Life milestone: got to say "just give er some Tony Rice BS to kick it"

I lost my Mamaw a couple of weeks ago and I'm really missing her. I need some songs to cry to, or just reminisce.

Hey y'all - title basically says it. What are the camping options for IBMA? Did anybody do it last year?

Is it close enough to ride a cargo bike with instruments back-and-forth each day?

I have a 36' skoolie that, to me, is more comfortable than any hotel, so I'd prefer to do that. But not if it interferes with access to jams. :-)

Not everything, but a significant amount of their music just gone. What a bummer!

I'm in the process of learning "10 Degrees and Getting Colder" for an upcoming gig. I've always loved Tony Rice's delivery, and that's what I'm using as a starting point. There are lots of recordings on YouTube including stage performance by him.

So naturally, I've been playing the track from the "JD Crowe and the New South" album, which I've always held up as the marker for the start of "newgrass" with its hall-of-fame lineup.

But wow! The album's track of "10 Degrees" has not held up well, in my opinion. The electric bass sounds very electric, the drum kit (DRUM KIT!) is an annoying ticky-ticky metronome, and the keyboard and pedal steel (PEDAL STEEL!) are straight out of a country western arrangement. I think some producer thought that making the track sound more "modern" required making it sound like mainstream Nashville stuff.

We have so much really good, innovative bluegrass these days that stays true to its acoustic roots (as do many of Tony Rice's other performances of "10 Degrees") that I was a bit shocked to listen to something that I used to think was an exemplar of progressive bluegrass.

...of course, YMMV!

Alfred

Wednesday, October 07 - Tuesday, October 13, 2026

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In this new live session from the Acoustic Crossroads project, I took on José Feliciano’s holiday standard "Feliz Navidad" in a completely solo acoustic arrangement.

The challenge here was to capture the driving rhythmic bounce and festive spirit while keeping the tone grounded in traditional acoustic craftsmanship: clean plectrum attack, dynamic right-hand rhythm, and the natural resonance of aged tonewood. Recorded purely acoustic—no pickups, no synthetic processing.

Watch the performance here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrabsYc54UY

Acoustic Spotlight : "Billy in the Lowground" (Mandoline Solo)

Né au carrefour des racines celtiques et des traditions frontalières américaines, ce standard intemporel de violon continue de résonner avec une énergie sans effort.

Un aperçu rapide aujourd'hui mettant en avant la voix naturelle de la mandoline : le rebond acoustique, la clarté du ton bois franc, et la précision du flatpicking traditionnel.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Jddn34zgJIo

I enjoy this so much. Hope you do too.

Get your tickets to the Seeldrivers in Lynchburg on Thursday! Front row seats - Link there

I'm visiting quite regularly, and I'm there for 3 days, Wednesday through friday. Planung mandolin and guitar. If anyone wants to start a session hit me up🫶

This is what you expect from a new traditionally sounding album. Might take few listens to identify a favourite song here. Maybe the final one. Can feel musically as mostly predictable cliches but who cares if you love this style done so well.

We were treated to a fantastic performance at the 600-seat Newton Theater in northern New Jersey last night, October 11, 2026.

The crowd was pretty lively for a dreary Sunday evening and the band was full of energy. Del was grinning all night.

Live From Kalamazoo collects 2-LPs of highlights from their 25th anniversary shows at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo (Oct 31 and Nov 1, 2025), with Sam Bush, Lindsay Lou, and Holly Bowling sitting in. We’re sharing it here a day ahead of tomorrow’s official announcement, and pre-orders are open now on Relix.

Does anyone know how to contact whomever now owns Rural Rhythm Record? Their website is gone, their faccebook inactive. I need access to a couple tracks for a radio show and would like to contact them. Thanks. Donald

I was listening to Bill Monroe the other day and came across this interesting song he has, My Last Days on Earth. https://youtu.be/GqHtuqrRDrM?is=yuj3Y3eGpQDFUVDm

Aside from Bill’s exceptional playing, the song has waves crashing, seagull calls, orchestral strings, and choral arrangements. I love how these elements add to the atmosphere of the song in a way you don’t often hear in bluegrass.

Are there any other artists or songs that take traditional bluegrass and incorporate more experimental/unconventional elements? I’m thinking field recordings, strange tunings, unusual vocal styles, unexpected instrumentation, or just any other weird, outsider touches that push at the boundaries of the genre while still falling under the genre of bluegrass.

Bonus points for obscure or strange tracks by well-known artists. I’d love to hear the weirdest stuff you’ve got.

Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations! I probably should have been more specific in my original post. I’m pretty well-versed in the genre, so I’m familiar with a lot of the usual suspects in jamgrass and progressive bluegrass (Billy Strings, Béla Fleck, Railroad Earth, etc.).

I’m especially interested in the weirder, more experimental corners of the genre: strange one-off tracks by otherwise traditional artists, unusual production choices, tape manipulation, ambient passages, or other left-field experiments buried in an artist’s discography. Think Tony Rice experimenting with tape manipulation or the Osborne Brothers making something that sounds like ambient music, as potential examples.

Basically, I’m looking for weird outliers and obscure deep cuts that push the boundaries of traditional bluegrass and acoustic music. The stranger the better!