Bluegrass Unlimited's Podcast

This week we feature multi-instrumentalist Bryan McDowell.   Bryan tore up the contest circuit on fiddle, guitar and mandolin about fifteen years ago and then went on to play with Claire Lynch and recorded a duo record with Mark Schatz.   He has also spent time performing with Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle, Missy Raines and many others.   He now has a new album out under his own name and you will hear...

This week we feature guitar player, singer and songwriter Danielle Yother.   Danielle is a very talented flatpicking guitar player who came to the attention of the flatpicking world about ten years ago at a very young age.   Now she is performing with the band The Wilder Flower and they have a new album out.   We talk with Danielle about the band, her guitar picking and her songwriting. We'll also...

This week we are featuring guitar and mandolin player, and singer, James Kee.   Originally from the Chattanooga area of Tennessee, James now lives in Nashville and performs and records with East Nash Grass.   We  talk with James about his early bands, his move to Nashville, his work with East Nash Grass and the band's new record due out in August 2025.

This week we feature guitar and banjo player Ron Block.   Ron is best known for his guitar and banjo work with Alison Krauss and Union Station, but he got his start growing up in southern California, later attending South Plains College and then performing with the Weary Hearts and Lynn Morris Band before joining Alison Krauss. We talk with Ron about his years with Alison and his work with his new...

This week we feature singer, songwriter and guitar player Tony Kamel.   Tony is best known for his work with the band Wood &   Wire.   He now has a solo album out and is doing some solo touring this year.   We 'll talk with Tony about how he got his start in bluegrass all the way up to the recording of the new record.  

This week we feature singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz.   Sarah started her career in bluegrass at a young age and has continued to grow her career both as a solo artist and with the band I'm With Her.   We talk to Sarah about her early years in bluegrass up through her current solo and band projects.

This week we feature singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Phil Rosenthal.   Phil is best known in bluegrass for his time spent as a member of the Seldom Scene in the 1980s.   He has continued to perform and record music since that time and has a new recording with his son that has been recently released.

This week we feature fiddle player and singer Andrea Zonn.   Andrea has spent time on the road with many top acts in both country and bluegrass music, including Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett and, for the last twenty-three years, James Taylor.   She currently has a new recording out with John Cowan.  We'll talk about that album and you'll also hear a cut from the recording.

This week we feature guitar player and singer Clay Hess.   Clay first came to national prominence in bluegrass playing guitar with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.   He later toured with Mark Newton, Sierra Hull, Mountain Heart and his own Clay Hess Band, among others.   He is now the newest member of the Seldom Scene and has released a few singles from an upcoming solo album.   This week we  ta...

This week we feature singer, songwriter and guitar player Mason Via.   We'll talk about his growing up learning bluegrass music and songwriting from his father, songwriter and bluegrass musician David Via.   We will also talk about his time with the Old Crow Medicine Show and his new self-titled album.   You'll also hear a few cuts from that album.

This week we feature guitar player Lucas White.   Lucas has had a very interesting career in bluegrass starting from the time he was a teenager in Texas.   We'll talk about his relationship with Tony Rice, working with the Zac Brown band while he was still a teenager, his work in Washington, D.C. advocating for musicians and recording engineers and his current band, Off The Rails.

This week we feature banjo player Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters and talk with him about his career in bluegrass and various other aspects of bluegrass music, practicing, performing and banjo playing.

This week we feature bass player, singer and songwriter Reed Jones.   Reed played in Audie Blaylock's band, Redline, prior to Audie's untimely passing.   He recently teamed up with a special group of musicians who were friends and bandmates of Audie's to record a tribute single titled "Ran Out of Road."   We talk with Reed about the song and his work with Audie Blaylock.

This week we feature fiddler Michael Cleveland.   Michael and Jason Carter have a new album out.   We talk with Michael about how he got his start in bluegrass music, the various bands that he has performed with, forming his own band, and the new recording.

This week we feature guitar player and singer Ginger Boatwright.   Ginger performed with Red, White and Bluegrass starting in the late 1960s and then worked with Doug Dillard from 1981 until Doug's passing 33 years later.

This week we feature mandolin player Jeremy Chapman.   Jeremy played with his family band for years and now he and his brothers run one of the most successful acoustic music stores in the country.   He also has a new mandolin instructional book out that is really well done and is reviewed in the April 2025 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine.

This week we feature mandolin player Dick Staber.   Dick has recently written a very interesting memoir about his life in   bluegrass music and after reading it, we got in touch with Dick and asked about conducting a podcast interview.   Dick notably play with Del McCoury from 1968 to 1975 and also performed with Don Stover, Bob Paisley, Leon Morris, Bill Clifton and many others.

This week we feature multi-instrumentalist Greg Luck.   Greg has performed with many of the top bands in bluegrass, including Lost & Found, the Lynn Morris Band, Bluegrass Cardinals, J.D. Crowe and the New South, IIIrd Time Out and Sideline.   He also is a recording engineer who has worked with a number of the well-known bands in bluegrass.  

This week we feature multi-instrumentalist Gerald Jones.   Every year in March we provide the Workshop and Camp listings for the year and Gerald has just taking over running Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas.   Camp Bluegrass is one of the oldest bluegrass music camps in the country and Gerald will be leading that camp this year and into the future.   We  talk with Gerald about his career playing...

This week we feature mandolin player, fiddler, singer and producer Don Rigsby.   Don has performed with many of the top bands in bluegrass over the years and is currently a member of our cover story band for March 2025, Southern Legacy. We talk with Don about all of the various bands he has been involved with over the years, his work with Southern Legacy and his new solo projects that are coming o...

This week we feature fiddler Casey Driessen and talk with him about his bluegrass journey including his years at the Berklee College of Music as a student, the bands he performed with after graduating from Berklee, his work as the director of Berklee's Masters program in Spain and the interesting projects that he has been involved with since returning from the job in Spain. That all leads up to ta...

This week we feature guitarist, singer and bandleader Danny Paisley.   Paisley started out in bluegrass 50 years ago as a teenager performing with his father Bob Paisley and continues that legacy today.   Known for his distinctive bluegrass voice, Danny has won the award for IBMA's male vocalist of the year four times, including last year in 2024.

This week we feature guitar player and singer Russell Moore.   Russell performed with Southern Connection before joining Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver in mid-1980s, then in 1991 he became a founding member of IIIrd Tyme Out and has been with that band since.   But now, as most bluegrass fans know, Russell has joined Alison Krauss and Union Station.   We talk with Russell about his bluegrass career...

This week we feature mandolin master John Reischman.   John performed with a number of prominent west coast bands, including the Tony Rice Unit, before starting his own band John Reischman and the Jaybirds.   We'll talk with John about all of various groups he has performed with, his solo projects and what lies ahead for his band.

This week we feature flatpicking guitar player Larry Keel.  We talk with him about bands he performed with during his early years leading to the formation of his own band the Larry Keel Experience.  We'll also talk about the many people who performed with him over the years, including such legends as Curtis Burch, Tony Rice and Vassar Clements. Additionally, we talk about the work he is doing on s...