Welcome to this month’s Bluegrass Briefing, a monthly 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. Ted Olson interview Doc Watson 100th Birthday Celebration – part 1 – part 2 News and announcements – church street news Punch…
Read MoreMy guest this week is Ted Olson, professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University. Ted joins me to celebrate the Rich-R-Tone record label and it's offshoot Folk Star. Rich-R-Tone was founded in 1946 by James Hobart Stanton who, in Ted's words, “was probably single-handedly the most important documentarian of Appalachian music.” Ted has…
Read MoreMy guest on this week's Bitesize episode is Sara Watkins, who joins me to talk about I'm With Her's Grammy winning album 'Wild and Clear and Blue'. It's an album I really love (and a conversation I loved too) and I wanted to put something out to celebrate not only the Grammy win, but also…
Read MoreWelcome to this month’s Bluegrass Briefing, a monthly 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 Tony Trischka’s New York Banjo Night Bruce and Darol’s Great Big Fiddle…
Read MoreMy guest this week is sound engineer Dave Sinko, who returns to chat about The David Grisman Quintet. We've talked about that record a lot on the podcast, but this is less about the story behind the album and more about how it influenced Dave and informed the way he approaches recording. In his words…
Read MoreMy guest this week is Tony Trischka, who returns to chat about the New York bluegrass scene in the early 1970s. New York and the surrounding area played a huge role in the development of bluegrass and in the genesis of what would become known as New Acoustic music. Tony talks about the early days…
Read MoreMy guest this week is Kristina R. Gaddy, who returns to chat about her new book, a collaboration with Rhiannon Giddens, called Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas for Fiddle and Banjo. The book picks up on the research Kristina did for her previous book Well of Souls: Uncovering the…
Read MoreWelcome to this month’s Bluegrass Briefing, a monthly 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 Highlights from the first 500 episodes Inspiration for Musicians episode News and announcements – church street news Dawg at 80…
Read MoreI love an end of year list, so I’ve decided to round up some of my favourite music of 2025 and share it. I’d love to hear your favourites, so come and find me via the links to my social channels below and share your thoughts! Albums of the year 1. I’m With Her –…
Read MoreIf you were listening last week, you'll know that my interview with Trey Hensley about Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall was the 500th episode of Bluegrass Jam Along. To celebrate I thought I'd put together an episode with a few of my highlights and favourite moments from those first 500. You'll hear from: Alison…
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