My writing career began in earnest when I lucked into a job writing and editing the music section of a local alt-weekly. Years of idolizing William Miller in Almost Famous had finally paid off.

Over my six years in that role, I accrued more than 1,500 bylines. That figure is no embellishment. It’s nearly impossible to distill my best work into such a small space, but I do have my favorites.

First, this story of Doc Watson and his legacy one year after his passing could have easily been 10 times longer. I interviewed dozens of people within his sphere of influence, including Sam Bush, both Avett Brothers, and his luthier. The cherry on top, however, was when John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band gave me a set of extremely rare photos of Doc and the band from their short studio time together making one of folk’s greatest records.

Next is a story on the ascendance of Rhiannon Giddens from frontwoman of the Carolina Chocolate Drops to a peerless solo artist, followed by some of my favorite pieces of capsule writing.