In this week’s edition of You Gotta Hear This, we shine a light on women in bluegrass!

We begin with “Come Alive,” from Darin and Brooke Aldridge. An four-time IBMA Award-winning vocalist, Brooke beautifully delivers this love letter to the mountain life. Meanwhile, Amanda Cook explores a complicated heartbreak in “Let You Go.” Although she’s an understated singer, all of the emotions are evident in her vocal performance. You don’t have to belt it out in bluegrass to get your point across!

Rising talent Farayi joins with Sister Sadie on “May a Love Like This Find Me,” which is a twist on the social media meme: “May a love like this never find me.” If you find ordinary love to be an extraordinary blessing, you’ll enjoy this one. In addition, Heather Mabe of Red Camel Collective is putting thoughts of love into a gospel song in “My Point of View,” a wonderfully encouraging song at a time we need it more than ever.

Meanwhile, few pop songs from the ’80s capture feelings of frustration better than Men at Work’s “Overkill.” It’s equally compelling as sung by Rosine’s Meredith Lane O’Connor with a vocal assist from the songwriter himself, Men at Work’s Colin Hay. We also have a pretty cool, true-to-life road trip song from Sister Sadie called “Marlboros in Muskogee.” And speaking of traveling, the Travelin’ McCourys offer “She Did Break” with harmonies from one of our favorite female vocalists, Garnet Bowman. And finally, you can’t talk about women in bluegrass without mentioning Molly Tuttle, who reimagines “The Highway Knows” acoustically.

As we say every week, You Gotta Hear This!

Darin and Brooke Aldridge, “Come Alive”

Artist: Darin and Brooke Aldridge
Hometown: Cherryville, North Carolina
Song: “Come Alive”
Release Date: September 25, 2026
Label: Billy Blue Records

In Their Words: “With ‘Come Alive,’ we wanted to capture what the mountains we call home have always meant to us and the deep connection we feel to the place, the people and the traditions that shaped who we are. It’s about the music that has been ingrained in our hearts and souls since childhood, the precious time spent with family, the memories made around a kitchen table or on a front porch, and the songs passed down from one generation to the next. Those are the things that become part of your story and stay with you wherever life takes you. The mountains have a way of reminding us what matters most, and music has always been at the center of that for us. It brings people together, carries our history forward and gives a voice to feelings that sometimes words alone can’t express.

“We hope this song takes people back to a special place, brings a familiar memory to the surface or reminds them of the people and moments that have made their lives meaningful. To us, that’s the beauty of this music. It’s more than a sound or a song. It’s a part of who we are, a connection to where we come from and a tradition worth keeping alive. It’s the kind of music that doesn’t just fill the air. It reaches your heart, stirs your soul and makes you come alive.” — Darin and Brooke Aldridge

Amanda Cook, “Let You Go”

Artist: Amanda Cook
Hometown: Fancy Gap, Virginia
Song: “Let You Go”
Album: Love Through Time
Release Date: October 16, 2026
Label: Mountain Fever Records

In Their Words: “Jeff Partin has written songs for several of my records, and once again, he brought us a beautifully written heartbreak song. There’s something really special about the way Jeff tells a story, and I think this one captures that complicated place of knowing a love has run its course but still having a hard time letting go. The band took Jeff’s song and made it our own, giving it our sound and our style. It expresses another side of love that fits perfectly with the theme of Love Through Time. Love isn’t always about the happy endings. Sometimes it’s about the hurt, the letting go, and finding the strength to move forward.” – Amanda Cook

Farayi, “May a Love Like This Find Me” (Ft. Sister Sadie)

Artist: Farayi
Hometown: Rural Idaho
Song: “May a Love Like This Find Me” (Ft. Sister Sadie)
Release Date: October 13, 2026
Label: Down the Road Records

In Their Words: “When I thought of the concept for this song, I initially thought about how daunting and demoralizing it can feel to try and fail at finding that true, romantic love, but once Deanie, Dani, and I got in the room together, it became apparent that the song was more about gratitude. We chose to explore how love manifests within our ordinary lives in ways that are simple, yet so profound, and in relationships that can easily be taken for granted. Sometimes we already have the profound love we’re seeking.” – Farayi

“Writing this one with Farayi was one of my favorite days in a room in a long time. The idea underneath it is that being well loved is usually pretty unremarkable. It doesn’t announce itself, but it’s everything. That’s a harder thing to write than heartbreak, because there’s no drama in it. But we kept chasing it until it felt true. There’s a lot of real life in this song.” — Dani Flowers, Sister Sadie

Red Camel Collective, “My Point of View”

