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Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player, composer, guitarist, and mandolinist whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards and was a member of three influential musical ensembles: the David Grisman Quintet, The Dregs, and Strength in Numbers. O'Connor has released 45 albums, of mostly original music, over a 45-year career. He has recorded and performed mostly his original American Classical music for decades. An expert at traditionally-based fiddle and bluegrass music, he also plays other instruments proficiently, including the violin, guitar and mandolin. He has appeared on 450 albums, composed nine concertos and has put together groundbreaking ensembles. His mentors have included Benny Thomasson who taught O'Connor to fiddle as a teenager, French jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli with whom O'Connor toured as a teenager, and gui ...
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Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs over a long weekend (3½ days) in summer at Cherry Hinton Hall. Until 2008 it was sponsored by BBC Radio 2, which broadcast it live, with highlights were recorded and shown later and occasionally live on digital television channel BBC Four from 2002 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2012 on Sky Arts. History Recent histories have obscured the early origins of the folk festival. Ken Woollard's ''1974 Ten years of folk: A history of the Cambridge Folk Festival'' mentions three councillors who had an idea for a festival (but does not name them). Ken Woollard was the first director of the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1965, and continued to work as Festival Organiser and Artist ...
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Benny Thomasson
Benny Thomasson (April 22, 1909 – January 1984) was an American fiddler in the Texas style of fiddling. Thomasson was born in Winters, Texas, and raised in Gatesville, one of 10 children in a family where music was not only encouraged, it was a key ingredient of life. His parents were Lewis Alexander and Sarah Elizabeth Wright Thomasson. The elder Thomasson played fiddle, as did his brother Ed, Benny's uncle. Thomasson began fiddling at age five. His father wrote the well-known fiddle tune titled "Midnight on the Water". The boys were influenced by renowned fiddlers such as Eck Robertson and Lefty Franklin, friends of the Thomasson family. Thomasson entered his first fiddle contest in the late 1920s, at age 19, thinking he was pretty good. He was disappointed that he placed near 60th place. After that, he decided that the tunes needed to be "rounded out, and smoothed up" . Thomasson worked hard and took home many trophies. He won several contests multiple times, inc ...
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Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, located on the Cumberland River. Nashville had a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of United States cities by population, 21st-most populous city in the United States and the fourth-most populous city in Southeastern United States, the Southeast. The city is the center of the Nashville metropolitan area, home to 2.1 million people, and is among the fastest growing cities in the nation. Named for Francis Nash, a general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, the city was founded in 1779 when this territory was still considered part of North Carolina. The city grew quickly due to its strategic location as a port on the Cumberland River and, in the 19th century, a railr ...
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Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 15th-most populous of the 50 states. According to the United States Census Bureau, the state's estimated population as of 2024 is 7.22 million. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions of Tennessee, Grand Divisions of East Tennessee, East, Middle Tennessee, Middle, and West Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, and anchors its largest metropolitan area. Tennessee has dive ...
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WSM (AM)
WSM (650 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station, located in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a country music format (with classic country and Americana (music), Americana leanings, the latter of which is branded as "Route 650") and is known as the home of the ''Grand Ole Opry'', the world's longest running radio program. The station is owned by Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. After nearly 40 years broadcasting from a studio within the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, WSM moved to a showcase studio inside the former home of Roy Acuff, just outside the Grand Ole Opry House, in July 2024. Nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South", the station broadcasts with 50,000 watts around the clock from a facility in Brentwood, Tennessee. It has one of the largest daytime coverage areas in the country, providing at least grade B coverage as far southeast as Chattanooga, as far northwest as Evansville, Indiana, as far west as Jackson, Tennessee and as far south as Huntsville, Ala ...
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Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music", Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful. In 1952, Hank Williams told Ralph Gleason, "He's the biggest singer this music ever knew. You booked him and you didn't worry about crowds. For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, then God." Acuff began his music career in the 1930s and gained regional fame as the singer and fiddler for his group, the Smoky Mountain Boys. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1938, and although his popularity as a musician waned in the late 1940s, he remained one of the Opry's key figures and promoters for nearly four decades. In 1942, Acuff and Fred Rose founded Acuff-Rose Music, the first major Nashville-based country music publishing company, which signed such artis ...
