Fervor Coulee Bluegrass Blog

I have been a roots and bluegrass music writer for twenty years, having also hosted bluegrass radio and presented concerts. I currently write for Country Standard Time and Exclaim! while maintaining a blog at fervorcoulee.wordpress.com. I'm proud to be a member of the Polaris Music Prize Jury. Please contact me at fervorcoulee@gmail.com.

Search Fervor Coulee Bluegrass

 

James Reams Like a Flowing River & Soundtrack Album

Donald Teplyske  |  January 5, 2022

Redbird Music James Reams is absolutely unique. As such, there is no one in bluegrass quite like him. Born in Kentucky, he came of age in Wisconsin and matured in Brooklyn as a teacher and bluegrass band leader. Now based in Arizona, Reams' voice is one of a kind, and his approach to bluegrass is similarly individual. Adding to his distinctiveness, Reams—for a number of ...

Fervor Coulee's Favourite Bluegrass Albums of 2021

Donald Teplyske  |  December 12, 2021

Each year since 2000, I have been pleased to consider the finest roots music as part of this journey I've been on as a reviewer of CDs (then) and (generically now to include downloads and vinyl) albums. It has been a lot of work over the years, and my passion for roots music has only strengthened in the years since I pitched a monthly 'roots music' column to the Red Deer Advocate ...

Pinecastle and Bonfire Recent Releases

Donald Teplyske  |  December 11, 2021

Kim Robins "Leave the Porch Light On" Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road "I Can Go To Them" Daryl Mosley "Small Town Dreamer" Deeper Shade of Blue "Twenty" All Pinecastle Music Andrew Crawford "The Lonesome Season" (Bonfire Recordings) Being the 37th most influential bluegrass music writer in Canada, and the 429th in all of North ...

Doc Watson Life's Work: A Retrospective

Donald Teplyske  |  November 23, 2021

Craft Recordings, 2021 I look up and I am staring at a picture of Doc Watson (and Jack Lawrence) taken in Tacoma in 2001. Over my shoulder, his first Vanguard album has pride of place, and on the record and CD shelves surrounding me there are about as many discs of his as there are anyone's: without counting, I know there is well more than fifty. His hands are the last I see most nights ...

Jeremy Stephens How I Hear It

Donald Teplyske  |  September 12, 2021

Rebel Records With High Fidelity, Jeremy Stephens has come to the fore of bluegrass banjo, and while he isn't yet garnering significant attention from the voting members of the IBMA awards, he and his fiddle playing spouse Corrina Rose Logston are increasingly prominent within our tiny world. Fourteen titles comprise "How I Hear It," leaning toward vocal over purely ...