Flatpicking and Bluegrass Guitar
“Sitting on Top of the World”—or “sittin’” if you prefer—is a staple of American roots music that’s been played in just about every style since it was first recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks in 1930. That version, written by Lonnie Chatman and Walter Vinson, is in the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. Howlin’ Wolf’s … Read more
You’ll find no shortage of prison songs and railroad songs in the bluegrass canon, and sometimes you’ll find songs that cover both. “Nine Pound Hammer” is all about swinging a big hammer, and its lyrics come from the laborers and chain gangs that worked on railroads in the post-Civil War era. Fiddlin’ Charlie Bowman from … Read more
This song about being abandoned by a lover goes way back. It was first documented in a 1909 compilation of songs by the Missouri Folklore Society, but had clearly been well established as a local favorite for years before that. The composer is unknown. In early versions the narrator is a woman, but the genders … Read more
If you jam outside during the summer, you know all about sweaty fingers and slippery guitar picks. Here’s how to keep your guitar pick from slipping.
Playing fast bluegrass rhythm guitar can be tricky, especially if you try to play it the same way you always play it. Here’s what to do instead.
A simple little three-chorder with some classic bluegrass themes: unrequited young love, murder and guilt.
Bill Monroe is the Father of Bluegrass but even he had his influences, and perhaps none greater than James Pendleton Vandiver—his “Uncle Pen”.
Artists have been performing and recording “Rank Stranger” for more than 60 years, but the Stanley Brothers’ 1960 recording for Starday Records remains the definitive version.
“New River Train” is believed to take its name from a train on the Norfolk and Western system that ran through the Blue Ridge Mountains from West Virginia to North Carolina in the 1880s.
“Man of Constant Sorrow” had been around for about a century before George Clooney stepped up to the microphone as lead singer for the Soggy Bottom Boys in O Brother, Where Art Thou?