Farewell 2023 and hello 2024! While we all relish the week that doesn’t exist – that delightful no-man’s-land between Christmas and New Year’s Day – there’s perhaps just one activity beyond abject laziness that’s appropriate for the turning of the year: Music! Whether you’re still in “pajamas hermit” mode or you’re antsy and ready to go back out into the world, we’ve got songs and shows to recommend for your New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day festivities in this special edition, final week of BGS Wraps.
Thank you for spending another stellar year with BGS! We can’t wait to enjoy all that 2024 has in store with all of you. Celebrate safely and enjoy the holiday, we’ll see you in the new year.
92Q & Analog Soul 2024 New Year Bash, Hutton Hotel, Nashville, TN, December 31
There are seemingly wall-to-wall parties, concerts, and happenings in Music City for NYE, and one certainly worth spotlighting is 92Q & Analog Soul’s 2024 New Year Bash, happening December 31 at Analog at the Hutton Hotel. From 8pm to 2am, guests will hear production, songwriting, and music-making duo Louis York, roots-tinged girl group The Shindellas, Shae Nycole, and more ring in the new year with performances, DJ sets, food and drink, and a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets are available here.
Ruby Amanfu, “Winter”
A dreamy and gauzy neo-folk song from singer-songwriter Ruby Amanfu feels frosty and magical, but warm and enveloping, too. It finds joy in often gray and bleak winter landscapes and vignettes we all know so well. The pulsing piano gives the track a forward-leaning energy, even while it relaxes into its groove and builds to a tender, energetic and lush sound.
The Felice Brothers at Colony, Woodstock, NY December 30 & 31
Spending your New Year’s Eve in upstate New York? Don’t miss the Felice Brothers’ two year-end shows at Colony in Woodstock! Both dates appear to be sold out, but you can join the wait list here. Based in the Catskills – so this is something of a holiday homecoming for the group – the Felice Brothers put out a Bandcamp-exclusive album, Asylum on the Hill, earlier this month. Celebrate ushering out the old and in the new with the Felice Brothers in Woodstock.
McKowski, “Auld Lang Syne”
Mark McCausland – AKA McKowski, also of The Lost Brothers and formerly of The Basement – released an album of ethereal and contemplative holiday instrumentals for guitar this month that features a gorgeous rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” that’s perfect for your NYE playlists. The album, Winter Guitar Hymnals from the Boneyard, certainly listens as a kind of guitar-centered ecclesiastical service, featuring a handful of Christmas carols alongside original arrangements and compositions, too. It’s a lovely collection, one we just had to spotlight for this final BGS Wraps.
Nashville’s Big Bash on CBS and Paramount+, Nashville, TN December 31
If you love big crowds, bright lights, and stunning pyrotechnics, Nashville’s Big Bash is for you! Or, stay home and avoid the crowds by streaming the show on CBS and Paramount+. See and hear Parker McCollum, Brothers Osborne with Trombone Shorty, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, Kane Brown, and many more. Hosted by Elle King and Rachel Smith, the five-hour production will feature more than fifty artists, bands, and performances. Oh and of course there will be the music note drop – Nashville’s version of the famous ball drop – over the stage at the Bicentennial Mall at midnight! More info available here.
Nefesh Mountain, “More Love”
What better to take with us into the new year than “More Love”? A Tim O’Brien cover by Jewish bluegrass string band Nefesh Mountain, the track was released with a mission of supporting organizations working to end the violence and ongoing war in Israel, Gaza, and Palestine while supporting Palestinians and Israelis impacted by the conflict. In a press release, Nefesh Mountain made a commitment to “donate a quarter of proceeds from ‘More Love,’ the ‘Love and Light’ Tour, and their forthcoming EP to charities and foundations that are dedicated to promoting peace, coexistence, and a way forward for Israelis and Palestinians.”
With more than 20,000 killed in Gaza and hundreds and hundreds more killed in Israel, the West Bank, and the greater region, we certainly believe the world could use “More Love” – and far, far less war – in 2024.
The Nields, “New Year’s Day”
We’ve been “saving” “New Year’s Day” from the Nields’ new album, Circle of Days – which was released in June – for more than half a year, just for this moment! It’s a truly perfect song for this point of transition. The feeling of helplessness we all feel at the inevitable march of time is captured like lightning in a bottle, with feelings of regret, despair, and exhaustion. But ultimately, they find hope in these lyrics, even while they explore emotions often opposed to hope and its regeneration.
Old Crow Medicine Show at The Ryman, Nashville, TN December 30 & 31
It wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve without Old Crow Medicine Show at the Ryman! It’s a long tradition, this year bolstered by supporting acts like former Old Crow member Willie Watson (30th & 31st) and Kasey Tyndall (30th) and Harper O’Neill (31st). Tickets are somehow still available – so grab yours while you can! You never know what special guests Old Crow will trot out at these rollicking, rowdy, joyous shows. Though it’s probably safe to bet there won’t be a Belle Meade Cockfight either night, don’t rule it out entirely.
Portland Cello Project, “What Are You Doing for New Years?”
The Portland Cello Project is joined by soloist, vocalist Saeeda Wright, for an epic, jazzy rendition of “What Are You Doing for New Years?”, perhaps the only generally accepted New Year’s “carol” besides “Auld Lang Syne.” (We’re open to argument on that point, of course.) The track is from their holiday EP, Under the Mistletoe, a collaboration with Wright and drummer Tyrone Hendrix. It certainly demonstrates the broad contexts in which chamber music such as this can thrive.
Amanda Stewart, “One Hell of a Year”
A thought we have had every year since 2020 – and, honestly, since long before, too – is this: That was one hell of a year. If you’re feeling that same exasperation, mixed with fatigue and pride and a sense of finality, as we turn the page on the calendar, Amanda Stewart has a bluegrassy send off to 2023 and the holiday season just for you.
Billy Strings at Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, LA December 29, 30, 31
A New Orleans New Year’s extravaganza helmed by bluegrass shredder Billy Strings feels like an apropos way to ring out the old and ring in the new. For the past few years Strings has defined bluegrass music, with his skyrocketing fame, mass appeal, and ever-growing fan base. During that time, his shows around New Year’s Eve have been unparalleled. Now, they have grown into multi-night runs in arenas and stadiums – like the Big Easy’s Lakefront Arena. As is usual for Billy’s shows, there are no openers, so buckle up for nothing but rip-roarin’ Billy Strings each night as we say a final goodbye to 2023 and bid good morning and good day to 2024! Tickets here.
Photo Credit: Billy Strings by Christopher Morley; Ruby Amanfu courtesy of the artist; Old Crow Medicine Show by Joshua Black Wilkins.
Year-end lists can be so problematic – pitting distinct sounds and music against each other, peddling absolutes, attempting objectivity in a demonstrably subjective field. Each year, as we consider the music that impacted us over the course of twelve months, we try to challenge ourselves and each other, as BGS contributors, to think outside the year-end round up “box.”
For the BGS Class of 2023, our intention is to highlight music, songs, albums, and performances that have stuck with us, or that we know will continue to stick with us into the future. We wanted to deliberately look beyond the music and creators that merely have the resources, networks, and access to reach us; we wanted to utilize genre as a checkpoint or touchstone, but never as a blanket criterion; we wanted to broaden what forms of media or formats are included; and overall, we wanted to attempt a holistic look at what a year of listening, learning, watching, and hearing can look like to this particular group of people.
