My 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 decision to arrange it for a trio rather than including drums and how it fits into Sarah's journey, both personally and as a songwriter.Getting to chat about new records is always fun,...

Welcome 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 with and, hopefully, something new to discover too.The awards themselves will take place on Sunday February 2nd 2025.Who are your favourites?Other bitsDonate to the Bluegrass Jam Along...

My 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 and ongoing tour with her own band (which has been chaotic to say the least!) and why she chose to have a drummer in her band, even though she confesses she's not generally a fan of drums ...

Welcome 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 newsBryan Sutton IBMA fundraiser interviewDonate to the Bluegrass Jam Along/Bryan Sutton fundraiser to help people and communities devastated by Hurricane HeleneNews and Announcements (Church Street News)Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza JaneReleases (The Grass is New)The Grass is (mostly) Ne...

This week I'm joined by bluegrass legend Bryan Sutton for a very special episode to benefit the IBMA Trust Fund and help people suffering the devastation of Hurricane Helene.In the run up to recording the episode we asked for questions for Bryan for Bluegrass Jam Along listeners - in this interview you'll hear me put those questions to him. We talk about growing up in Asheville and how important that community was to Bryan's musical development; about his relationship with Doc Watson and the ...

Welcome 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)Donate to the Bluegrass Jam Along/Bryan Sutton fundraiser to help people and communities devastated by Hurricane Helene.Biscuits and BanjosEuropean Bluegrass SummitRestring AppalachiaReleases (The Grass is New)Chris Eaton & Flint County - Pheasant PieThe Grass is (m...

My guest this week is Daniel Patrick, host of the excellent Mandolins and Beer podcast.Daniel has interviewed dozens of great mandolin players for his podcast, but today we're going to talk about his new record Around the Clock, which features him playing with eleven of his heroes, including Tim O'Brien, Ronnie McCoury and Sam Bush, as well as some of the top players on the scene today, including Jarrod Walker, Jacob Jolliff and Harry Clark.We chat about how the record came together and how i...

Welcome 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 episodeNews and Announcements (Church Street News)Donate to the Bluegrass Jam Along/Bryan Sutton fundraiser to help people and communities devastated by Hurricane Helene.Celtic Connections 2025Blue Ridge Guitar Camp 2025Michael Daves’ Clarence White Muleskinner zoom classNew Acoustic Facebook groupReleases (The Grass is...

This week's episode is about a very special fundraiser I'm putting together.I’m working with Bryan Sutton to raise funds to help people suffering the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene. Bryan is from Asheville, NC, one of the cities hit hardest by the hurricane, so this cause is very close to his heart.We’re putting together a one off episode of Bluegrass Jam Along where you, the podcast's listeners, get to interview Bryan! Here's how it works...When you donate, you get to send me a ques...

Welcome 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)Donate to the Bluegrass Jam Along/Bryan Sutton fundraiser to help people and communities devastated by Hurricane Helene.Appalachian Allies benefit concertEnergy Curfew Music HourYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotifyReleases (The Grass is New)The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playli...

My guests on the podcast this week are Lillian Werbin and Kristina Gaddy. I caught up with them at IBMA to chat about Roots Revival : A Black Stringband Symposium, a collaboration between IBMA and The Banjo Gathering.Hosted at IBMA's World of Bluegrass, the symposium celebrated and explored Black contributions to Bluegrass and other traditional music, both historic and continuing, featuring contemporary conversations about diversity and inclusion in traditional music and the ways in which Bla...

Welcome 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 episodeNews and Announcements (Church Street News)Donate to help those devastated by hurricane HeleneJohn Hartford tune marathonReleases (The Grass is New)The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlistOther bitsSign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlistFull list of intervie...

This week's episode is a selection of interviews I carried out at IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, North Carolina last week.It was the last IBMA in Raleigh before the event moves to Chattanooga in 2025, and was an amazing week, full of great conversations, events, music, instruments, picking and people. I had a fantastic time and can't tell you how much it means to me to feel so welcomed by the bluegrass and string band community.But it was also a devastating week for the people of western...