Artist: Red Camel Collective
Hometowns: Walnut Cove, N.C. (Tony and Heather Mabe); Wirtz, Va. (Johnathan Dillon); Oakboro, N.C. (Curt Love)
Song: “My Point of View”
Release Date: October 14, 2026
Album: Finding Your Way Home
Label: Pinecastle Records

In Their Words: “We needed a gospel song for our upcoming record, so I was thumbing through ideas I had saved on my phone. I ran across the lines ‘you’re doing better than you think, and you’re stronger than you know.’ Those words just hit me right in the heart and I instantly knew, this is a gospel song. It came together so quickly. It flowed right from my heart. We are so excited for folks to hear this tune and our upcoming album, Finding Your Way Home, coming early 2027!” – Heather Berry Mabe, Red Camel Collective

Rosine Feat. Colin Hay, “Overkill”

Artist: Rosine Feat. Colin Hay
Hometowns: Nashville, Tennessee (Rosine); Topanga, California (Colin Hay)
Song: “Overkill”
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “Colin has said that when he wrote ‘Overkill’ in the early ’80s, he was trying to make sense of how fast everything was changing around him during the ascent of Men at Work. At a different scale, that feeling hits home for us too: starting Rosine, getting married, and building a life and a band at the same time has been incredibly rewarding and beautiful, but it’s also brought sleepless nights and long stretches of introspection and self-questioning. Having Colin join us on this song reminds us that most of the people we look up to have faced fears similar to ours and have led lives where each day feels like a new adventure.” — Forrest O’Connor and Meredith Lane O’Connor, Rosine

“When I came up with the song ‘Overkill’ some 46 years ago, I had personal struggles. Whenever I sang the song, it helped me. Soothed my soul, so to speak. It lives inside me and has been my constant friend all this time. When I hear Rosine play the song and Meredith sing it, it lifts my spirits, makes me feel useful. It’s become their friend too. It connects us, like an electric current. That’s what music does, there’s nothing like it.” — Colin Hay

Sister Sadie, “Marlboros in Muskogee”

Artist: Sister Sadie
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Marlboros in Muskogee”
Release Date: October 6, 2026
Label: Down the Road Records/Exceleration Music

In Their Words: “We left Nashville for a tour through Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona honestly kind of dreading it. We knew we were about to drive thousands of miles in three days, and that part of this job feels a little ridiculous sometimes because the travel is most of the work. Then you get up there and play for an hour, maybe 75 minutes, and that’s the part everybody sees. But somewhere along the way, that trip turned into one of those experiences none of us would have missed for the world. We didn’t sit down and decide we were going to write a road song. We went on the road, lived all of these little moments together, and a song came out of it. ‘Marlboros in Muskogee’ feels less like we were trying to make up some glamorous story about life on the road and more like we just paid attention to what was actually happening while we were in it.” — Dani Flowers

“We told our co-writers [Jon Randall Stewart and Jessi Alexander] about the entire trip, and then wrote the song with them. And they got exactly what we were looking for. When we played it for the girls, we were all sobbing because it is exactly what it’s like on the road with us. This song is the story of this band.” — Deanie Richardson

The Travelin’ McCourys, “She Did Break” (Ft. Garnet Bowman)

Artist: The Travelin’ McCourys
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “She Did Break”
Release Date: October 13, 2026
Label: McCoury Music

In Their Words: “I had the idea and title for the song ‘She Did Break.’ I wrote it with Adam Hood and Donnie and Chris Davisson. It was so great to hear where we took the idea and went with it. It’s an age old topic of the wandering of a man in a relationship and the heartbreak it leaves behind. I’m proud of how it turned out and the ‘icing on the cake’ was adding Garnet Bowman’s beautiful voice on it.” — Ronnie McCoury

Molly Tuttle, “The Highway Knows” (Acoustic)

Artist: Molly Tuttle
Hometown: Palo Alto, California; Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Highway Knows” (Acoustic)
Album: So Long Little Miss Sunshine (Acoustic EP)
Release Date: September 4, 2026
Label: Nonesuch Records

In Their Words: “I recorded this acoustic version of ‘The Highway Knows’ last fall after having so much fun reworking it with an acoustic trio for a couple shows we did last year. On my album version from So Long Little Miss Sunshine, there are drums, keys and all sorts of other textures which we stripped away for this version. People seemed to respond to hearing these songs done acoustically so I wanted to put out these versions that were a little truer to how the songs first sounded when I wrote them and played them around the house. This version features Mair on mandolin and vocals and Vanessa McGowan on bass and vocals.” — Molly Tuttle

Photo Credit: Joshua Black Wilkins (Sister Sadie); Ebru Yildiz (Molly Tuttle)