You’ll find ravishing and large indie folk, earnest and literary – and raucous and silly – bluegrass, legendary legacy artists and brand new lineups, soundtracks and live shows, and more. Ultimately, whatever the year, we always want our retrospective lists to be a starting point, a springboard, for our readers, followers, and for roots music fans. This is not the end-all, be-all “Best of 2023” list. Instead, it’s a reminder of the music that scored a year absolutely filled to bursting with excellent, exemplary, ecstatic roots songs, albums, and shows.
boygenius in Pittsburgh, June 2023
When I saw boygenius this summer, I was milktoast about the whole thing going into it. As soon as I arrived, I realized I was surrounded by young people – and not just any young people: All the beautiful freaks were out for Lucy, Julien, and Phoebe. The energy was palpable and something that I have not experienced in over 20 years. Everyone knew every word. They were FaceTiming friends who cried and sang along remotely with these heroes on stage. It was inspiring!
boygenius feels like an important band. I so wish they had been around when I was an outcast teenager feeling such confusing, wild emotions. Music has a way of helping the world make sense. boygenius radiates communion and it felt like an honor to be a part of their world. – Cindy Howes
Caitlin Canty, Quiet Flame
My favorite bluegrass album of the year is often an album that, through no fault of its own, ends up receiving little to no bluegrass radio airplay or IBMA Awards recognition, and as I listened to Caitlin Canty’s Quiet Flame over and over this year, I couldn’t help but expect it would end up criminally underrated by the general bluegrass community. It’s made by bluegrass pickers – Canty assembled Chris Eldridge (who also was the project’s producer), her husband Noam Pikelny, Brittany Haas, Paul Kowert, Sarah Jarosz, and Andrew Marlin for her band – and as a result Quiet Flame, more often than not, is just an unencumbered string band album that’s as much bluegrass as it is Americana and singer-songwriter folk. But while Mighty Poplar, with a similar lineup of folks, takes off in bluegrass circles, it raises an eyebrow that this impeccable, heartfelt, and complicated set of songs hasn’t seen the same trajectory. Not that that was Canty’s goal – it’s obvious her priorities in music making are grounded and community-minded, part of why this album is such a stunner. “Odds of Getting Even,” co-written with another BGS favorite, Maya de Vitry, is one of the year’s best songs, bar none. – Justin Hiltner
A Homeplace Pilgrimage to Earl Scruggs Music Festival, August 2023
L: Nina Simone’s homeplace in Tryon, NC. R: Earl Scruggs’ homeplace in Boiling Springs, NC. Both photos by Justin Hiltner.
BGS once again co-presented the Earl Scruggs Revue tribute set hosted by Tony Trischka at Earl Scruggs Music Festival, held just outside of Shelby, North Carolina at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in August. On my drive to the festival grounds, I made stops in Tryon proper, to visit Nina Simone’s childhood home, and also in Shelby, to visit the Earl Scruggs Center and to drive by both of the Scruggs homeplaces just outside of Boiling Springs, North Carolina. It was stunning to visit both homes on the same day, to realize the interconnectedness of so much of American popular music. Simone grew up with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from her front porch nestled in one of their hollers, yet we place Scruggs as an Appalachian musician and not Simone?
The festival and Scruggs Center, for their parts, did an excellent job of demonstrating how broad, varied, and intricate American roots music is, even while focusing closely on bluegrass, string band, and Americana music. Listeners of our podcast, Carolina Calling, will know how much BGS loves North Carolina music history – the show features episodes on both Scruggs and Simone. Seeing that history in person, while heading to a first-class, banjo-heavy festival was a favorite musical moment of this year, for sure. – Justin Hiltner
East Nash Grass, Last Chance to Win
East Nash Grass seems to be all the buzz on the bluegrass circuit these days and those who have ventured to Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge on any Monday night since 2017 can certainly understand why. The band’s long-standing residency at the Madison, Tennessee dive bar has taken them from a weekly pick-up band to performing at the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, and at bluegrass festivals across the U.S. Their sophomore album, Last Chance to Win, captures the band at their very best (albeit, without their lovable stage antics). Following a 2023 IBMA nomination for Best New Artist, it won’t be a surprise if we see this record, and these musicians, sweeping awards in 2024 and beyond. – Thomas Cassell
Alejandro Escovedo at Cat’s Cradle Backroom, Carrboro, NC, November 2023
There are countless good reasons why you should make a point of seeing the Texas punk/soul godfather if he’s ever playing anywhere near you. But what might be the best reason of all is it’s a lead-pipe cinch that everyone in your town worth hanging out with will be there, too – onstage as well as in the crowd. Escovedo was among a dozen stars drawn to the North Carolina Triangle for an all-star “Nuggets” tribute show overseen by Lenny Kaye in November. So, he came a night early and played a solo show, too, ably supported by local luminaries Lynn Blakey and Pinetops/The Right Profile guitarist Jeffrey Dean Foster. The love in the room was palpable on deeply moving originals like “Sister Lost Soul” and “Wave Goodbye.” And when Kaye and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck came on for a closing Velvet Underground cameo of “Pale Blue Eyes” and “Sweet Jane,” the circle was complete. – David Menconi
Ben Garnett, “Open Your Books” (featuring Brittany Haas and Paul Kowert)
Before I’d listened to the complete #BGSClassof2023 Spotify playlist and realized this track was one of our first additions, the app kept recommending “Open Your Books” to me – and it’s not hard to see why. From guitarist and composer Ben Garnett’s debut album, Imitation Fields, the track features bassist Paul Kowert and fiddler Brittnay Haas and is an example of what bluegrass music can be, and what traditionally bluegrass instruments can do.
The tune opens slowly, with guitar and mandola – provided by Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway’s own Dominick Leslie. Fiddle swells, orchestral arrangements, and dreamy acoustic production make for a piece that feels distinctly intellectual. It’s chambergrass, but it’s also highly listen-able. While there’s a strong melodic thread throughout, the surrounding instruments and their players are allowed to wander off up the guitar neck, throwing in trill-y banjo licks, and detouring outside traditional fills and solo styles. The record was produced by Chris Eldridge and also features Matthew Davis on banjo and additional guitar from Billy Contreras. I’d recommend this tune to low-fi lovers, roots music fans, and anyone looking for a chilled out moment. It’s perfect for an introspective drive or a rainy winter day spent drinking hot tea at the window. – Lonnie Lee Hood
Alice Gerrard, Sun to Sun
Never, over the course of her lifelong career in music, has Alice Gerrard stopped, having reached her musical destination. She has challenged herself, time and time again, not simply for reinvention’s sake, but because she is a consummate old-time and bluegrass musician, someone so solidly bitten by the string band bug that making music requires that constant movement, that aspirational looking into the future, girded by songs of the past. But Sun to Sun, her latest – and perhaps final – album, features songs decidedly of the present. A synthesizer of traditional art forms, Gerrard takes textures and colors we relate to “authenticity” and leverages them to serve the messages in these tracks. Aging, mortality, justice, apartheid, gun violence, community are all woven into this collection. Alice is their nexus point, around which the entire project revolves and reflects the cosmic light she continues to shine on all of us – and on roots music subjects too often hidden in the shadows. – Justin Hiltner
A Good Year for Soundtracks – Asteroid City, The Holdovers, and More
Between the Writers Guild and Screen Actors’ strikes, 2023 was a weird year for the entertainment industry. But for those releases that did make it to the screen, it was a great year for movie soundtracks, especially for roots music fans.
First up, Wes Anderson’s western sci-fi Asteroid City. In addition to the usual cadre of Anderson’s cast, the film was peppered with classic country and bluegrass recordings from the likes of Tex Ritter, Slim Whitman, Bill Monroe, and Johnny Duncan & the Blue Grass Boys (you read that right). That’s to say nothing of the incredibly catchy original ear worm, “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” which felt as classic as those twentieth century tunes of the frontier written decades ago.
Capping off the year was Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, a beautiful ode to a particular style of 1970s filmmaking that stars Paul Giamatti. Set in snowy western Massachusetts over a lonely winter break in 1970, the soundtrack plays like an old, soft blanket – familiar and warming. Newer tracks from Damian Jurado and Khruangbin weave seamlessly alongside ‘70s AM gold and Mark Orton’s pensive, folksy score. But the real standout of this soundtrack is a rediscovery of British folk artist Labi Siffre. His music has been shamefully overlooked in U.S. folk canon. Hopefully this movie can help start to rectify that.
Finally, it would be criminal if I didn’t mention the key placement of Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine” in the biggest hit of the year, Barbie. Here’s to another generation of young women finding themselves in Amy and Emily’s music. Thanks, Greta Gerwig. – Amy Reitnouer Jacobs
Kristen Grainger & True North, “Extraordinary Grace”
Take the anvil from my chest…
I am gasping for breath at this opening line. In her extraordinary, intimate voice, Kristen Grainger is pleading, letting us know she has lost hope. And we are right there with her. Whether we believed salvation came from the church or the Voting Rights Act, we believe no more. We are a fractured world, and it seems there is no bringing us together. Kristen’s melodies pull you in as much as her words, and I sometimes wake with this haunting song emerging from my dreams. Her bandmates’ graceful harmonies and instrumental accompaniment support the stunning words.
I once believed in extraordinary grace I put my faith in saints and saviors In the mirror, I can’t bear to see my heroine Killing time until time returns the favor.
