Bluegrass Jam Along

This week we're jamming along to Peartreeand I've got  three brand new backing track episodes for you. This is the jam along track where I play backup, followed by the melody then we keep swapping.  It's four times through in the key of G at 75 bpm. Don't forget to check out the other three episodes when you're done. If you want a chord chart (or just want to find out more...

This  week we're jamming along to the classic tune Peartree. This is a performance track, rather than a backing track. It's me playing both tune and backup so you've got a reference to listen to if you're new to the tune, or just want to be able to listen a few times to the whole thing. Don't forget to check out the other three episodes when you're done and jam along!...

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a  weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass. Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode. Pod news John McEuen interview  - Apple - Spotify - YouTube Church Street News Pat Morris, IBMA’s Executive Director, has announced his plans to resign Alan Bibey joins Balsam Range Bluegrass Situation piece on to...

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a new weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass. Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode. Pod news Doc Watson 100th birthday celebration - part 1 & part 2 Bluegrass Jam Along’s YouTube channel Sign up for email alerts Church Street News IBMA lineup and tickets Kyle Cantrell leaves Sirius XM Ron...

My guest this week is John McEuen, founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I recently put together two special episodes to celebrate Doc Watson's 100th birthday (links below in case you missed those). I interviewed over a dozen guests and John was kind enough to take part and share some memories of recording Will the Circle Be Unbroken with Doc. Those episodes ended up being so long I...

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a new weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass. This week we’re all about the birthdays and anniversaries. We’re celebrating Doc Watson’s 100th, as well as Telluride’s 50th…and Bluegrass Jam Along’s 2nd! Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode. News Doc Watson 100th birthday celebration - part 1 &a...

Hi everyone. Today (March 3rd 2023) would have been Doc Watson's 100th birthday, so I've put together a couple of really special episodes to celebrate.  I spent the past 3 months interviewing people who knew, played with, worked with, were inspired by or just loved Doc and his music. I ended up with hours and hours of wonderful conversation and have edited it all into two episodes. This...

Hi everyone. Today (March 3rd 2023) would have been Doc Watson's 100th birthday, so I've put together a couple of really special episodes to celebrate.  I spent the past 3 months interviewing people who knew, played with, worked with, were inspired by or just loved Doc and his music. I ended up with hours and hours of wonderful conversation and have edited it all into two episodes. This...

Welcome to the very first Bluegrass Briefing, a brand new weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass. This week we’ve got plenty of Doc Watson related content in the run up to his 100th birthday on March 3rd. I’ll be releasing two extra special episodes of the podcast on Doc’s birthday, featuring 4 hours of brand new interviews with people who knew, worked...

This week we're playing another tune back to back at two different speeds  - once at 75 bpm then again at 85. We're doing Salt Creek and we're in the key of A. We're using the jam along format - that means I'm kicking off playing backup and you're on the tune, then we swap and go round 4 times. Then, after a quick pause, we do the whole thing again at 85 bpm. Don&apos...

My guests on the podcsat this week are Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley. Rob and Trey have a fantastic new record out called 'Living in a Song' and they joined me to chat about the inspiration behind the songs, the recording process and much more. Trey has been on the podcast before, but this was my first time chatting to Rob, so that was a real treat. They're great to chat to and I love...

This week we're jamming along to Far From Home and I've got  three brand new backing track episodes for you. This is the you play rhythm track where I play the melody so you can work on backup.  It's four times through in the key of G at 75 bpm. backing track starts at 00:42 Don't forget to check out the other three episodes when you're done. If you want a chord chart (or...

This week we're jamming along to Far From Home and I've got  three brand new backing track episodes for you. This is the you play lead track where I play backup so you can work on the tune.  It's four times through in the key of G at 75 bpm. backing track starts at 00:59 Don't forget to check out the other three episodes when you're done. If you want a chord chart (or just...

