I recently came across a CD that was released long before Bluegrass Journal was born and well before I started getting serious about writing albums reviews. It’s one of those things I don’t remember acquiring, and quite honestly, I don’t even remember listening to it. Too bad, it’s a real gem. I’m glad I rediscovered Andy Leftwich’s solo CD, Ride.

Parts of the album are like being at a bluegrass festival after midnight and stumbling onto the best jam session you could ever imagine.

At least, that’s what some of Ride is about. Other parts are like stepping back to the late 1890s or early 1900s into someone’s fancy parlor or a bistro to listen to some refined string music of the day. A few tidbits fall right into the 21st century groove….

Acoustic Guitar recently named four-time Grammy nominees Cherryholmes’ last album ‘Cherryholmes III: Don’t Believe‘ (Skaggs Family Records) one of the “essential acoustic albums of the last 20 years.”

Here’s what the magazine said about the family band: “Bluegrass’s answer to heavy metal…

14-time Grammy^® winner Ricky Skaggs has earned his fifth consecutive #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass albums chart with ‘Ricky Skaggs Solo (Songs My Dad Loved),’ out now on Skaggs Family Records.

The release of ‘Songs My Dad Loved’ has been met with a wave of critical acclaim….

Ricky Skaggs’ first-ever solo album, Ricky Skaggs Solo (Songs My Dad Loved), is due to be released on Sept. 15 on Skaggs Family Records.

It is exactly what the title implies: Ricky Skaggs – solo. No studio musicians. No guest artists. Just Ricky Skaggs….

Although bluegrass fiddler and angelic vocalist Allison Krauss, with her duo partner Robert Plant, stole the show at Sunday night’s 51st annual Grammy awards show in Los Angeles, other bluegrass figures also emerged with hardware in hand.

The Krauss/Plant combo won in all five categories where they and their highly lauded CD, Raising Sand (Rounder), were nominated, including Record of the Year for “Please Read the Letter” and overall Album of the Year. This makes Rounder only the second independent label in Grammy^® history to win in these two categories….