This week’s episode is all about learning to play music.I’ve been listening back to the interviews I’ve done over the past 3 years and so many of them touch on some really core stuff when it comes to being a musician. All of it has helped me at one point or another, so I thought I’d put together a compilation of some of my favourite bits. There’s something in here for everyone, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been playing for years and just need some inspiration or encourageme...

Welcome 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)IBMA World of Bluegrass infoCollings Hill Country guitarsKruger Brothers Music AcademyReleases (The Grass is New)The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlistScroll on BuddyBilly Strings ‘Seven Weeks in County’ videoOther bitsSign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/c...

Welcome 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 newsInterview episodes by categoryNews and Announcements (Church Street News)Vasen & HawtailPreorder linkTour datesReleases (The Grass is New)Andy Statman albumBuy on AmazonThe Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlistOther bitsSign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/The Grass is (mostly) ...

My guest this week is the legendary Jerry Douglas.Jerry joins me again to chat about recording his first new album in six years. It's called 'The Set' and features the band Jerry's been playing with for a decade now. He talks about what's special about playing with that band and why he chose to re-visit some tunes that will be familiar to his fans for this record, as well as new material, including 'The Fifth Season', which started out as a FreshGrass commission. We also chat about some of Je...

My guest this week is Fretboard Journal's Jason Verlinde.Jason shares the story of how Fretboard Journal started, back in 2005, and how it's grown from a print magazine to include a series of great podcasts and The Fretboard Summit events.We also chat about the current state of the acoustic instrument market and how the vintage market has changed over the past two decades, plus what people can expect from this year's Fretboard Summit, which kicks off in Chicago in just two days.Visit fretboar...

Welcome 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, news of a brand new record by Daniel Patrick of the Mandolins and Beer podcast and a new flatpicking course from Grant Gordy on Peghead Nation.There's also new music from Stephen Mougin and Ned Luberecki, Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland, Sarah Jarosz, Any Leftwich, Aoife O'Donovan and Hawktail and Jerry Douglas!Don't forget, you'll find the new releas...

My guest this week is Rebecca Frazier. Rebecca was the first woman ever to appear on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and her band Hit & Run are the only band to win all three Rockygrass, Telluride, and SPBGMA Festival Band competitions.She joins me to chat about her new record Boarding Windows in Paradise. We talk about working with legendary producer and engineer Bill Wolf, recording with Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan and the band Love Canon and the decade gap between this...

My guest this week is Becky Buller.Becky is the winner of 10 IBMA awards, including the 2016 awards for Fiddler and Female Vocalist. She's the first woman in the history of IBMA to receive the Fiddle Player of the Year award and the first person ever to win in both vocal and instrumental categories. She joins me to talk about her fabulous album and song cycle 'Jubilee'. We talk about the FreshGrass commission that sparked the piece, co-writing with Aoife O'Donovan, taking part in an his...

Welcome 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 newsInterview episodes by categoryNews and Announcements (Church Street News)IBMA announcementLessons With Marcel Molly Tuttle bookPeghead Nation Folk and Bluegrass Songs for FiddleDon’t forget the promo code below for a free month!Releases (The Grass is New)Billy Strings Leadfoot videoThe Grass is (most...

This week's episode is a Food For Thought episode. If you're not familiar with them, they're a series of short episodes on a single idea, designed to get you thinking and (hopefully) deepening your understanding of a particular music related area.This week we've got a simple idea from Dolly Parton - "Find out who you are and do it on purpose."So many of us think we should decide what kind of musician (or person!) we want to be, then work to become that, but the reality is we've all got someth...

Welcome 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)IBMA news & infoReleases (The Grass is New)The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlistOther bitsSign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlistFull list of interviewsPeghead NationUse the code ‘jamalong’ for a free month ...