British Bluegrass News, Spring 2020

Issue no. 89 (spring 2020) of British Bluegrass News, the quarterly journal of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA), is out now, and as usual it's not just a model of what a national association's magazine should be - the production and contents are up to international standards, with full-page colour ads and plenty of other photos.

As well as covering British bands and events, the text includes exclusive interviews with the Kody Norris Show (USA; headliners at this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival) and Nick Hornbuckle (USA; banjoist with John Reischman & the Jaybirds). The list of band members of BBMA includes Pilgrim St from Navan, Co. Meath, and the map of instrument teachers in these islands includes Hubert Murray in Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

Other features include four pages on Sore Fingers Summer Schools, which will be 25 this year, and six pages (four of tablature) on playing the Monroe composition 'Stoney Lonesome'. The issue was prepared before the coronavirus crisis took hold; as a result, some of the events shown on the calendar page have already been cancelled or postponed, but this does not detract from a solidly worthy issue.