The Bluegrass Standard

“Our goal is to keep our band going,” explains mandolinist and lead singer Brian Eversole, father of Julia, 16, and David Eversole, 15. The Eversoles, along with friend and Scruggs-style banjo player Ashton Murray, 13, form the family-run Grassy Creek Bluegrass Band. For those not yet familiar with this band from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, they just recorded their first single, “Wea...

Twenty-three-year-old luthier Joshua Young doesn't waste time talking about guitar players; instead, he prefers to rattle off about tone, wood, bracing, jigs, and fretboards—and he does so with the authority of a master craftsman. By all accounts, he is the youngest maker of pre–World War II Martin-style replicas today. Take a stroll over to his YouTube channel, and you will see...

If necessity is the mother of invention, guitars made of cigar boxes are a testament to human creativity in the face of financial hardship. A simple cigar box, commonly found, serves as the resonator of the instrument, with a neck made of wood – often a broom handle – then strung with screen wire or fishing line to create a do-it-yourself guitar with a distinctive sound. Cigar b...

There are studios where the red light comes on and the air tightens like a courtroom. Then there are studios where someone calmly leans into the talkback mic and says, “Do you guys want to check tuning really quick? I think your B string has gone south a little.” The second kind tends to make the records that last. That quiet moment lives at the center of Eric Uglum’s philosophy...

The Lauderdale County FFA (Future Farmers of America) String Band made history at last year’s National FFA Convention and Expo. The trio comprises Titus Thornton and brothers Conner and Ty McMeans, and they became not only the first band but also the first musical act from Alabama to win the organization’s prestigious talent competition. All three boys were exceptionally young w...