Got 'Grass?

Send us Fan Mail A wonderful conversation with this soulful and thoughtful singer, songwriter, and virtuoso on banjo and slide guitar. He won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas in 1987 and 1991.  He recorded 18 critically acclaimed albums, with master musicians like Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Stuart Duncan, Kelly Joe Phelps and Mike Marshall. He has toured...

Send us Fan Mail Ron Reno retired in 2019, after 60 years in bluegrass and country music. He started at age 7, with his dad Don Reno, and Red Smiley. He recorded ten albums during his 9 years with Merle Haggard, and played five years with the Osborne Brothers. He played with everyone from the Louvin Brothers and Ray Price to the Stanley Brothers and Johnny Cash.  A prolific songwriter, producer an...

Send us Fan Mail Every once in a while, I interview someone who is so natural and open that it feels like a chat with an old friend. That was the case with Heather Berry Mabe. In 2024, Heather won IBMA's Momentum Vocalist of the Year award. In 2025, her band, Red Camel Collective, won IBMA New Artist of the Year, and she was just chosen 2026 SPBGMA Female Vocalist of the Year.  Her band, Red...

Send us Fan Mail Liam grew up just down the road from Doc Watson's home in Deep Gap, North Carolina. A child prodigy on several instruments, he surprised everyone by sweeping the 2022 RockyGrass instrumental contests in guitar, mandolin and banjo, the first person to ever do so. He attended Berklee College of Music, and leads the band Cane Mill Road, which won IBMA's Momentum Band of The...

Send us Fan Mail Blake Wiliams played banjo with Lester Flatt and Nashville Grass, before his ten year stint with Bill Monroe and his Bluegrasss Boys. He was the longest tenured banjo player ever with Monore, and has some amazing stories to prove it! During his career, Blake has toured 48 states and 7 countries, played Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. He recorded 2 albums wit...

Send us Fan Mail Darren Nicholson has played mountain music since his youth in Western North Carolina. A great mandolinist with Alecia Nugent, and seventeen years with Balsam Range, he’s also an introspective songwriter, a harmony singer, lead vocalist, and guitarist. These days, he's a man on a mission, to bring North Carolina roots music back to the local community.

Send us Fan Mail Ettore Buzzini is an eighteen year old banjo prodigy from North Carolina. Winner of Fresh Grass 2025 Banjo Contest, he’s a strong songwriter, instrumentalist, and vocalist, whose dream is to "bring as much of the human experience to our music as possible.” His banjo work is very melodic and sounds like no one else in bluegrass. I think he's a force to be reckoned with. C...

Send us Fan Mail Tim Stafford is a master songwriter, guitarist and teacher. From Alison Krauss & Union Station, to 30+ years with Blue Highway, he's had his finger on the pulse of bluegrass. A wide ranging intellect, with special love for Tony Rice, we could have easily talked for another hour!

Send us Fan Mail 4-time Grammy winner Andy Leftwich began playing fiddle at age 6, entered his first contest at 7, and won the National Championship for Beginners at 12. At age 19 he joined Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, where he played for 15 years. He's also one of Nashville’s most sought after studio musicians, for artists like Bruce Hornsby, Dailey & Vincent, Alan Jackson, Taylo...

Send us Fan Mail David Benedict is Grammy-nominated mandolinist. After 3 years with Missy Raines, he joined Mile Twelve, who were 2017 IBMA Momentum Award winners. David was also 2018 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year, and a 2019 Grammy nominee. He might be even more well known for his You Tube channel, featuring his weekly series Mandolin Mondays, as well as his in-depth mandolin lessons....

Send us Fan Mail Fiddler Brittany Haas is "a musical force of nature" says Chris Eldridge. From The Republic of Strings at age 13, through Crooked Still, The Dave Rawlings Machine, Hawktail, and now The Punch Brothers, she is a huge talent, that covers many genres, with brilliance and boundless happy energy. She discusses her classical upbringing, her mentors Darol Anger and Bruce Molsky...

Send us Fan Mail This is a fascinating look into the realities of travelling and performing with Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, back in the mid-60's.   Gene Lowinger, who played fiddle with Monroe, is well known for his exciting live  performances of Monroe's classic "Uncle Pen". He was on the bus with Monroe and Peter Rowan when they wrote "Walls of Time", and t...

Send us Fan Mail Josh Williams is one of the premier bluegrass musicians of our time. 3-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year, a virtuoso on banjo, fiddle and mandolin, he also has one of the best voices in bluegrass/country music.  This conversation was heartfelt and emotional at times. It started with Josh talking about his family, and missing his dad Tony. Then it naturally turned to the other To...

