Bluegrass Jam Along Interviews

My guest this week is Wes Corbett. Wes is the current banjo player in the Sam Bush Band and has previously played with Molly Tuttle, Joy Kills Sorrow, The Bee Eaters and hammered dulcimer virtuoso Simon Chrisman. I chatted to Wes about his recent instrumental record  Cascade , co-produced by Punch Brothers' Chris Eldridge and featuring Sierra Hull, Paul Kowert, Simon Chrisman, Alex Hargraves...

My guest this week is Bob Minner. Bob has been the acoustic guitarist for country icon Tim McGraw for almost 30 years now, and he's also a fantastic bluegrass picker. His latest project, 'From Sulphur Springs To Rising Fawn : The Songs of Norman Blake' is a wonderful tribute to the music of Norman and Nancy Blake, featuring duets with people from the worlds of country and bluegrass,...

My guest this week is Jarrod Walker, best known to most of you as the mandolin player in Billy Strings' band. We chat about all sorts of stuff, including what Chris Thile taught him about learning fiddle tunes, how he almost ended up selling instruments for a living rather than playing them, the pros and cons of plugging in onstage and going from landscaping one day during the pandemic to pla...

This week's interview is with author Tim Brookes, about his fascinating book 'Guitar - An American Life.' The book looks at how the guitar took shape as the modern instrument we know today, but also its place in American culture and how it went from being a fringe instrument to reaching the point where it outsells every other instrument combined. Tim talks about the process of havin...

Here's the final interview of the year! My guest for this one is Josh Turknett, author of the fantastic book 'The Laws of Brainjo - The Art & Science of Molding a Musical Mind’. Josh's book is all about how our brains work and, specifically, what that means for learning to play an instrument (any instrument, not just banjo). It's crammed with interesting stuff but, most imp...

My guest this week is the brilliant Chris Eldridge. Chris is a member of my favourite band in the world, Punch Brothers, but he also records and tours with Julian Lage as a duet, as well as recording, writing and producing with a whole range of musicians, from Paul Simon to Renee Fleming and many points in between. We chat about Chris's online bluegrass guitar course at ArtistWorks, as well a...

My guest this week is the fabulous Charlotte Carrivick. Charlotte's one of my favourite guitarists and we've been chatting about getting this interview done since July, so I'm thrilled we finally managed to find a time to record it. It would be quicker to tell you which instruments Charlotte doesn't play than which she does, but she's probably best known for her guitar and...

I've got another great guest for you this week - multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses. Justin plays all the bluegrass instruments at an incredibly high level. He's played fiddle in Dan Tyminski's band, banjo with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder and guitar and mandolin with Sierra Hull (who he's also married to). That doesn't even cover the fact that he's been voted IB...

I've got another great interview for you this week, with mandolin virtuoso and all-round acoustic legend Mike Marshall. We talk about Mike's career, his teaching and his collaboration with Northfield mandolins, plus much (much) more! Enjoy and happy picking, Matt Links to stuff mentioned in the podcast Mike's Website Mandolin lessons with Mike at  Artistworks Northfield Mandolins Ma...

I've got a great conversation with Tristan Scroggins for you. This one was such a joy to record. We chat about Tristan's recent IBMA Writer of the Year Award as well as his research into the background of fiddle tunes and what makes something 'authentic.' For more on Tristan's music and writing, check out -  www.tristanscroggins.com To hear more on Tristan's route int...

This week we have a very special interview with bluegrass flatpicking legend Bryan Sutton. Bryan is not only a Grammy Award winner, he was also awarded the IBMA Guitar Player of the Year award 10 times. On top of that he's the flatpick guitar teacher at ArtistWorks and has spent the past decade helping players (like me) improve their technique and musicianship. Check out the links below to fi...

My guest on the podcast today is Marcel Ardans, who most of you will know through his site and YouTube channel Lessons With Marcel (if you don't know those, check out the links below!) We chat about learning to play, how both of us came to love bluegrass despite not being raised with it and how all musicians are on the same journey (and all fall flat on our faces sometimes!). It was a lot of...

My guest today is Jake Eddy. Jake's the guitarist with The Becky Buller Band and also has a  great new record  of fiddle tunes, featuring top pickers including Kenny Smith and Bryan Sutton. We chat about Jake's intro to bluegrass, his experiences teaching, why you should practice with a metronome and how he acquired his '51 D18...plus lots more. If you want to find out more about Ja...