Bluegrass Jam Along Interviews

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...

My guest this week is Cameron Knowler. Cameron is a multi-instrumentalist who specialises in bluegrass, old time and jazz. I was first introduced to Cameron by Bob Minner, who I interviewed back in March 2022 (episode #177). Cameron also writes regularly for Acoustic Guitar magazine and has written a fascinating book called 'Guitars Have Feelings Too - A Method for Rural Guitarists', whi...

Hi everyone. This is another Food For Thought episode and it centres around the idea of perfection. Chris Eldridge said something recently that made me think about letting go of the idea of playing perfectly - I had an experience at a jam this week that really made me understand what he meant. Have a listen and feel free to head over to  Bluegrass Jamalong's Instagram  or  Facebook  and tell...

Hi. Just a quick update for those of you listening to the Bluegrass Jam Along Interviews podcast. You may not know there's another podcast just called Bluegrass Jam Along, featuring over 200 free jam along tracks for fiddle tunes. Spotify won't host those episodes as they break a rule about the amount of music in a podcast, which is daft, but is also their rule so I can't do anythin...

My guest this week is Steve Nall, better known as Nully, head of production at Collings guitars. I didn't realise till we sat down to chat that it was exactly five years to the day since Bill Collings passed. We talked about Bill, his approach to guitar making (and life in general), as well as how the business has developed, with and without him and how Nully got into guitar building in the f...

My guest this week is Marcel Ardans, from the Lessons With Marcel YouTube channel. Marcel has spent hours (probably weeks) transcribing the playing of bluegrass players. In this episode he picks four of his favourites and we chat about their styles, influences and what makes them unique. First up is Billy Strings, followed by Trey Hensley, Molly Tuttle and Tony Rice. Check out Marcel's fantas...

My guest this week is Emma John, author of the wonderful book 'Wayfaring Stranger - A Musical Journey in the American South'. We chat about what made a British journalist and cricket fan want to travel to North Carolina and write a book about bluegrass, the key lesson Emma learned from the Kruger Brothers and so much more. I loved this one - it feels as much a conversation about life and...

My guest on Bluegrass Jam Along this week is Happy Traum. Happy founded Homespun with his wife, Jane, in 1967. In the 55 years that followed, Homespun has helped hundreds of thousands of people learn to play music and has worked with some of the all-time bluegrass greats, including Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Bill Monroe, John Hartford, Sam Bush and many, many more. Happy share the story of how Homes...

Yesterday was June 8th 2022 and would have been Tony Rice's birthday. As a tribute to Tony I've put together a compilation of some of the conversations I've had for this podcast where the guests mentioned Tony. I wanted to wait till today to release it as yesterday, Tony's actual birthday, I was speaking to Happy Traum of Homespun, who was a good friend of Tony's and worke...

Hi. We haven't had a Food For Thought episode for a while, but I've had something in my head all week based on a few Facebook posts I saw. The general theme was whether something can be called bluegrass if it has a non-traditionally bluegrass instrument in it (e.g. pedal steel or accordion). In the episode I play a clip of my interview with Tristan Scroggins where he discusses genre and...

My guest this week is current IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. We chatted about her fantastic record  Fiddler's Pastime , which features guest performances from Sierra Hull, Tim O'Brien and Sarah Jarosz. Check it out - it's great! We also talked about Bronwyn's current gig as fiddle player for Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway. You can order  Fiddler's Pas...

My guest (again) this week is Jake Eddy. Jake was my first ever guest on Bluegrass Jam Along. If you want to check out that episode it's  here Jake came back to chat to me about his latest project, 'Nor' Easter', a new collaboration with mandolin legend Andy Statman. Jake explains how the project came about (very quickly!), what the process was and talks about some of the amazi...

My guest this week is Tony Trischka, who the New York Times called 'the father of modern bluegrass'.  Tony has been at the forefront of the folk and bluegrass worlds since the 1960s. Our conversation focusses on his 2021 album  Shall We Hope , described on Tony's website as "a dramatized listening experience. It invites its audience into the lives of characters from America’s p...