Still, there is cause for hope: the promise of more music from True North. – Claire Levine
Angélique Kidjo at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, April 2023
“We can’t hear! We can’t hear!” Not what a performer wants to hear an audience chanting – though Angélique Kidjo didn’t hear it for a couple of songs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in April. She was giving it all, singing and dancing with vigor and verve, as she does. But the Benin-born star’s voice and all but the drums and percussion from her band were not reaching the crowd, that had already waited out a 45-minute rain delay. Finally, the stage crew got the message, but it still took some time to get things working. When they did, Kidjo betrayed no frustration – just pure, joyful release as she packed a full set’s worth of spirit into the handful of songs she could squeeze in the remaining time slot, including a few highlights from her re-infusion of Talking Heads’ Remain in Light album. Closing with her idol/mentor Mariam Makeba’s signature “Pata Pata,” she was radiant, as was everyone who stuck around to see and hear her. – Steve Hochman
The Lemon Twigs, Everything Harmony
This album is, without reservation or exaggeration, one of the most beautiful records I have heard in my entire life. Building on inspiration from ‘60s/’70s pop-rock (think the Byrds,Todd Rundgren, the Beach Boys, the Flamin’ Groovies), the Lemon Twigs achieve a layered delicacy of nostalgia and innovation. Their creative impulses are so detailed, articulate, and inspired that the entire album feels unfathomable; how could music reach such timelessness that it tickles at the preterhuman? Brothers Michael and Brian D’addario share the songwriting credits for pieces that feel distinctly matured from much of their earlier work. They’ve pared down the theatrics, tightened the sprawling lyrics, and created from a place that strikes a quintessential balance of self and influence. Their result is something oceanic – music that calls upon its ancestry in a way that is pervasive, striking, and sublimates the query of eternity. – Oriana Mack
Ronnie Milsap’s Final Nashville Concert, October 2023
Ronnie Milsap’s final Nashville concert will resonate with me for many years to come, both because of the multiple memorable performances and because it represented the best of country music from the standpoint of diversity and inclusion. Various performers from across the musical spectrum covered Milsap hits, with songs from every arena – honky-tonk and straight country tearjerkers, reworked doo-wop, R&B, and pop classics, love songs, and slice of life retrospectives. The roster of artists who displayed their love and affection for Milsap’s music crossed racial, gender, and sexual orientation lines, and it was also great to see the legend himself conclude the proceedings. While the Nashville audience and community will miss Milsap’s performances, this last outing provided plenty of wonderful moments and lots of great music that will never be forgotten. – Ron Wynn
New Dangerfield’s Debut at IBMA Bluegrass Live!, September 2023
For years a growing number of Black musicians have entered the trad scene and reclaimed Black traditions key to its development and evolution. Their work has run the gamut from preservation to experimentation. Audiences at this year’s IBMA Bluegrass Live! were introduced to a new Black string band that does it all: New Dangerfield. Made up of powerhouses Tray Wellington, Kaïa Kater, Jake Blount, and Nelson Williams, New Dangerfield has, in their own words, “risen to carry the torch.” In their premiere performance the band delivered an eclectic set of early jazz, early blues — and even a cover of R&B musician H.E.R’s “Hard Place,” led by Kater’s deliciously lush vocals. Each member, proficient instrumentalists in their own right, also showed off their technical chops and drew whoops from the crowd. Their set was something historic, and I’m excited to see what comes next from New Dangerfield. – Brandi Waller-Pace
Railbird Festival, June 2023
Set in the heart of Lexington, Kentucky, under a deep-red Strawberry Moon, the 2023 Railbird Festival was an under-the-radar masterstroke, highlighting the confluence of roots music and the mainstream. Held June 3 and 4 on the spacious lawn of The Infield at Red Mile, a sold-out crowd of 40,000+ enjoyed a non-stop lineup of performers from across the “Americana” pantheon, expertly curated and spread out over three stages. With 32 acts in total, country, rock, folk, bluegrass and more were all represented, as headliners Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan topped a bill including Charley Crockett, Whiskey Myers, Morgan Wade, Nickel Creek, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – even Weezer and Sheryl Crow. Combine all that with a well-thought out fan experience and an off-the-beaten path vibe, and the weekend was an ideal kickoff to festival season. – Chris Parton
Sam Shackleton at the Horseshoe Tavern, October 2023
Country fandom has always been ideological, but in the last few years the genre’s politics have felt plainer – clear villains and clear heroes, but also messy interior politics. Through this time, I’ve mostly been listening to folk music far away from the fighting at home, from musicians like Sam Shackleton, a genius singer and banjo player from Scotland. He was supporting the Mary Wallopers, the radical Irish party band, in Toronto in October. Shackleton was great, working the audience, singing his songs, and classic folk tracks. The crowd was restless, the beer he was offered on stage seemed pro forma, but he tried. There was a version of “All You Fascists (Are Bound To Lose)” that gave me hope for a few minutes. We step out for a smoke, and Shackelton is on the patio, nursing a lager. I tell him I loved the show and that I wanted vinyl. He hugs me and thanks me. Walking back in, the room is filled with Irish expats who are singing along to the Wallopers in ways that feel a little hostile. I leave early, going for Chinese food. These couple of hours were country/folk in 2023 for me – inclusive, exclusive, hand shakes, hugs, and isolation – plus enough physical/emotional distance from the world that I didn’t ask exactly how the fascists would lose. – Steacy Easton
Sleeping in the Woods Festival, May 2023
At a time when money in the music industry is at an all time low, and expenses are at an all time high, I have immense gratitude for anyone starting new community projects to showcase and uplift musicians and songwriters. I was lucky enough to get to be a part of Nicholas Jamerson’s Sleeping in the Woods Festival in Cumberland, Kentucky in May of 2023, and this event makes my best-of list. The festival bills itself as songwriter specific and showcases many lesser known Kentucky songwriters and bands. The strategy is to create a listening environment and bring together a Southern audience hungry for more straight-shooting roots music and hard hitting lyrics after becoming fans of Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, and of course, Jamerson himself. After a successful first year, the festival is poised to grow exponentially and become a beloved annual event for all of those involved. – Rachel Baiman
Billy Strings at Bourbon and Beyond, September 2023
After five years of programming the BGS stage at Bourbon & Beyond, the Louisville-based festival has become something of a homecoming for our whole team. But nothing was more special than this year, when we got to see Billy Strings headline the main stage in front of over 50,000 people. It seems like just yesterday (in reality it was more like 2018) that Billy played our own stage inside the Bourbon Tent, a memory made all the sweeter by his surprise appearance this year on our stage during Michael Cleveland’s set. Hopefully it’s one of many happy returns to B&B for Billy, his fans, and BGS for years to come. – Amy Reitnouer Jacobs
Sunny War, Anarchist Gospel
Nobody sounds like Sunny War. As her profile has risen over the past decade, Sunny has held onto her punk rock politics and direct lyricism, grounding her artistry in the blues. Listening to one of her songs is like looking at a diorama of a nearby planet, similar to our own, but with none of human society’s bullshit. 2023’s Anarchist Gospel features Americana heavyweights David Rawlings, Jim James, Allison Russell, and Chris Pierce, but always sounds exactly like Sunny. Her hypnotic guitar work and precise songcraft shine. Her vocals walk a fine line between eerie and inviting. And at the end of a year when riot grrl aesthetics have gone mainstream, Sunny War is a rare reminder of what the real thing sounds like. – Lizzie No
Photo Credit: Angélique Kidjo by Fabrice Mabillot; Billy Strings by Christopher Morley; boygenius byMatt Grubb.
Years before Katniss Everdeen became the bow-wielding, redneck antihero of impoverished coal-mining District 12, there was another — Lucy Gray Baird. In the new movie adaption of the dystopian prequel to the original Hunger Games trilogy, Baird must brave the deadly annual games as well as future-President Coriolanus Snow’s affections.
If it sounds like the makings of a country murder ballad, well, you’d not be far off. Aside from being a multi-million dollar blockbuster event, the new film, officially titled The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, features an excellent original soundtrack produced by Dave Cobb and chock-full of BGS Friends and Neighbors we know and love. The rootsy songs are the perfect backdrop for boot-stomping bar scenes and the desperate struggle against an authoritarian regime that eventually led to the villainous Snow’s power grab. They’re also just plain good!