Send us Fan Mail David Peterson is called the caretaker of traditionl buegrass and country music for a reason. He's an independent recording artist who cherishes the early music traditions.  His powerful voice has a mountain quality, that is full of Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin and Hank Williams' blues. He needs no microphone. A Boston native, he moved to Nashville 30 years ago, and has bec...

Send us Fan Mail Russell Moore,  6-time IBMA Bluegrass Singer of the Year, is now the guitarist and singer with Alison Krauss and Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas. He's has an expressive, emotional and eloquent take on the music we love, bluegrass. From 1986-1991 Russell was lead singer for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. He left to form IIIrd Tyme Out, the band he has now led for 34 ye...

Send us Fan Mail When Kristin joined The Grascals in 2008, she was the first woman to hold the banjo spot in a number one, festival headlining, male bluegrass band. She has since won IBMA Banjo Player of the Year seven times, and was awarded the Steve Martin Banjo Prize in 2018. Married to mandolinist Wayne Benson, she continues, through her teaching, performing, recording, and advocacy, to be an...

Send us Fan Mail Mark Hembree played bass for Bill Monroe, from 1979-1984. Mark joined the band as a long-haired 22 year old, and got a haircut very quickly! His recent book, "On The Bus with Bill Monroe" is a fascinating description of life as a Bluegrass Boy. Kenny Baker, Burch Robbins, Wayne Lewis and Blake Williams were bandmates during those years. His stories of Bill and Charlie Mo...

Send us Fan Mail Jake Eddy, at age 26, is among a new generation of bluegrass musicians who are making a name for themselves on social media. His videos on Instagram and other platforms garner thousands of views, thanks to his technical skill, wit, and charisma.  His bluegrass roots run deep through his family in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He toured for two years as a teenager with Melvin Goins,...

Send us Fan Mail Talk about a singer's singer! Greg Blake is a bluegrass singer that prepares and performs with his heart in every line of a song. In this interview, he expresses his strong opinions about singing, country music, and the traditions of bluegrass, as well as his appreciation for Billy Strings.  Greg was IBMA's Bluegrass Singer of the Year in 2023 and 2025. He's also a...

Send us Fan Mail Guitarist Jake Workman exploded onto the bluegrass scene in 2015, when he joined Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. He not only filled the huge shoes of Cody Kilby and Bryan Sutton, but created his own take on bluegrass guitar, with great rhythm playing, and some lightning fast solos that still amaze today! We talked about his nine years in the Skaggs band, his approach to guitar...

Send us Fan Mail Trish Imbrogno, who plays uder the name Trish Plays Bass, is a double bassist and singer based in Pittsburgh. Classically trained, after nearly 25 years of orchestral playing she hung up her concert clothes, pulled on a pair of cowboy boots, and hasn’t looked back. Her training in Bach, Beethoven and Mozart laid the perfect foundation to tackle the intricate counterpoint of bluegr...

Send us Fan Mail Mandolinist Jesse Cobb was a founding member of The Infamous Stringdusters in 2006, spending 5 years with the genre-bending ‘grassers before leaving in 2011. He also played with Ronnie Bowman, and the "supergroup" with Bryan Sutton, Luke Bulla, Noam Pikelny and Barry Bales. His brother Shad Cobb is one of the most sought after fiddle players in Nashville.  Jesse has live...

Send us Fan Mail Connnecticut's Austin Scelzo is a fiddle player, teacher, singer, songwriter, band member, jam leader, Pete Wernick Jam Camp insructor, and an all-around positive force in bluegrass.  If you're interested in learning bluegrass fiddle, harmony singing, or just about anything bluegrass, check out Austin Scelzo's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcTt1g...

Send us Fan Mail Larry Cordle is one of the legendary songwriters and singers in bluegrass and country music. He's best known for writing #1 hits "Highway 40 Blues" for Ricky Skaggs, "Murder on Music Row" for George Strait, and "Against the Grain" for Garth Brooks. He has multiple Grammy and IBMA awards, and has written top hits for Dolly Parton, Reba McIntire, A...

Send us Fan Mail Fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is at home in many musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. He drove the evolution of the contemporary string band through The David Grisman Quintet, The Republic Of Strings, the Turtle Island String Quartet, Mr. Sun, etc. etc. etc. Delightful and spontaneous, he has fond memories of how The David Grisman Quintet star...