Burnin’ bluegrass: Dry Branch Fire Squad has played at every single Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, a bi-annual gathering that will celebrate its 80th concert in 2020. That’s 40 years of performances, and it speaks to why DBFS describes itself as “aggressively traditional.” Frontman Ron Thomason has been called the “Forrest Gump of Bluegrass” because he’s so […]
Burnin’ bluegrass: Dry Branch Fire Squad has played at every single Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, a bi-annual gathering that will celebrate its 80th concert in 2020. That’s 40 years of performances, and it speaks to why DBFS describes itself as “aggressively traditional.” Frontman Ron Thomason has been called the “Forrest Gump of Bluegrass” because he’s so […]
The swift guitar stylings of Hiroya Tsukamoto are the result of his discovery of the banjo, and a childhood love of bluegrass comes through in his playing, which includes takes on folk, jazz, and traditional Japanese music. As a teen, Tsukamoto worked tirelessly to perfect his craft, and it paid off in 2000 when he […]
Known for a smile as disarming as his talent, Italian flatpicker Beppe Gambetta plays acoustic arrangements in four languages—English, German, Italian and the provincial dialect of Genovese—on his 13th release, Short Stories. In his original compositions, the guitarist makes his affection for traditional folk music clear, and holds “America in his heart, and his roots in the […]
Jordan Tice’s journey to becoming a force on the bluegrass scene started with classical guitar, jazz and rock ’n’ roll, then expanded into a variety of projects that found him keeping musical company with members of Crooked Still, Punch Brothers, Dave Rawlings Machine and Canadian folk act The Duhks. He was even tapped by banjo-playing […]
It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to witness a master of the kora, a lute-like harp formed with cowskin stretched over half of a large gourd. After a Fulbright scholarship sent Seth Swingle to Mali, he spent years mastering the unique instrument, capable of producing mesmerizing bass lines and harmonies. In addition, […]
For more than 40 years, Ron Thomason’s intricately woven and hilarious stories have been at the heart of the old-time, Southern gospel and bluegrass songs of Dry Branch Fire Squad. The longtime Prism Coffeehouse favorite’s keen sense of humor and small-town country wisdom, combined with skilled musicianship, launches pointed—and sometimes scathing—observations of the hypocrisy of […]
Not only has Kamalakiran Vinjamuri been mastering the Carnatic approach to violin since age 7, he’s also composed a ballet, earned a black belt in karate and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for participating in the largest Kuchipudi group dance with more than 5,000 others. The young classical musician from northern Virginia […]
Washington, D.C., is not the first place that comes to mind as the center of folk and bluegrass music, but there’s a long history of accomplished players from the capital city, including Eric Brace and Peter Cooper, who honor their peers on the recent album, C&O Canal. The Grammy-nominated collaborators’ engaging songwriting, quick wit and […]
For the sound of the Blue Ridge Mountains, look no further than the Prism Coffeehouse series. For the better part of 40 years, beginning in the ’70s, the Prism was the heart of the local music community for folk, bluegrass, blues, jazz, Americana and traditional music. After personnel and location changes, the Prism is enjoying […]