If you’re new to the Hunger Games, to these artists, or to roots music, we’re happy to be your guide. With performances from Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, Sierra Ferrell, Charles Wesley Godwin, Bella White, and more there’s something here for bluegrass and Americana fans of all ages. But there are also hidden gems in Rachel Zegler’s performance. Zegler, who portrays Baird, plays a guitar influenced by a very famous finger picker indeed.
In no particular order, here are six of the best roots tunes on the official Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie soundtrack.
“The Garden” – Sierra Ferrell
A slow-moving acoustic, country-ish standard with emotional fiddle swells, Americana firebrand Sierra Ferrell performs “The Garden” on the official soundtrack. The tune features a wistful dream of a green garden watered with something other than salty tears, and of better days ahead.
“Bury Me Beneath the Willow” – Molly Tuttle
Together, Molly Tuttle and Dominick Leslie provide the guitar and mandolin parts heard throughout much of the film, but also on “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.” This tune is more of a bluegrass standard and features Tuttle’s iconic picking style and vocals. The lyrics speak of deep betrayal by a lover.
“Nothing You Can Take From Me” – Rachel Zegler
In the official featurette video for this tune, Rachel Zegler whips a gathered crowd into a barn-stomping frenzy with her vocal performance on “Nothing You Can Take From Me.” While District 12 workers clap and dance and Zegler sings, Molly Tuttle revealed in an Instagram post that she provided the guitar parts.
“I played Lucy Gray Baird’s guitar parts and Dom [Leslie’s] parts are in the Covey Band,” Tuttle said in her Instagram caption. “I was nerding out the whole time we worked on this. Fun fact: the guitar I recorded with is the same one that you see [Zegler] play in the movie. The choice of guitar was inspired by the archtop Gibson that Maybelle Carter plays.”
“Burn Me Once” – Bella White
Bella White’s haunting, vibrato-filled vocals hang in the air on “Burn Me Once,” a finger-picked acoustic tune. The lyrics speak to being heartbroken and wishing for true love with a new, more mature partner.
“Cabin Song” – Billy Strings
By far one of the fastest, hardest-driving tunes comes – perhaps unsurprisingly – from Billy Strings. Employing his famous guitar-picking skills on “Cabin Song,” Strings sings of wishing to go back to the woods.
“Winter’s Come and Gone” – Charles Wesley Godwin
Seasonally appropriate given the movie’s November release date, Charles Wesley Godwin’s smooth but gritty vocals lends the perfect tinge of darkness to lyrics about a little bluebird, being left in the rain and snow, and not having enough money to see the winter through.
Even if you’re not a fan of The Hunger Games, it might be worth hitting up the theatre to support roots music featured in such a high-profile and recognizable title. Or, you know, you could just download, stream, or purchase the soundtrack — it’s available on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your folk-y tunes!
With the September release of her album Queen of Time, Nashville artist Lindsay Lou takes listeners beyond a creative journey – it’s more like a long, strange, and satisfying trip, where her “radical truth” conquers all.
A former bluegrass songsmith with roots in groups like her former backing band, the Flatbellys, and Sweet Water Warblers, Lou’s Queen of Time marks the start of another new solo chapter and follows a rough time in her life filled with earthquakes of change. She both lost a grandmother who was pivotal to her development and experienced the end of a marriage – all while her career picked up steam. But, through those endings came a new beginning. One where she better understood her place in the universe, both spiritually and musically.
On Queen of Time, Lou welcomes herself to that new identity (and all who care to follow), doing so with a fresh sound and some old friends. Featuring Billy Strings and Jerry Douglas, 11 thought-provoking tracks infuse her bluegrass roots with atmospheric folk, back-porch psychedelia, and more, as lyrics and voice weave together into something like a sonic dreamcatcher – snatching ethereal truths from the cosmos and translating them in ways the mind can just begin to process.
Recently, Lou spoke with BGS about this heady transformation, working with her friends, and how her “teacher-turned-Rainbow-Gathering-healer” of a grandma helped shape her radical spirituality.
BGS: Tell me how you’re feeling about music making these days? I know this album comes after a lot of change in your life, personally and professionally. Has the way you feel about making music changed, too?
Lindsay Lou: It felt like the most freeing recording endeavor that I have ever set out on. Working with [producer] Dave O’Donnell was really great. He held a ton of space for me creatively and emotionally and just in all the ways. So it was really nice. I brought in all of my friends, and what drew me to music to begin with was jams that my family would have, so feeling among my chosen family, being able to bring in the people who I’ve been jamming with in living rooms and on stages for the last several years, was really, really sweet.
Honestly, I’m feeling really inspired and just really happy about music. All of the tours have felt like they were in really good flow, and spiritually, it just feels very open and satisfying. I sort of blew up my life a few years ago, and the last three years or so I’ve been gestating and rebuilding my path. It was rebuilding on the foundation I had laid down with the Flatbellys and the Warblers, so it wasn’t out of nowhere, but it felt like there was a lot of unknown – and there were times where I felt there’s just some fear that goes into it. But now I’m on the cusp of watching all of this be born and come to life, and it feels so good. It’s like everything that I could have hoped for.
Seeing the record in the hands of people and hearing all the stories they send me about how it’s touched their lives has been very, very fulfilling. And I’m watching the album chart and watching different things on the horizon, different gigs and stuff – it’s just really inspiring, and I feel really excited to follow this new path that I’ve laid out for myself.
You don’t always get that payoff when your life blows up, so congrats! Tell me a little bit about the imagery behind the Queen of Time theme. You’re asking the listener if they know who they really are – did that come from an epiphany you had?
It definitely came from an epiphany and the ongoing question and journey of self-discovery, because it’s something you never achieve. It’s just a journey you’re always on. The imagery [for the song “Queen of Time”] was definitely from Absolem, the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. He challenges Alice, “Who are you?” And it was less about who she was and more about who she identified as, because we contain multitudes. So this is a broad and complex question, and as I’ve been playing it, the song has sort of come to life and revealed itself to me in new and unexpected ways. I always love that with songs.
You start the album off with this refrain saying, “I don’t need the world to hear me / I’m singing and nothing else matters.” What’s the significance of that to you?
I guess it’s just acknowledging the personal relationship. I always say that the voice is a window to the soul, but a lot of people have this horrible trauma that they carry with them – that they’re not a good singer and that they don’t have a good voice, and so they don’t ever sing. I feel so much grief thinking about people not even singing to themselves. In my darkest hour, the most soothing thing that I have found to do is to sing to myself. And it’s not because I think that I have the greatest voice, it’s because singing actually releases endorphins in your mind. It’s like a physiological truth that the experience of singing is medicinal and it’s a form of meditation.
The obvious interpretation of that is that as career musicians, you’re always wanting more people to hear you and wanting your fan base to expand. But at the end of the day, the reason that I sing and I think the reason anyone sings, is because it is a magical and medicinal way of expressing your soul, your spirit, your inner truth. So just remembering that value that I don’t need to be anywhere to let my voice ring and to connect with my own soul in that way, that’s really the most powerful thing.
I know your grandmother had a big part in influencing the record. But on top of everything else she was to you, did she also help you get into music?
I guess in a roundabout way, she did. Her greatest influence on me was spiritually. She was a preacher woman, and she lived her life the best that she could in the literal footstep of Jesus. So she took everyone in and she welcomed everyone. She was always preaching that [unless] you have not sinned, don’t cast the first stone and really strongly believed that no one will be left behind. Like if God said the greatest commandment was to love God and to love your brother, then she spent her whole life practicing that. Now, I call myself a praying atheist. I don’t necessarily connect with any institution of religion, but I do connect with the practice of spirituality and of love. Even Christianity says that God is love. So in my mind it’s like, “Well, then let’s just get right to the heart of the matter and call it love!” If we’re living in love and if we’re thinking critically and we’re following our radical truth, then we’re doing it right.
Was music a part of your childhood?
[My grandmother] had 12 children and she surrounded herself with hippies and counterculture. And her husband – the father of her 12 children – was a musician. He played the trumpet and he sang, so they always sang to their children, and the songs that she sang to them, they sang to their children. So I heard all the gospel songs that she sang to my mom, because my mom sang them to me, and there’s been various forms of family bands throughout the generations of all of her children. The older kids had a rock band, and they would get together and sing gospel songs in harmony and Beatles songs and folk songs, and the younger kids formed bands with the older cousins. There was just always music around, so I think she just held space for music.
