My guest this week is author Dan Gutstein, who joins me to chat about his book 'Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane'. The book traces the history of one of America's most recorded folk songs, from its origins amongst enslaved people on southern plantations, through the Civl War and minstrelsy, to the…
Read MoreWelcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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) Noam Pikelny and Friends tour dates Alison Krauss tour dates Earl Scruggs Center events Bela Fleck’s…
Read MoreMy guest this week is Darol Anger, one of the leading lights of progressive string band music over the last 50 years. Through his work with the David Grisman Quintet, the Turtle Island String Quartet, bands like Psychograss and New Grange and his long standing collaboration with Mike Marshall (not to mention his own wonderful…
Read MoreMy guest this week is Charlotte Carrivick. Charlotte is one of my favourite guitarists, so I'm delighted she's back on the podcast to talk about her new record Sensible or Otherwise. We chat about why, despite having written tunes for years, it took so long to make an instrumental record; the new guitar she commissioned for…
Read MoreMy guests this week is Olli Chanoff, Director of Programming at the FreshGrass Foundation. So much music I love has its roots in FreshGrass Commissions, from albums like Becky Buller's Jubilee, Sarah Jarosz's Blue Heron Suite and Aoife O'Donovan's All My Friends, to instrumental works by Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas and Jacob Jolliff. So I was…
Read MoreWelcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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) Blue Ridge Guitar Camp Allison de Groot’s ArtistWorks clawhammer banjo course Releases (The Grass is New)…
Read MoreMy guest this week is Sarah Jarosz. Sarah joins me to talk about one of my favourite albums, 'Blue Heron Suite', which is getting a physical reissue on November 22nd. We chat about how the record developed out of a FreshGrass commission, what that process was like, the central themes that underpin the album, the…
Read MoreWelcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass. This week we have a special episode looking at the artists from the bluegrass and string band world who've been nominated for a Grammy. There'll be some music in here you're familiar…
Read MoreMy guest this week is Sierra Hull. Since I spoke to Sierra for the podcast back in January 2023 she's been ridiculously busy touring and recording. We chat about the extended tour she's been on for Bela Fleck's My Bluegrass Heart (which she describes as one of the highlights of her musical life), her current…
Read MoreWelcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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. Podcast news Bryan Sutton IBMA fundraiser interview Donate to the Bluegrass Jam Along/Bryan Sutton fundraiser to help people and communities devastated by…
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