Bluegrass Jam Along Interviews

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...

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...

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  ...

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...

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 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...

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 100...

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...

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 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 latest...

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...

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...

My guest this week is Harry Clark, a recipient of the 2022 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year award. Harry plays mandolin with East Nash Grass as well as in Dan Tyminski's band, both of which have new records due out in 2023. He also played in the band for Bronwyn Keith-Hynes' fabulous record 'Fiddler's Pastime.' Both Dan and Bronwyn were full of praise for Harry&ap...

I interviewed Tim Stafford for the podcast this week, which was an absolute treat. We talked about all sorts, from Blue Highway to Tony Rice, Billy Strings and Tim's songwriting. Tim also talked about David Grier's take on what matters when it comes to guitars, strings and picks, which is great. Tim also does a killer David Grier impersonation, which is worth hearing in its own right! He...

My guest this week is Tim Stafford. Tim is a multi award winning guitarist, songwriter, singer, producer and author. We covered a lot of ground, including the recent Blue Highway Fest, Tim's songwriting partnerships, how bluegrass has changed in the last 15 years, why he has no time for people moaning about Billy Strings and, of course, plenty of Tony Rice chat (including the wonderful biogra...

My guest this week is Kristina R. Gaddy, who joins us to discuss her fascinating new book “Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History”. We chat about how she came to write the book and some of the key discoveries she made along the way, in particular the banjo’s unknown history as an instrument of ritual and rebellion. Kristina’s research in diaries, letters, archives, and art, trac...

My guest this week is three time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year nominee Trey Hensley. We talk about Trey's early start in the music business, including his first appearance on the Opry, just 9 months after starting to play the guitar. We also chat about some of his heroes and influences, ranging from Earl Scruggs and Tony Rice, to Miles Davis and Van Halen, as well as his long standing collab...

My guest this week is Paul Kowert, bassist with Punch Brothers and Hawktail. Paul joins me to chat about Hawktail's wonderful new record 'Place of Growth', how the band came together, why they decided to record an album designed to be listened to in one sitting and some of the music and musicians that had a profound effect on him, including Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Väsen and his Pun...

Hi everyone. I've had a couple of weeks off the podcast to have a holiday, but I've been mulling over something Dan Tyminski said in the interview I did with him a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share it. It's about the idea of reacting in music, rather than just playing. Dan talked about how Tony Rice did that and also how he does, and it got me thinking. The idea of music as a...

My guest this week is bluegrass legend Dan Tyminski. We chat about Dan's new EP 'One More Time Before You Go : A Tribute to Tony Rice.' We talk song selection, what Tony's music means to Dan and some of the great musicians he plays with on the record, including Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Josh Williams, Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle. We also chat about Dan's new record of bl...

My guest this week is Chris Pandolfi, banjo player with The Infamous Stringdusters and also the host of my favourite podcast, Inside the Musician's Brain. We chat about the podcast and the lessons Chris learned from it, as well as how the lessons we learn through music can be applied to life (and vice versa). There's so much in here, from talking about music as a journey and how the play...

My guest on the podcast this week is guitarist and Peghead Nation founder Scott Nygaard. We chat about playing with Chris Thile and Tim O'Brien, including how Scott got the gig with Tim after a chance meeting. We also talk about how Peghead Nation was founded, the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award they're receiving next month and how the site has developed over the years. We also cove...