She sounds like an amazing person. Is that her voice in the phone conversations you put on “Love Calls”?
Yeah. I played that song for a couple of my friends before she was in it. There was this long expansive jam and my girlfriends listening to it were like, “We want more Lou here.” I thought, “Well, what version of Lou makes sense to go there?” And it dawned on me that it was the version of Lou that interviewed grandma. I interviewed my grandma on the one hand to sort of preserve her radical life story for posterity. And on the other hand, as a way of knowing myself. I’ve collected about 27 hours of her telling me her life story and how she came to believe what she believes. It’s a little bit foggy now, but I had an idea of what story I wanted to put there, and once that conversation was in there, the song had the context that it was calling for.
What was the context?
The song is about someone being a guide of love for someone else. And the conversation is her telling me the story of meeting someone at a rainbow gathering who she had a conversation with, and later found out that that conversation talked them out of suicide. Many parts of this record came together in the context of me witnessing suicides in my music community, and addiction and mental health struggles. And pretty much all of my music goes back to that in some way, because of where I came from and the world that I see around me.
Other songs have that through line to it too, right? Like “Nothing’s Working”? I know you worked with Billy Strings on that one, how did it come together?
He and I get together every once in a while to write and we had gotten together and started that song. He had just been hanging out with Bryan Sutton and had this open B shape thing in his head that he started to play along with, and he was talking to me about Ionia – the town that he grew up in. He had just seen so many people get a job and try to make all the right decisions and try to always do the right thing, and just end up with nothing to show for it, because they’re stuck in a system that doesn’t support them and wasn’t built for them, or a scene that really wasn’t good for them.
We wrote the first verse, and kind of left it at that, and it sat in my voice memos for a couple years. Then I was on a plane on my way to the Jeff Austin tribute concert benefit [late member of Yonder Mountain String Band, who died in 2019], and I was just thinking about things. I think I finished it on my way home, but during that same week, I attended my cousin Emily’s funeral. She died in her 20s and was struggling with opiate addiction. I don’t mention either of them in the song necessarily, but it really got me into the headspace of thinking about people I know who are still alive, who are struggling with similar challenges. The song is about telling their story, and telling their story with compassion and honesty.
I noticed a lot of hard bluegrass influence on tracks like “Rules,” and along with Billy you have a collab with Jerry Douglas. Do you still feel like you can be creative in the bluegrass form these days? Or is it harder to do that as you grow as an artist?
Bluegrass gave me a lot of tools and a home. It gave me a place to belong and an opportunity to hone my craft, just in terms of tightening up rhythm and getting better at playing the guitar – and having an entire world of people I can get together with anytime, anywhere, and play any one of the many songs in the bluegrass canon and sing three-part harmony, like we’ve been a band our whole lives. It gave me so much, but I didn’t grow up in a family or a community that played bluegrass music. It was something I found in my early 20s. I’ve never been like people like Billy and Molly [Tuttle] – [bluegrass] is not just a part of their history, it’s like their earliest memories.
I grew up doing acoustic music, so there’s always going to be some element of that in my music. And I’m so grateful to have bluegrass now as a tool of expressing myself. But I don’t think I find it harder as I get older. I just find it easier to connect more authentically with my own voice, and bluegrass is a tool of doing that – but it’s not the only tool.
With a brand new, to-be-announced album coming in 2024, Americana singer, songwriter, and “musical vagabond” Sierra Ferrell has released “Fox Hunt,” a galloping, gothic track with a storybook-style animated video. (Watch above.) It’s one of her most sonically mainstream single releases to date, reminding of groups like the Lumineers — a shimmering polish on the deeply patina-ed, gritty sounds drawn from her West Virginia raising.
Ferrell is one of the fastest rising stars in American roots music, with a tour schedule and dance card filled to bursting. Listeners place her in musical constellations with such high energy and “back to basics” artists like Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Zach Bryan, Margo Price, and more – many of whom she calls friends and collaborators. But Ferrell, in a twist of homophonics, brings a feral and untethered mastery into her music, a quality that continually has fans begging for more. Her performance of femininity – and as often, her subversion of it – recalls other mountain music mavens like Dolly Parton, Ola Belle Reed, Wilma Lee Cooper, and Loretta Lynn, but with their often aspirational facades – qualities of each of their professional brands – exchanged for a devil-may-care attitude that’s just as deliberate and intentional. It’s as much an extension of Ferrell’s agency as any of the women who came before her donned their own rhinestones, big hair, and striking make-up as representations of their individuality.
2024 will undoubtedly find Sierra Ferrell notching many more career milestones as her ever-growing audience will be hanging on for every rollicking, frolicking note.
The unofficial theme of the “Biggest Night in Bluegrass” – the 34th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, held tonight at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina – was “Bluegrass Prom,” the colloquial and affectionate nickname given to the awards ceremony by its attendees, honorees, and nominees.
Hosted by Molly Tuttle, who took home three trophies, and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, the three-hour production featured a performance by Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductee Sam Bush, songs from each of the night’s Entertainer of the Year nominees – including Sister Sadie paying tribute to Wilma Lee Cooper, another Hall of Fame inductee – touching remembrances of bluegrass forebears Bobby Osborne and Jesse McReynolds, and culminated with Secor, Tuttle and her band Golden Highway, Del McCoury Band, and more leading the crowd in a rousing rendition of “Wagon Wheel.”
In the instrumentalist categories, there were notable first-time wins in two categories, Trey Hensley taking home Guitar Player of the Year – in a field that included both Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings – and Vickie Vaughn, of Della Mae, High Fidelity, and more, receiving the Bass Player of the Year trophy. Kristin Scott Benson took home her sixth Banjo Player of the Year Award, Greg Blake of Special Consensus won his first IBMA award for Male Vocalist of the Year, and the night’s final and most prestigious recognition, Entertainer of the Year, went to Billy Strings, a well-deserved third consecutive win in the category.
