Bluegrass 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. News and Announcements (Church Street News) Earl Scruggs Music Festival Rhiannon Giddens and Kristina Gaddy book Releases (The Grass is New) The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist Scroll on Buddy Billy Strings and...

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. News and Announcements (Church Street News) North Carolina Guitar Celebration Releases (The Grass is New) Darol Anger & Mike Marshall with the WDR Big Band Spotify CD The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist Scr...

My guest this week is Sierra Hull. Sierra has been a guest on the podcast twice before and both times we chatted about an ongoing project she's been working on since her last record 25 Trips . That project eventually became her new album, the wonderful A Tiptoe High Wire , which we talk about in this episode. Recorded over four sets of sessions over a two year period, the album features Sierr...

My guest this week is a legend of American string band music. When David Grisman raised his middle finger to MCA Records, after being  dropped for failing to meet arbitrary sales targets, he couldn't have known it would spark a 35-year musical revolution. As one of America's foremost, and best loved, mandolin virtuosos turns 80 this year, he offers a fascinating glimpse into the birth, e...

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 Bluegrass Jam Along guests on mandolins and Beer Apple Spotify Bluegrass Standard article on Bluegrass Jam Along! News and Announcements (Church Street News) I’m With Her Album preorders Tour dates Release...

This week's episode is a Bitesize episode, which is a short section highlighting a previous episode you may have missed, which feels apt, given that this is episode #450, so the back catalogue is getting pretty big! But, it's not a previous episode of Bluegrass Jam Along. This week I'm sharing part of an episode on mandolins and Beer, because the guest was....me! Daniel has been on...

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 Doc Watson 100th birthday episodes Part 1 Apple Spotify YouTube Part 2 Apple Spotify YouTube Bluegrass Jam Along guests on mandolins and Beer Apple Spotify Bluegrass Standard article on Bluegrass Jam Along...

My guest this week is Tim Stafford, who joins me to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the best loved and most influential albums in bluegrass. 'JD Crowe & The New South' was recorded in January 1975 and released in August the same year. Tim joins me to chat about what makes it such a milestone record in bluegrass, despite it not really being a bluegrass album at all in some wa...

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 Bluegrass Jam Along guests on mandolins and Beer Apple Spotify News and Announcements (Church Street News) Rhiannon Giddens’ American Tunes DelFest Lineup Releases (The Grass is New) Sierra Hull - Spitfire...

My guest this week is guitarist Jake Workman. Jake joins me to talk about his recently ended 9 year run with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, including a great story about how he got the gig, what he learned from playing with Ricky, why rhythm guitar is so important in that role and why now was the time to look for a new challenge. We also talk about Jake's long standing teaching career, in...

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. News and Announcements (Church Street News) Grey Fox Festival Casey Driessen Fiddle Camp Scholarship Releases (The Grass is New) The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist Scroll on Buddy/In my ears 1925 Fiddle Conven...

This is the first of a new series of episodes on the podcast I'm calling 'Bitesize'.  I've done well over 100 interviews for the podcast now. That's a lot of conversations! The idea with these episodes is to pick out a highlight from a past conversation and share it again, in case you missed it missed it first time round, or just want to hear some bits again. If you'r...

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. News and Announcements (Church Street News) ETSU Artist in Residence post Punch Brothers tour dates Green Mountain lineup Releases (The Grass is New) The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist Scroll on Buddy/In my ea...

My guest this week is Tom Nechville from Nechville Banjos. Tom joins me to chat about 40 years of making banjos, including what he's learned along the way and some of the innovations he's brought to the banjo, including his revolutionary Heli-Mount head tightening system.  We also chat about why he chose to sell his building in Minneapolis and move his entire shop to Sisters, Oregon; ret...

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 Eric Skye - Phillips, Grier & Fliner special  Apple Podcasts Spotify News and Announcements (Church Street News) Alison Krauss pre-order and tour info Billy Strings tour dates DelFest lineup and ticket...

My guest on the podcast this week is Eric Skye, who joins me to celebrate the album 'Phillips, Grier & Flinner'. Released in 1999 on Compass Records, it marks the first collaboration between bassist Todd Phillips, guitarist David Grier, and mandolinist Matt Flinner and features three original tunes from each. We chat about how Eric first discovered the record and why it means so much...

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 Daniel Kimbro interview Apple Podcasts Spotify News and Announcements (Church Street News) Dawg at 80 Sierra Ferrell tour dates Earl Experience Banjo Camp Releases (The Grass is New) The Grass is (mostly)...

My guest this week is Daniel Kimbro. Daniel is the bass player in Jerry Douglas's band and plays with Jerry in Transatlantic Sessions and The Earls of Leicester. He's also part of the trio Harley Kimbro Lewis and joins me this week to chat about his first solo record Carpet in the Kitchen .   This was a fun conversation that touches on story songs, fishing, murder ballads, collaboration...

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. News and Announcements (Church Street News) Sierra Hull - pre-order/pre-save the new record Bluegrass in La Roche info Releases (The Grass is New) The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist Other bits Sign up for emai...

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 News and Announcements (Church Street News) Chris Thile’s Acousticamp Station Inn book Bluegrass Hall of Fame - John Hartford Days Releases (The Grass is New) The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist Other bits Sign...

My guest this week is author Dan Gutstein, who joins me to chat about his book 'Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane'. The book traces the history of one of America's most recorded folk songs, from its origins amongst enslaved people on southern plantations, through the Civl War and minstrelsy, to the folk revival and beyond. On its journey Little Liza Jane, and its va...

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. News and Announcements (Church Street News) Noam Pikelny and Friends tour dates Alison Krauss tour dates Earl Scruggs Center events Bela Fleck’s Blue Ridge Banjo Camp European Bluegrass Summit Releases (The Grass i...

My guest this week is Darol Anger, one of the leading lights of progressive string band music over the last 50 years. Through his work with the David Grisman Quintet, the Turtle Island String Quartet, bands like Psychograss and New Grange and his long standing collaboration with Mike Marshall (not to mention his own wonderful solo records), Darol has been at the forefront of pushing perceptions of...

My guest this week is Charlotte Carrivick. Charlotte is one of my favourite guitarists, so I'm delighted she's back on the podcast to talk about her new record  Sensible or Otherwise . We chat about why, despite having written tunes for years, it took so long to make an instrumental record; the new guitar she commissioned for this album; why she's not uploading it to Spotify and  wh...

My guests this week is Olli Chanoff, Director of Programming at the FreshGrass Foundation. So much music I love has its roots in FreshGrass Commissions, from albums like Becky Buller's Jubilee , Sarah Jarosz's  Blue Heron Suite and Aoife O'Donovan's All My Friends, to instrumental works by Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas and Jacob Jolliff. So I was delighted to get the opportunity t...