a gourd, and a Civil War-era fretless—as well as guitar. In addition to solos, Stephen is joined by multi-instrumentalist Zan McLeod and Dobro-player Russ Hooper. This collection, equally divided among old favorites, new interpretations, and numbers he has never previously recorded, forms a companion to Stephen’s forthcoming book, Our Common Life: Folklore from the Front Porch to the Concert Hall (University of Illinois Press). 72-minutes with illustrated booklet.

A 2013 Grammy nominee, Stephen authored the prize-winning book The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience. Prior to that work he edited and annotated A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings, and for a decade wrote and narrated a series of occasional song studies for NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. On Labor Day 1979 he performed for President Carter at the White House.

Mark Schatz-
Mark Schatz was born April 23, 1955 into a musical family. He began his formal musical training with cello at age ten and later switched over to string bass. His first performance was in 1971 on electric bass in a high school rock band. Inspired by a love for folk and traditional music, he took up the guitar, mandolin, and clawhammer banjo. He received his Degree in Music Theory and Composition from Haverford College, and studied for a year at Berklee College of Music.

Bryan McDowell is a person predictable only in his consistent excellence.
Fiddler, vocalist, and master of stringed instruments, his reputation is solidifying as a musician of great interest on the acoustic scene.     more....

For fiddler and founder of Five Mile Mountain Road Billy Hurt, Jr., Swingbilly Swagger is about more than just the band’s latest release. The title bears its own bravado representing an admixture of styles that rural musicians— including himself, his bandmates, and their mentors—have long absorbed and transmitted. In Billy’s home of Franklin County, Virginia, a profusion of musical influences thrive and inspire traditional musicians. And his word for this synthesis is swingbilly.

The term refers to Billy’s regional musical history. Older players that Billy met in his youth—figures that included Clark Kessinger, Burke Barbour, Jim Eanes, Clinton Gregory, Willie Gregory, Raymond Neighbors, and Bob Riley, as well the earlier presence on recordings of the Blue Ridge Highballers led by Charley La Prade, and above all, the legendary Charlie Poole—drew from a rich American songbook. They brought their music to the new media of radio broadcasts, phonograph records, and live public performances. more....