See the full list of winners (in bold) from tonight’s IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, presented by our friends at Yamaha, below:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR:
Appalachian Road Show Billy Strings Del McCoury Band Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR:
Authentic Unlimited Balsam Range Blue Highway Del McCoury Band Sister Sadie
INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR:
Billy Strings Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper The Infamous Stringdusters Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway The Travelin’ McCourys
SONG OF THE YEAR: “Blue Ridge Mountain Baby” Artist: Appalachian Road Show Songwriters: Barry Abernathy/Jim VanCleve Label: Billy Blue Records Producer: Appalachian Road Show
“Crooked Tree” Artist: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Songwriters: Molly Tuttle/Melody Walker Label: Nonesuch Records Producers: Jerry Douglas and Molly Tuttle
“Heyday” Artist: Lonesome River Band Songwriters: Barry Huchens/Will Huchens Label: Mountain Home Music Company Producer: Lonesome River Band
“Power of Love” Artist: Rick Faris Songwriters: Johnny Colla/Huey Lewis/Christopher Hayes Label: Dark Shadow Recording Producer: Stephen Mougin
ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Crooked Tree Artist: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Label: Nonesuch Records Producer: Jerry Douglas and Molly Tuttle
Lovin’ of the Game Artist: Michael Cleveland Label: Compass Records Producers: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
Lowdown Hoedown Artist: Jason Carter Label: Fiddle Man Records Producers: Jason Carter and Brent Truitt
Me/And/Dad Artist: Billy Strings and Terry Barber Label: Rounder Records Producers: Billy Strings and Gary Paczosa
Radio John: The Songs of John Hartford Artist: Sam Bush Label: Smithsonian Folkways Producer: Sam Bush
GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR: “The Glory Road” Artist: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers Songwriters: Paul Martin/Harry Stinson/Marty Stuart Label: Billy Blue Records Producers: Joe Mullins and Adam McIntosh
“Jordan” Artist: Darin & Brooke Aldridge with Ricky Skaggs, Mo Pitney and Mark Fain Songwriter: Fred Rich Label: Billy Blue Records Producer: Darin Aldridge and Mark Fain
“The Scarlet Red Lines” Artist: Larry Sparks Songwriter: Daniel Crabtree Label: Rebel Records Producer: Larry Sparks
“Take a Little Time for Jesus” Artist: Junior Sisk Songwriter: David Marshall Label: Mountain Fever Records Producers: Junior Sisk and Aaron Ramsey
“Tell Me the Story of Jesus” Artist: Becky Buller with Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs Songwriter: Fanny Crosby, arrangement by Becky Buller Label: Dark Shadow Recording Producer: Stephen Mougin
INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR:
“Contact” Artist: Michael Cleveland with Cody Kilby, Barry Bales, and Béla Fleck Songwriter: Michael Cleveland Label: Compass Records Producer: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
“Foggy Morning Breaking” Artist: Alison Brown with Steve Martin Songwriters: Alison Brown/Steve Martin Label: Compass Records Producers: Alison Brown and Garry West
“Gold Rush” Artist: Scott Vestal’s Bluegrass 2022 Songwriter: Bill Monroe Label: Pinecastle Records Producer: Scott Vestal
“Kissimmee Kid” Artist: Jason Carter Songwriter: Vassar Clements Label: Fiddle Man Records Producers: Jason Carter and Brent Truitt
“Scorchin’ the Gravy” Artist: Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen Songwriter: Frank Solivan Label: Compass Records Producer: Frank Solivan
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Authentic Unlimited East Nash Grass Henhouse Prowlers The Tennessee Bluegrass Band Tray Wellington
COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR:
“Alberta Bound” Artist: Special Consensus with Ray Legere, John Reischman, Tisha Gagnon, Claire Lynch, Pharis & Jason Romero, Patrick Sauber Songwriter: Gordon Lightfoot Label: Compass Records Producer: Alison Brown
“Big Mon” Artist: Andy Leftwich with Sierra Hull Songwriter: Bill Monroe Label: Mountain Home Music Company Producer: Andy Leftwich
“Foggy Morning Breaking” Artist: Alison Brown with Steve Martin Songwriter: Alison Brown/Steve Martin Label: Compass Records Producer: Alison Brown and Garry West
“For Your Love” Artist: Michael Cleveland with Billy Strings and Jeff White Songwriter: Joe Ely Label: Compass Records Producer: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
“From My Mountain (Calling You)” Artist: Peter Rowan with Molly Tuttle and Lindsay Lou Songwriter: Peter Rowan Label: Rebel Records Producer: Peter Rowan
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Greg Blake Del McCoury Danny Paisley Larry Sparks Dan Tyminski
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Brooke Aldridge Dale Ann Bradley Jaelee Roberts Molly Tuttle Rhonda Vincent
BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Kristin Scott Benson Alison Brown Béla Fleck Ned Luberecki Scott Vestal
BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Mike Bub Todd Phillips Missy Raines Mark Schatz Vickie Vaughn
FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Jason Carter Michael Cleveland Stuart Duncan Bronwyn Keith-Hynes Deanie Richardson
RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Jerry Douglas Andy Hall Rob Ickes Matt Leadbetter Justin Moses
GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Chris Eldridge Trey Hensley Billy Strings Bryan Sutton Molly Tuttle
MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Alan Bibey Jesse Brock Sam Bush Sierra Hull Ronnie McCoury
Photo Credit: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway by Chelsea Rochelle
The Americana Music Association announced the winners of its 22nd annual Americana Honors & Awards this evening (September 20) at a star-studded show at the historic Ryman Auditorium during the week-long AmericanaFest conference and festival in Nashville. Performers at the marquee event – which felt, as it usually does, more like a concert interspersed with awards presentations than vice versa – included Bonnie Raitt, Bettye LaVette, S.G. Goodman, Noah Kahan, The Avett Brothers, Adeem the Artist, William Prince and many more with Buddy Miller once again as music director for the Americana All-Star Band.
The evening’s presentations also spotlit this year’s Lifetime, Trailblazer, and Legacy Award Honorees: The Avett Brothers, George Fontaine Sr., Bettye LaVette, Patty Griffin and Nickel Creek. Allison Russell, nominated in two categories, was bestowed the Spirit of Americana / Free Speech in Music Award by the infamous Tennessee Three, Tennessee state representatives Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, whose expulsion by the Tennessee General Assembly after protesting in support of common sense gun legislation earlier this year made international headlines.
A full list of categories, nominees and winners at the Americana Music Association’s 22nd annual Americana Honors & Awards is below, winners in bold. Congratulations to all of the honorees and awardees!
ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Charley Crockett
Sierra Ferrell
Margo Price
Allison Russell
Billy Strings
ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Big Time, Angel Olsen; Produced by Angel Olsen and Jonathan Wilson
Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven?, Tyler Childers; Produced by Tyler Childers
El Bueno y el Malo, Hermanos Gutiérrez; Produced by Dan Auerbach
The Man from Waco, Charley Crockett; Produced by Bruce Robison
Strays, Margo Price; Produced by Margo Price and Jonathan Wilson
SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Change of Heart,” Margo Price; Written by Jeremy Ivey, Margo Price
“I’m Just a Clown,” Charley Crockett; Written by Charley Crockett
“Just Like That,” Bonnie Raitt; Written by Bonnie Raitt
“Something in the Orange,” Zach Bryan; Written by Zach Bryan
“You’re Not Alone,” Allison Russell featuring Brandi Carlile; Written by Allison Russell
DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR:
49 Winchester
Caamp
Nickel Creek
Plains
The War and Treaty
EMERGING ACT OF THE YEAR:
Adeem the Artist
S.G. Goodman
William Prince
Thee Sacred Souls
Sunny War
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR:
Isa Burke
Allison de Groot
Jeff Picker
SistaStrings – Chauntee and Monique Ross
Kyle Tuttle
Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award
George Fontaine, Sr.
Legacy of Americana Award (Presented in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music)
Bettye LaVette
Lifetime Achievement
Patty Griffin
The Avett Brothers
Spirit of Americana / Free Speech in Music Award
Allison Russell
Trailblazer Award
Nickel Creek
Photo Credit: Bettye LaVette by Danny Clinch; Allison Russell by Laura E Partain; Billy Strings by Jesse Faatz; SistaStrings by Samer Ghani.
Since 2017, Bourbon & Beyond has become one of the BGS Team’s favorite annual events. The music, spirits and food festival held at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, always boasts a roots-forward lineup – on and off the BGS Stage.
In anticipation of Bourbon & Beyond kicking off Thursday, September 14, and running through Sunday, September 17, let’s preview all of the artists gracing our stage throughout the weekend – and we’ll throw in a few we’re excited to catch on the main stages as well.
We’ve been a fan of this bluegrass-infused Nashville string/Americana band for more than a few years now. In 2021 we invited the Arcadian Wild to perform a Yamaha Artist Session, for which they performed two songs, “Hey Runner” and “Finch In the Pantry.” They hit the BGS Stage at B&B on Sunday.
Armchair Boogie – BGS Stage
We recently caught this jammy Wisconsin outfit, Armchair Boogie, at Earl Scruggs Music Festival, where they burnt down their late-night set. You have two opportunities to see them on the BGS Stage, as they’ll kick us off both Friday and Saturday.
The Avett Brothers – Main Stage
These Saturday headliners need no introduction to our BGS readers and followers, as the Avett Brothers have been a staple of our community for nearly our entire lifespan. Looking at the Bourbon & Beyond lineup poster, it’s hard to believe we didn’t book this entire event!
Jon Batiste – Main Stage
Fresh off the release of a brand new album, World Music Radio, in August, don’t miss Americana renaissance man Jon Batiste when he hits the B&B main stage on Sunday. We can certainly appreciate this Louisianan’s love for blurring genre lines – a perfect fit for Bourbon & Beyond.
Brandi Carlile – Main Stage
Let’s return to MerleFest 2019, the last time we had a stage at a festival Brandi Carlile headlined – and she brought her pals the Avetts out to sing “Murder In the City.” A BGS classic! We’ll be running from the BGS Stage to see Brandi on Thursday evening for sure.
Brandy Clark – Main Stage
Appropriate that Brandi and Brandy would end up as list neighbors and both on the Bourbon & Beyond main stage lineup, as the former produced the latter’s stunning new self-titled album. Clark has been a Music Row mainstay as an artist and songwriter for decades, but with her new record and her hit Broadway show, Shucked (penned with Shane McAnally), she’s finally getting her well-deserved flowers.
Clay Street Unit – BGS Stage
We crossed paths with Denver, Colorado, country-folk-grass group Clay Street Unit earlier this year at WinterWonderGrass, so we’re more than pleased to have them on the BGS Stage on Thursday afternoon.
