If there is a single savior of Celtic music, Alan Stivell is probably it. Since the end of the 1960s, he has done more to revive interest in the Celtic (specifically Breton) harp than anyone in the world and, in the process, almost singlehandedly made the world aware of native Breton Celtic music. Since 1971, he has been recording albums of... [+] Read More

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Premier banjo player Béla Fleck is considered one of the most innovative pickers in the world and has done much to demonstrate the versatility of his instrument, which he uses to play everything from traditional bluegrass to progressive jazz. He was named after composer Béla Bartok and was born in New York City. Around age 15, Fleck became... [+] Read More

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Buddy Spicher broke into country music in the mid-'50s, when he joined the band backing Audrey Williams (widow of Hank) mid-tour, replacing Dale Potter late in 1957 or early in 1958. He started out in Wheeling, WV, and ended up in Nashville. For the rest of the 1950s and most of the 1960s, the country fiddle virtuoso was on the road, playing in... [+] Read More

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David Grisman is normally associated with the bluegrass wing of country music, but his music owes almost as much to jazz as it does to traditional American folk influences. Because he couldn't think of what to call his unique, highly intricate, harmonically advanced hybrid of acoustic bluegrass, folk, and jazz without leaning toward one idiom or... [+] Read More

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Though she did not become a big name in bluegrass music, during the '80s Emma Smith garnered a small but devoted following thanks to her interesting, perceptive songs and powerful mountain voice. Born Emma Lee Maggard in Hindman, Kentucky, she began playing guitar as a youth. She married in her late teens and set up housekeeping in Hazard,... [+] Read More

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"Southern Americana". Erik Viel coins the musical style as a mixture of rock, blues, folk and acoustic music. The songs on the album are performed by some of the finest, experienced musicians in the Southeast. Erik has been honing his craft for nearly 25 years and the songs on the album are a reflection of his diverse musical background. Erik... [+] Read More

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Larry Sparks has said that he's the youngest old-timer around, and the self-description is an apt one. Emerging from the Stanley Brothers' Clinch Mountain Boys band, Sparks carried on with the sounds created by bluegrass music's first generation. His style was no knock-off, however; it had a distinctively bluesy tinge anchored by Sparks' own... [+] Read More

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The McPeak Brothers were a popular bluegrass trio from Wytheville, VA, comprised of banjo/guitar player Dewey, bassist/guitarist Larry and guitarist/lead vocalist Mike. Their older brother Udell broke into music first when he joined the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers during the 1950s. In 1963, he, Dewey and Larry formed the first version of the McPeak... [+] Read More

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Todd Phillips has revolutionized the role of the bass in bluegrass music. A founding member, along with Tony Rice, Darol Anger and Joe Carroll, of the innovative David Grisman Quintet, Phillips has gone on to play with such progressive bands as J.D. Crowe & The New South, Psychograss, Montreaux, The Bluegrass Album Band and Kathy Kallick's... [+] Read More

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The avant-garde banjo sylings of Tony Trischka inspired a whole generation of progressive bluegrass musicians; he was not only considered among the very best pickers, he was also one of the instrument's top teachers, and created numerous instructional books, teaching video tapes and cassettes.

A native of Syracuse, New York,... [+] Read More

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As country music swung back toward traditional styles in the 1980s, an inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard rose to the top of the business and notched hit after barroom hit. Sometimes he was known simply as "The Voice." Born in Woodland, AL, Vern Gosdin idolized the Louvin Brothers and the Blue Sky Boys... [+] Read More

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