This week we're jamming along to Far From Home and I've got  three brand new backing track episodes for you. This is the jam along track where I play backup, followed by the melody then we keep swapping.  It's four times through in the key of G at 75 bpm. backing track starts at 00:47 Don't forget to check out the other three episodes when you're done. If you want a chord...

This  week we're jamming along to the classic tune Far From Home. This is a performance track, rather than a backing track. It's me playing both tune and backup so you've got a reference to listen to if you're new to the tune, or just want to be able to listen a few times to the whole thing. Don't forget to check out the other three episodes when you're done and jam a...

This is a really quick bonus episode I wanted to share with you all.  I'm putting together a Doc Watson 100th birthday episode, which is due out in March. I've interviewed lots of amazing guests for that and one of them was the wonderful Tony Trischka. At the end of our chat Tony told me a story about meeting Bill Monroe - it doesn't fit in the Doc episode but it's really cool...

My guest this week is Sierra Hull. I caught up with Sierra before the London show on her UK tour with Justin Moses.  We chatted about how spending so much time at home over the course of the pandemic changed her outlook on things and about some of the collaborations she's been part of over the past year, including touring with Cory Wong and her involvement in Bela Fleck's 'My Bluegr...

This week we're playing another tune back to back at two different speeds  - once at 75 bpm then again at 85. We're doing Cherokee Shuffle and we're in the key of A. We're using the jam along format - that means I'm kicking off playing backup and you're on the tune, then we swap and go round 4 times. Then, after a quick pause, we do the whole thing again at 85 bpm. Do...

My guest this week is Jack Hinshelwood. Jack is a guitarist, fiddler, singer and winner of the Knoxville World’s Fair Guitar Championship, the Wayne Henderson Guitar Championship, and a two-time winner of the Galax Fiddler’s Convention guitar contest. He joins me to chat about Doc at 100 , a really special set of shows he's co-producing to celebrate what would have been Doc Watson's 100t...

My guest this week is guitarist Eric Skye. We covered a lot of ground, including Eric's Santa Cruz signature model guitar, the joys of playing tunes slowly, why tone is so important and, especially, his wonderful new record of fiddle tune duets with J amie Stillway, 'Over the Waterfall', which is released on January 13th. I loved this chat. My favourite conversations on the podcast...

My guest this week is Nick Lloyd of Nick Lloyd basses. I recently interviewed Paul Kowert of Hawktail and Punch Brothers (see episode 228 if you missed that). Shortly after, I got an email from Nick saying he'd heard the interview and that he'd made the bass Paul talked about. We got chatting and I asked him if he'd be up for coming on the podcast to talk about that, as well as bass...

This episode features a short interview with Paul Kowert of Hawktail and Punch Brothers talking about his Nick Lloyd double bass. I interviewed Nick about making the bass (episode 245) and thought it would be cool to chat to Paul about what makes the instrument special and why he wanted a copy of Edgar Meyer's bass in the first place. You'll also get to hear a track from Hawktail's...

Hi everyone. We're back with another two tempo jam. This week it's Whiskey Before Breakfast, again at 75 and 85, and we're in the key of D. We're using the jam along format - that means I'm kicking off playing backup and you're on the tune, then we swap and go round 4 times. Then, after a quick pause, we do the whole thing again at 85 bpm. Don't forget to grab a...

Steve Nall (Nully), Collings' Head of Production, returns to the podcast to chat about tonewoods. When Nully was originally on the podcast in July we touched on this and I thought it would make for a great episode in its own right, as it's something lots of us have questions about. We start with a look at the woods typically used in bluegrass guitars, why they're chosen and what the...

Hi everyone. I've got another quick Food for Thought episode for you, inspired by my recent interview with Tim Stafford. Tim told me nobody could tune a guitar like Tony Rice and that he thought that was a big part of his sound.  He said we've all lost the ability to tune because we rely on electronic tuners too much, but suggests a new way to use them that will actually  help improve ou...