What’s it like to be a bluegrass festival bum, roaming the country to soak in your favorite music?

I got a taste of that the first two weekends in November, catching Florida’s Withlacoochee Bluegrass Jamboree, near Dunellon, Fla., and then the following weekend, for a real change in landscape (and temperature), the Greater Downstate Indoor Bluegrass Festival, held inside (thankfully) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Ill.

Mashville Brigade “Bluegrass Smash Hits Vol. 1″ (Rural Rhythm)
The Mashville Brigade has bridged a huge, seemingly uncrossable gap with its first recording, Bluegrass Smash Hits, Volume 1, on the Rural Rhythm Records label. It was released late last month.
I sense in today’s bluegrass marketing arena, many CDs are marketed either to the traditional [...]