Billy Strings takes things up a notch for Renewal, a long-awaited collection of original songs produced by Jonathan Wilson. But is it bluegrass? Or is it rock 'n' roll? Perhaps more on the psychedelic side? Truly there's no right (or wrong) answer to these questions. As Strings himself puts it, “I’ve learned, you've just got…

Holding a conversation with James McMurtry is similar to experiencing his music. He is frank, eloquent, and gets to the heart of the matter with few words. On The Horses and the Hounds, his first album of new material in nearly seven years, he tells sometimes complicated emotional stories through his fictional characters, crafted within…

This week on The Show On The Road, we bring you a talk with the half-century-spanning, Grammy-winning ringleader of one of American roots music’s most durable and iconic bands, Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel. The episode is a celebration of their fifty years of diligent song collecting, Western swing camaraderie, and epic genre-spanning…

Fair Black Rose is a six-piece bluegrass and old-time string band of young folks from the southwestern U.S. The group grew out of Jam Pak Blues ‘N’ Grass Neighborhood Band, a community and after school program founded by Anni and Vincent Beach in Chandler, Arizona. Anni Beach continues the program to this day, teaching kids…

The Great American Songbook of country music is a vast terrain to cherish and celebrate. So vast, in fact, that to narrow it down into one playlist of favorite “picks” is an incredible challenge! That said, I’m sharing here a selection of songs that are some of my all-time favorite lyrics and melodies. (The kind…