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper – BGS Stage
Fiddlin’ phenom Michael Cleveland has performed for BGS at Bourbon & Beyond before, but with his new critically-acclaimed album, Lovin’ of the Game, and his recent selection as our March 2023 Artist of the Month, it’s the perfect time to get him back to Louisville. It’s basically home turf for Cleveland, and his set Thursday evening is not to be missed.
The Cleverlys – BGS Stage
Bluegrass’s preeminent song-interpreters – or song skewer-ers, depending on how you look at it – are a humorous hoot, bolstered by fantastic picking and on-stage personas pulled straight out of a caricature book. If you’ve never seen the Cleverlys live and in person, now’s your chance to catch covers like this waltz version of Radiohead’s “Creep” like you’ve never heard them before.
Della Mae – BGS Stage
Our old pals Della Mae brought an outsized energy and charisma with them to their sets at Earl Scruggs Music Festival a couple of weeks ago, wowing the crowds in North Carolina. Now the groundbreaking bluegrass foursome set their sites on the BGS Stage at Bourbon & Beyond. There’s a reason why this group of all women remains a stalwart in bluegrass, old-time and Americana.
Myron Elkins – BGS Stage
If you’re not familiar with guitarist and Americana alt-rocker Myron Elkins, you’re about to be! His debut album, Factories, Farms & Amphetamines, was produced by superstar musician-engineer-producer Dave Cobb and released on Elektra. Catch him as he ascends on the BGS Stage on Thursday, kicking off the entire weekend for us at 12:30 p.m.
Fantastic Negrito – Main Stage
Fantastic Negrito is a one-of-a-kind performer. An expert in blues – and a purveyor of post-blues, neo-blues, and the tastiest of fringe Americana – Fantastic Negrito occupies a stage like no other. He’s a Bourbon & Beyond veteran as well, and his past performances are seared into our memories of this amazing event. Do not miss!
First Aid Kit – Main Stage
Indie folk duo First Aid Kit, made up of Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, are a favorite of BGS readers – the kind of readers who equally love Bill Monroe, Nickel Creek and boygenius. Get a taste at their Saturday main stage set or check out our 2018 feature on the group.
Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors – Main Stage
Don’t you just wish Drew and Ellie Holcomb and the Neighbors were your neighbors? (Sigh…) It just seems like it would be lovely. At any rate, you can catch up with these fine folks from next door on the main stage at B&B on Thursday.
Brittany Howard – Main Stage
A god of rock and roll incarnate, Brittany Howard’s particular brand of roots rock is enormous and will fill the Bourbon & Beyond main stage and then some. If you haven’t caught the Alabama Shakes front person recently, now is your chance. Howard hits the main stage on Friday.
The Lil’ Smokies – BGS Stage
Formed in Montana, the Lil’ Smokies combine so many contemporary bluegrass influences into a Western-influenced, jam-forward sound. We enjoy every chance we have to cross paths with this group – if you miss their set at Bourbon & Beyond, catch the Lil’ Smokies at AmericanaFest in Nashville very soon.
Lindsay Lou – BGS Stage
Roots singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou is entering yet another new era of her career, with her signing to Kill Rock Stars and upcoming album, Queen of Time, due out later this month. At Bourbon & Beyond you’ll have two chances to hear current and past sounds from Lindsay Lou – on both Saturday and Sunday on the BGS Stage.
The Lone Bellow – Main Stage
One of our all-time favorite rootsy, folky, string band trios. It’s been too long since we’ve reconnected with our friends The Lone Bellow and we’re grateful B&B will give us that opportunity when they play the main stage on Thursday.
Lola Kirke – BGS Stage
Lola Kirke, who you can see on Friday on the BGS Stage at B&B, is an accomplished actress whose dream is to be a country singer – dream, achieved! She makes joyous, lyrical, story-rich music that pulls as much from country’s grit as its glitz. (And an appearance from lineup-mates First Aid Kit on “All My Exes Live in L.A.” is the cherry on top.)
Joy Oladokun – Main Stage
Intricate and involved indie folk is Joy Oladokun’s medium, her songs dripping with pop sensibilities and led by an agnostic approach to genre that builds on work by predecessors like Aimee Mann, Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman, k.d. lang, and many more. Oladokun continues to rise through the music-industry ranks, her latest album Proof of Life building more momentum off the ex-evangelical’s heart-forward, earnest, stoner indie pop.
Old Crow Medicine Show – Main Stage
Old Crow Medicine Show bring the Jubilee to Bourbon & Beyond! Don’t miss the party as the world’s most renowned and rollicking string band celebrates their just-released album on the B&B main stage on Saturday. And keep an eye out for a BGS feature on the new record coming soon to the site.
Pixie & The Partygrass Boys – BGS Stage
Another of our WinterWonderGrass pals headed to Bourbon & Beyond! Catch Pixie & the Partygrass Boys on the BGS Stage kicking off our final day of music on Sunday. You’ll certainly enjoy the party – unless you’re a fascist, in which case, avoid our stage altogether or you might get eaten by some chickens.
Darrell Scott Band – Main Stage
Darrell Scott is a musical shapeshifter, effortlessly moving from Music Row country to dyed-in-the-wool bluegrass to rocking and rolling. At his Bourbon & Beyond main stage set on Friday, you’re sure to hear new tracks from his recent album, Old Cane Back Rocker, made with the Darrell Scott String Band, as well as original hits like “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive” and some tasty covers, too. We never get enough of Darrell Scott! (Watch for an interview with Scott coming to BGS soon.)
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen – BGS Stage
If this is the kitchen dirty, let’s never clean it up! Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen are a shredding bluegrass jam band certainly worth sticking around for on Sunday evening. You’ll hear music from their most recent Compass Records album, Hold On, which recently turned one year old, and plenty of mind-(and string-)bending solos.
Mavis Staples – Main Stage
Put the legendary Mavis Staples’ main stage set (Friday, 3:50 p.m., Oak Stage) on your calendar and circle it. And underline it. And set a push notification. We are grateful every single time we get to occupy the same space and air as Mavis, and this time will be no different. It’s a privilege to walk the earth at the same time as this civil rights leader and musical oracle!
Billy Strings – Main Stage
Not so long ago our old friend Billy Strings would have been playing our BGS Stage, but not anymore, this flatpickin’ global sensation has decidedly hit the big time! We’ve so enjoyed watching Billy move up and up and up in the world and we can’t wait to see his main stage set at Bourbon & Beyond Thursday night. With such a stacked lineup, the special guest opportunities are exciting and limitless.
Town Mountain – BGS Stage
Western North Carolina string band Town Mountain have built up their sound over the past few years to where they feel and sound something like Ricky Skaggs in his country days — bluegrass bones, but fleshed out country. Their songs still go by you like a rousing honky tonk dance band, bluegrass or no, but with spit and polish and thousands of miles under their belts. Worth an add to your B&B to-do list!
Twisted Pine – BGS Stage
Another group that blew us away at Earl Scruggs Music Festival, Twisted Pine turns the jamgrass model on its ear, building their vibey, virtuosic songs and tunes with as much jazz interwoven as bluegrass, old-time, and country. They’re like Lake Street Dive and Crooked Still, mashed up together and lingering a bit longer in string band traditions – from across the Americana continuum – before taking off. Plus, bluegrass just needs more flute, right? See them Friday on the BGS Stage.
Two Runner – BGS Stage
We’re glad to be bringing some California sounds to Kentucky with Two Runner, old-time and Americana duo of Paige Anderson and Emilie Rose coming to B&B. They bring to mind duos like Hazel & Alice and Anna & Elizabeth, combining country harmonies and old-time instrumentation – all dragged through the coastal evergreen woods of Northern California. Hear them Thursday on the BGS Stage.
Dan Tyminski – BGS Stage
Dan Tyminski headlining a BGS Stage is simply a dream come true! This multi-hyphenate, lifelong bluegrasser has been a member of so many seminal and groundbreaking bluegrass groups and projects. He’s had a full career within and outside of bluegrass, but lately has returned to the genre that made him with a new band, a new album, God Fearing Heathen, excellent songs, and that voice – fit for George Clooney.
Kelsey Waldon – BGS Stage
Kelsey Waldon on her home turf! Though she hails from West Kentucky, the entire state is certainly this country singer-songwriter’s domain. We’ve collaborated quite a bit with Waldon across her career, and are looking forward to her headline set closing out our first day of Bourbon & Beyond on the BGS Stage. She may be country, but her bluegrass roots run deep – and will be on full display at B&B for sure.
