Special Consensus is coming up on 50 years, and bandleader Greg Cahill is still going strong. Here’s a look at three key LPs that shaped his career.

Progressive banjo player Alison Brown discusses career-shaping music by Earl Scruggs, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and David Grisman.

‘Tennessee Pusher’ arrived 15 years ago with a new lineup and a big-time producer – but Old Crow Medicine Show’s essential wisdom and rootsy humor remained.

I was 22 years old in the summer of 1977, when I covered the Great Northern Bluegrass Festival at Mole Lake. It was an unforgettable experience.

Ben Levin, Making Movies and Mai Leisz are part of the latest edition of Five for the Road, an occasional look at music that’s been in my car lately.

Bluegrass, I like. Tommy Shaw, I like. But together? You couldn’t help but wonder how ‘The Great Divide’ would ever work. But it did.

The unexpected solitude the master cellist found from the five day loss of power in lower Manhattan from Hurricane Sandy gave him the perspective and focus that provided the material for his bluegrass-tinged combo’s second release, Nighthawks.

On a Boston sidewalk, the brassy, sassy combo Lake Street Dive tears into an acoustic soul cover of the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back.” You May Also Like: No related posts.

This set represents an often-overlooked period, and one of intense experimentation, for Steve Earle — who couldn’t have been further removed (personally or professionally) from his earliest triumphs You May Also Like: Steve Earle, “The Tennessee Kid” from Terraplane (2015): One Track Mind

To answer the obvious question, yes the Howlin’ Brothers do indeed howl on their major label debut called Howl. They also hoot, holler, bash away at banjos while fiddling as the barn burns down. You May Also Like: The Black Keys Hit Upon the Right Rootsy Mix With ‘Brothers’