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MIXTAPE: The Women in Roots Music Who Inspired Justin Hiltner's '1992'For the past eight or so years I’ve been making this joke that we (the music industry) should “Give women Americana.” As in, if we gave the entire genre -- and bluegrass and country and old-time and folk, for that matter -- to women and femmes and non-men, I wouldn’t…
Tray Wellington Shares a List of Banjo Players Thinking Outside the BoxNorth Carolina musician Tray Wellington is fresh off a nomination for this year's IBMA New Artist of the Year, following the release of his full-length debut album Black Banjo. Still in his early 20s, Wellington pulls from a myriad of influences -- on his latest album he cites jazz as…
Wes Corbett's Banjo Needs: 10 Songs That Make Him HappyWes Corbett is a banjo player who wears many hats. The self-described "musically omnivorous bluegrass musician" is a true multi-hyphenate: 5-string aficionado (having released his solo album Cascade back in 2021), producer, former professor at Berklee College of Music, and musician with the likes of Joy Kills Sorrow, Molly Tuttle,…
Kristin Scott Benson Shares Her Essential '80s Bluegrass Banjo TracksI started playing banjo in 1989 and like most people, once I was hooked, I devoured all the banjo I could find. In my quest for the latest, coolest bluegrass, I ended up covering most of the music recorded in the '80s. It took years to discover because (brace yourself,…
PlaylistsSep 13, 2021
Waltzes are my favorite. Can’t explain why, but they touch me in a way that other songs don’t. In honor of my album, Ten Thousand Roses, and its title track, here are twelve of my favorite waltzes -- some by dear friends and some by long-gone greats. -- Dori Freeman Erin Rae – "June Bug"…
PlaylistsSep 1, 2021
Banjo maestro Béla Fleck has always followed his muse, jamming with collaborators and crisscrossing continents for decades now. His newest album leads him back to familiar terrain, as My Bluegrass Heart is his first bluegrass record in 20 years. "They nearly always come back," says Fleck, who composed and produced the album (set for a…
PlaylistsAug 30, 2021
One of my favorite things in life is hearing a song for the first time that I know I need to hear again, immediately! Something about the melody or the horn part or the harmony part that catches my ear and get’s stuck in my head. Whenever that happens it's like I need to understand…
PlaylistsAug 16, 2021
My mind has been concentrated on making music for my latest record, Wanderer’s Compass. I let Wanderer’s Compass be a collection of as many influences in music I’ve had as possible. I've been playing long enough that I used to learn my fiddle parts from an LP and move the needle back to catch the…
PlaylistsAug 2, 2021
Amythyst Kiah is having a moment with Wary + Strange, an album that positions her among today's most compelling singer-songwriters. Although she is an East Tennessee native, her personal lyrics somehow feel universal -- this isn't an album about rivers and mountains, but instead touches on identity ("Black Myself"), grief ("Wild Turkey"), and unsolicited advice…
