If you have never seen the Carolina Chocolate Drops live, you must immediately fill up your biggest thermos with tar-black coffee, get in the car and follow them to Indianapolis for their gig on Saturday.

Derided in countless jokes, often by the very people that play it, the banjo just might be poised to show us why it really is the greatest instrument ever. Or, at the very least, to make a good case as to why it isn't the worst.

Noam Pikelny
"Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail"
Compass

In "Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail," his latest solo release, Noam Pikelny has created a moving, playful collection that features so much top-flight playing it can make your head spin.

Veteran Knoxville-based band Jerry Butler and the Blu J's don't want to stretch your bluegrass boundaries, which is kind of nice for a change.

Widely recognized as one of the greatest living American fiddlers, Bruce Molsky captures the whole range of traditional folk music.

As Edgar Lee Masters was to the small towns of Illinois, so Frontier Ruckus is to the strip malls and suburbia of Detroit. The band's debut for the Ramseur label, Deadmalls and Nightfalls, evokes the mysteries and memories that haunt these everyday places.

Two masters of the bedrock instruments of old time music -- mandolin and banjo -- Mike Compton and Joe Newberry collaborate with a vision that's both modern and ageless.

A true renaissance man of experimental music, Eugene Chadbourne has been challenging convention, provoking audiences and transcending genres for over three decades. He joined Uncontrollable Urge for an exclusive live performance.

As frisky and wiley as their name suggests, the River Rats play old time music with a sense of fun and adventure. The band visited The Other One for a live session.

Celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, the Saint Louis Banjo Club spreads the gospel of the four-string banjo to audiences young and old. Members of the club brought their picking party to Musical Merry-Go-Round for a live session.