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Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the time of year. It was founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as the ''WSM Barn Dance'', taking its current name in 1927. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a joint venture between NBCUniversal, Atairos and majority shareholder Ryman Hospitality Properties), it is the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of famous singers and contemporary Record chart, chart-toppers performing country, Bluegrass music, bluegrass, Americana (music), Americana, folk music, folk, and gospel music, gospel music as well as comedy, comedic performances and Sketch comedy, skits. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and mil ...
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The Johnny Cash Show (TV Series)
''The Johnny Cash Show'' is an American television music variety show that was hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969, to March 31, 1971, on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No. 17 in the Nielsen ratings in 1970. Cash opened each show, invariably preceding the first number with his customary "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" greeting, and its regulars included members of his touring troupe, June Carter Cash (his wife) and the Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins, and The Tennessee Three, with Australian-born musical director-arranger-conductor Bill Walker. The Statler Brothers performed brief comic interludes. An instrumental version of " Folsom Prison Blues" was used for the opening credits. It featured many folk, singer-songwriter and country musicians, such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Merle Haggar ...
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Diggy Liggy Lo
"Diggy Liggy Lo" is a single by American country music duo Rusty & Doug. The song was written and originally performed by Terry J. Clement. Released in 1961, their version peaked at number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart. Doug Kershaw, one half of the duo, released a solo version of the song in 1969, that peaked at number 70 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached number 1 on the ''RPM'' Country Tracks chart in Canada. Chart performance Rusty & Doug Doug Kershaw Cover versions *Buck Owens, ''On the Bandstand'' (1963) *Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, '' All the Good Times'' (1972) *Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, '' Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites'' (1972) * Teddy Nelson on his debut album, '' Diggy Liggy'', in 1976, and again as a duet with Skeeter Davis in 1991 for the album '' You Were Made for Me''. *Kikki Danielsson, '' Kikki'' (1982) *Mark O'Connor, '' Heroes'' (1993) * Santiano (2012) *Plava Trava Zaborava, a country ...
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Doug Kershaw
Douglas James Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer, and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, he began his career as part of the duo Rusty and Doug, along with his brother, Rusty Kershaw. He had an extensive solo career that included 15 albums and singles that charted on the Hot Country Songs charts. He is also a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2009. Early life Born in an unincorporated community called Tiel Ridge in Cameron Parish, Kershaw spoke Louisiana French and did not learn English until the age of eight. By that time, he had mastered the fiddle, which he played from the age of five, and was on his way to teaching himself to play 28 instruments. His first gig was at a local bar, the Bucket of Blood, where he was accompanied by his mother on guitar. Kershaw became interested in Cajun music during parties his parents would host on the family's houseboat in Louisiana, where he first heard Cajun band ...
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Flamenco Guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar, but with lower action, thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, grittier sound compared to the classical guitar. It is used in ''toque'', the guitar-playing part of the art of flamenco. History Traditionally, luthiers made guitars to sell at a wide range of prices, largely based on the materials used and the number of decorations, to cater to the popularity of the instrument across all classes of people in Spain. The cheapest guitars were often simple, basic instruments made from the less expensive woods such as cypress. Antonio de Torres, one of the most renowned luthiers, did not differentiate between flamenco and classical guitars. Only after Andrés Avelar and others popularized classical guitar music, did this distinction emerge. Construction The traditional flamenco guitar is made of Spanish Cypress, sycamore, o ...
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Steve Morse
Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist and songwriter. A seven-time Grammy nominee, he is best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the longest serving guitarist for Deep Purple. Morse also enjoyed a successful solo career and was a member of the group Kansas in the mid-1980s. Most recently, Morse became a member of the supergroup Flying Colors. Early life and education Steve Morse was born in Hamilton, Ohio. His family soon moved to Tennessee and then to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where Morse spent his childhood. Although familiar with piano and clarinet, Morse ultimately became a guitarist. Morse worked briefly with his older brother Dave in a band called the Plague until the family moved to Augusta, Georgia. In the late 1960s, he played in a band called Three with his older brother and a junior high schoolmate, William Gerald (Jerry) Wooten, who played keyboards. The three performed at a local psychedelic youth club, the Glass Onion, and at ...
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