Sunny War – BGS Stage
One of our favorite guitarists of the last several years has released one of our favorite albums of 2023, Anarchist Gospel. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, you won’t want to miss Sunny War perform on the BGS Stage on Saturday. Her right hand is confounding and inspiring, an often textural and tone-setting device in her bigger sounding recent songs that combine punk, blues, indie and more. Not to be missed!
Hailey Whitters – Main Stage
It’s no secret BGS loves some good country. Hailey Whitters is certainly some of the best to come out of Music Row in recent memory, releasing radio-ready bops that are fun and exuberant, yes, but also have a rich and subversive well of influences, content and production styles. That Whitters is connected with all the best pickers and singers in Nashville and has a penchant for bluegrass are nice little details to remember about this TikTok phenom. Worth a mosey to the main stage on Sunday, certainly!
The Bluegrass Situation Stage – Daily Schedule
Thursday, September 14
5:45 p.m. – Kelsey Waldon 4:15 p.m. – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper 3 p.m. – Two Runner 1:45 p.m. – Clay Street Unit 12:30 p.m. – Myron Elkins
Friday, September 15
5:45 p.m. – The Lil’ Smokies 4:15 p.m. – The Cleverlys 3 p.m. – Twisted Pine 1:45 p.m. – Lola Kirke 12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie
Saturday, September 16
5:45 p.m. – Town Mountain 4:15 p.m. – Della Mae 3 p.m. – Lindsay Lou 1:45 p.m. – Sunny War 12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie
Sunday, September 17
5:45 p.m. – Dan Tyminski 4:15 p.m. – Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen 3 p.m. – The Arcadian Wild 1:45 p.m.- Lindsay Lou 12:30 p.m. – Pixie & The Partygrass Boys
BGS is excited to announce the full lineup and schedule for our Bluegrass Situation Stage at Louisville, Kentucky’s Bourbon & Beyond – for our sixth year in a row! Since 2017, BGS has curated a bluegrass-forward roster for the premier bourbon, food, and music festival’s only music stage outside of their main stages, Oak and Barrel. The 2023 edition of Bourbon & Beyond will be held September 14 through 17 at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo Center. Tickets are still available.
Each evening of the event, the BGS Stage will culminate with performances by Kelsey Waldon (Thursday), The Lil’ Smokies (Friday), Town Mountain (Saturday) and Dan Tyminski (Sunday). The full schedule includes performances by Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Lindsay Lou, The Arcadian Wild, Della Mae, Sunny War, Twisted Pine and more. See daily BGS Stage schedules below.
This year, as in the past, there are acts and bands all across the Bourbon & Beyond schedule that feel like they were pulled directly from the pages and stories of BGS. On the Oak and Barrel stage roots music fans can hear artists like Jon Batiste, Billy Strings, Midland, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Joy Oladokun, Darrell Scott Band, Fantastic Negrito, Hailey Whitters, Brandy Clark, Mavis Staples, the Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and so many more.
But that’s not all! For the foodies and bourbon hounds alike, there will be wall-to-wall culinary demonstrations, bourbon experiences, and more featuring celebrity chefs such as Edward Lee, Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos, Sara Bradley, bourbon expert Fred Minnick, and many others. If you’re curious which Kentucky straight bourbon whiskeys will be available for sipping and guzzling at the Big Bourbon Bar, it’s pretty much every distiller you could ever crave: Angel’s Envy, Bardstown, Brother’s Bond, Bulleit, Doc Swinson’s Whiskey Collection, Elijah Craig, Four Roses, George Dickel, Green River, Heaven’s Door, Jack Daniel’s, Jefferson’s, Kentucky Peerless, Larceny, Legent, Maker’s 46, Michter’s, Middle West Spirits, Monk’s Road, Old Forester, Rabbit Hole, Resilient Bottled in Bond, Starlight Distillery, Wilderness Trail and Willett Distillery.
Bourbon and bluegrass and beyond – what more do you need? We hope you will make plans to join us in Louisville for the 2023 edition of Bourbon & Beyond!
The Bluegrass Situation Stage – Daily Schedule
Thursday, September 14
5:45 p.m. – Kelsey Waldon 4:15 p.m. – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper 3 p.m. – Two Runner 1:45 p.m. – Clay Street Unit 12:30 p.m. – Myron Elkins
Friday, September 15
5:45 p.m. – The Lil’ Smokies 4:15 p.m. – The Cleverlys 3 p.m. – Twisted Pine 1:45 p.m. – Lola Kirke 12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie
Saturday, September 16
5:45 p.m. – Town Mountain 4:15 p.m. – Della Mae 3 p.m. – Lindsay Lou 1:45 p.m. – Sunny War 12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie
Sunday, September 17
5:45 p.m. – Dan Tyminski 4:15 p.m. – Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen 3 p.m. – The Arcadian Wild 1:45 p.m.- Lindsay Lou 12:30 p.m. – Pixie & The Partygrass Boys
Photos L-R: Dan Tyminski by Scott Simontacchi; Kelsey Waldon courtesy of the artist; Michael Cleveland by Amy Richmond
Earlier this year legendary musician, songwriter and recording artist Willie Nelson announced his 151st studio album would be a return to bluegrass, this time reimagining 12 of his own originals with a string band lineup. Available September 15 and simply titled Bluegrass, the Buddy Cannon-produced project reinforces the career-long relationship Nelson has had with bluegrass and bluegrass pickers, calling on old friends and collaborators like Barry Bales, Ron Block and Dan Tyminski, as well as band members and vocalists Aubrey Haynie, Rob Ickes, Josh Martin, Mickey Raphael, Seth Taylor, Bobby Terry, Wyatt Beard and Melonie Cannon.
Nelson is a revered song interpreter and cross-genre adventurer, covering and recording songs from all across the American roots music landscape, from the Great American Songbook to blues and soul, from jazz to Texas swing. No corner of Americana in any/all of its forms has been left untouched by this prolific music maker. But his relationship to bluegrass – similar to his peers like Dolly Parton or Lee Ann Womack, or his acolytes and emulators like Sturgill Simpson and Kacey Musgraves – speaks to the primordial relationship between country and bluegrass, more than just musical touristing or a genre-based gimmick. Nelson doesn’t put on “bluegrass” as a costume, he brings it forward from the earliest days of country music as a genre, before sub-genres like bluegrass had stratified and coalesced as identities somewhat separate from country as a whole. It’s part of what makes Bluegrass a compelling collection, tracks like “Still Is Still Moving to Me,” the album’s lead single, don’t feel like songs wearing bluegrass drag, but rather feel like country gone back to its roots.
Across a career that has touched so many other musicians, singers, and creators – from Waylon Jennings to Ray Charles to Snoop Dogg – it follows that Nelson has counted many bluegrass greats among his album guests, track features, and show bills. He’s toured extensively with Alison Krauss & Union Station over the past two decades; it’s no surprise to find a handful of Union Station alumni on Bluegrass. He’s recorded with Rhonda Vincent, Billy Strings and all the McCoury boys, Del, Rob and Ronnie – the latter two have toured with Willie, too. Country Music, a 2010 release from Nelson produced by Americana superstar T Bone Burnett, was also a bluegrass-centered album, pulling from the deep and broad repertoire of early country, old-time and bluegrass – when the three genres could be represented by a Venn diagram of one circle.
There are so many facets of Nelson’s music making that feel patently bluegrass: his love of borderless, boundless cover songs; his ability as a picker standing equal with his songwriting and one-of-a-kind vocal interpretations; his endless output of personal, meaningful music; his mutual admiration of his compatriots, adorers and mentees. The list could go on ad infinitum. It makes perfect sense that this year he’ll join the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
It’s rare that a multi-hyphenate musician and songwriter such as Willie Nelson can shift so effortlessly between contexts, gathering and maintaining a diverse following that understands great music can – and should – transcend not only genre, but all of the trappings of the music industry. It’s part of why Bluegrass feels grounded, honest and resonant. Willie Nelson isn’t playing pretend, he’s just being himself – and that might be the most bluegrass thing about him.
Watch for our Artist of the Month feature, an in-depth exploration of Willie Nelson’s relationship with bluegrass across his life and career coming later this month, and enjoy our Essential Willie Nelson Playlist, featuring many of his bluegrass forays among his popular recordings and our BGS favorites.
Photo Credit: James Minchin
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