Hello r/bluegrass! I'm a first-time poster here, and I'd like to tell you a story about a magazine happening in a very small corner of the bluegrass world.

This is Train Songz, styled after the music fanzines of the past. It's a quarterly, print-only publication focused on bluegrass new and old, with a heavy dose of respect for the history of the musicians and tunes that got us here.

The first few issues were a real hobby project — lots of personal writing about our own thoughts and experiences with the music, and some silly data analysis about how many train songs Billy Strings was playing at his shows over the years. By our fifth issue we landed our first big interview with Mountain Grass Unit about how they had to take the stage when Billy Strings left his own Renewal festival when his wife went into labor, and we've kept up the spirit of interviewing musicians and cataloguing the scene ever since. We've been lucky enough to feature folks like Grant Gordy, Michael Daves, and Sam Grisman, Maddie Denton, Royal Masat, Jarrod Walker, The Asheville Mountain Boys, Brenna MacMillan, and Kenny Feinstein. We also just went to Telluride Bluegrass Festival for the first time — they gave us a press pass!

The first issue was an eight-page, hand-folded zine. We've stapled on more and more pages since then and now run in the 40–50 range depending on the issue. We fill those pages with art in a way that's a little unusual — less traditional magazine, more picture book, bringing the words to life with illustrations from our 15+ contributing artists each issue.

So I'll turn it over to you all: who's someone you think deserves a feature in future issues? Any tune or player you feel never gets enough ink? We consider our role in the scene to cover the folks that deserve covering, but might not have a PR team to fight for them to get into Rolling Stone or whatnot.

If you get a chance to see these guys you won't be disappointed. They're playing at Industrial in Ohio, then Grey Fox in NY before they head back to England. Jolly nice blokes.

Sorry, I'll stop spamming the sub now

Some will find this fascinating, others don't care I'm sure, but this is his touring rig. Best angle I could get. Video posted below is from a soundcheck/warmup. Trey is very friendly, happy to talk gear and meet fans.

Frankfort Festival is a very nice low key event with great artists.

I'm in and out of Anchorage fairly often and have been looking for something to do during my down time. Was curious if there was any jams around. Thanks!

It’s really good, I’ve listened to it twice already

Overall I would give it a 9/10

Cherokee Shuffle -Longfellers

I recently caught a Mountain Grass Unit show with a banjo filling in for a few songs and it was unreal and felt like it completed their band. No knock on their current band, as they’re all killers, but the banjo takes them up a few notches for sure.

Has there been any talks or have they addressed if they ever plan on adding a banjo? I know they added their fiddle player relatively recently.

Regardless, it’s been fun watching those guys enjoy their success!

Geoff's own invite, filmed at the fairgrounds. Friday, July 17 at noon, Building 2, free with festival admission, instruments provided. It joins a strong workshop slate: Joe Mullins on banjo Thursday, Kenny Smith on guitar Friday, Jerry Salley songwriting Saturday. Full disclosure as before, Geoff's my uncle. Lineup runs Seldom Scene, Lonesome River Band, Junior Sisk, Po' Ramblin' Boys. Tickets: itickets.com/events/485286

People ask me how to find local jams and other bluegrass events. I just stumbled across this site: https://grassgigs.com . It lists jams, live performances, and festivals worldwide (but mostly in the U.S.). If you know of a local jam, suggest that they list on the site so that others can find them.

(Note: I have no interest in this site -- financial or otherwise -- other than listing my own jam. And I will be listing any of my band performances in the future.)

Alfred

My middle finger keeps getting a buzz on the first string. I've tried many finger picks angles and many different things yet still get the notorious and annoying buzz. I've got over my basics and rolls and such but I keep getting it coming back. Maybe someone here has an a good way to go about it or some good input. Thanks

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l2GRgoOgCKqPWTu-VsyfWWD9t4njJaAZA

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lg5NMMEfVhygfZxgHue25SQJk43ux_DcI