Tag: bluegrass

Yamaha’s Atmosfeel Was
Created by Musicians for Musicians

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

The great Doyle Dykes once remarked, “The Bible says, ‘Sing unto the Lord a new song and play skillfully with a loud noise.’ Of course, I guess it helps to have a good amp to do that!” The team at Yamaha Guitars has taken that theory a step further to include a good pickup/preamp system. That’s why they designed Atmosfeel.

Atmosfeel is user-friendly, easy to use, and available in the X models of Yamaha’s exquisite FG Red Label acoustic guitars and concert-size FS series. Its 3×3 concept – three elements, three knobs – may appear simple, but in fact it was almost five years in the making.

According to Yamaha Guitars marketing manager Brandon Soriano, development of the Atmosfeel system began in 2014, prior to its original launch, plus an additional three years leading up to the FG/FS9X guitars.

Like all Yamaha products, Atmosfeel was created with the musician in mind, says Soriano. “Yamaha’s consistent process is that we include a lot of feedback from artists, from our internal employees, and from partners we work with. This pickup system was geared toward artists and performers from the very beginning, so their feedback was essential in crafting this system.”

There is no shortage of choices when it comes to acoustic guitar pickups and preamps. What makes Atmosfeel different? Once again, says Soriano, it comes down to R&D by musicians, for musicians. With guitarists often searching and settling for what he calls the “least bad” option, Yamaha was determined to offer “actively good” the first time, every time, with technological advancements that don’t require an engineering degree and 200-page manual to make the magic happen.

“What we noticed is that the pickups on the market tended to not sound like your guitar,” says Soriano. “There was the sound of your guitar in the room, and then this other sound that happens when you plug it in. Our goal was to make a pickup system that sounds natural – a true representation of the guitar you have, of your tone onstage, while keeping it simple enough to use and easy enough to make changes on the fly, and to have the same sound in the room and through the speakers when you plug it in.”

Atmosfeel was developed alongside the FG and FS guitars, which allowed Yamaha to voice the pickup system to specific models within the series, guaranteeing accuracy and precision at every level. “Our process is so in-depth that we leave no stone unturned,” says Soriano. “For example, the 9 grade FG and FS guitars have Adirondack tops, which are a different stiffness than the Sitka tops you’ll find on the 3 and 5 grade guitars. The [more recent] 9 level guitars have a slight taper going on, where the outer edges are about .2 millimeters thinner than the center point.

“We have exact measurements of how each of those tops resonate, how they vibrate, what their headroom looks like. We have all of these [minute] details at our disposal because we made the guitars. We know that the back and sides might have a slightly different thickness between rosewood and mahogany. We know that the stiffness of Sitka and Adirondack is different to this exact measurement.

“When we’re crafting the pickup system, we take all those things into account and modify the voicing accordingly, with the ultimate goal of all these guitars outputting the most accurate sound we could possibly come up with, compared to what the guitar sounds like acoustically in the room. The guarantee is that we spent years developing this system and specifically voicing each model’s pickup system to that guitar.”

The onboard electronics and Atmosfeel system of a Yamaha FG9 MX guitar.

To further dial in accuracy and ensure that Atmosfeel could deliver anywhere, at any time, the system was thoroughly artist-tested prior to its debut.

“We come up with a voicing we’re really confident in and then we’ll bring in artists to do evaluations,” says Soriano. “In real time, we have the guitar hooked up to a computer, and a person is behind the keys adjusting the voicing based on the feedback the artist is giving us. We do this with a number of artists until we arrive at something that works for them and is the most versatile for all their different styles.”

How does Atmosfeel work, why does it work, and how does something so advanced remain simple and easy to use? This brings us back to the 3×3 concept, which was not a coincidence, says Soriano, but instead a carefully thought-out design balance between “How much is too much?” and “How little is too little?” One knob means few, if any, options, while an assortment of knobs becomes cumbersome and tricky, especially for guitarists who need quick-touch adjustments.

Atmosfeel is comprised of three elements: an under-saddle piezo pickup for low end, miniature condenser mic for mids, and proprietary, whisper-thin but deceptively strong, transducer contact sensor for overtones and clarity.

“Our approach was, first of all, to find out what are the strengths and weaknesses of all three elements,” says Soriano. “The under-saddle piezo pickups do a great job of capturing a bold and consistent low end. The weakness is that the high end has a tendency to sound unnatural to guitar players. That’s where you start to get a different sound than what your guitar is like in the room.

“The contact sheet, which is under the top wood of the guitar, is the inverse of that. It’s a paper-thin sheet that has a positive and a negative, and it captures the vibrations of the top. It’s really good at capturing air, high-end presence, and sparkle, and the low end is not as resonant.

“We’re taking the low end of the under-saddle and the high end of the contact sheet and creating what we consider to be the ideal blend between those two. That was the first step. Of course, neither of those technologies independently are completely new. Under-saddle pickups have been around for a long time. But the combination of the two, and the detail of how we blend them together, is what’s new in this system. That has created a new approach.

“The microphone, aimed at the side wood at the upper bout of the guitar on the low E string side, covers the mid-range character of the guitar, whether you choose mahogany or rosewood. Essentially, the system lets you have an ideal low end, an ideal high end, and you can blend the microphone in so that you get a mid-range to taste. We figured out how to take existing technologies to the next level and optimize them.”

All of this is controlled by three small knobs. “You get a Microphone Blend, which is really effective for shaping your midrange and overall character,” says Soriano. “You get a Master Volume, which is essential, and then the Bass EQ is really interesting.

“When you’re playing live, a lot of feedback can happen in the bass frequencies. The Bass EQ is a cut or boost knob, which can help with controlling feedback or warming up your signal. If you’re playing solo and need to take up more room in the mix, you can crank that Bass EQ knob. Vice versa is true as well. If you’re playing with a band and there’s a bass player, you don’t want to step on their toes, so you’re probably going to want to roll off some of that bass.

“The Microphone Blend can be used to pop in and out of featured parts or solos. If you need a smaller, more compressed sound just to be in the background, you might use less of the Mic Blend. When it’s time for you to step out and take your chorus, you can crank that microphone up, stick out in the mix momentarily, and turn it back down when the time is right.”

Atmosfeel was designed for player flexibility – style, genre, attack, in the studio, onstage, on your own, with a band. Wherever you go, whatever and however you play, the system’s versatility works with you and for you.

“If you’re an arena- or stadium-level act, chances are you have a pretty silent stage,” says Soriano. “Those acts today are using a lot of in-ear monitoring. You can get away with a lot of Microphone Blend in that setting, because you don’t have sound coming back at you with an onstage wedge, and the risk of feedback is probably lower. Also, in a larger space, the sound has more room to dissipate.

“If you’re in a coffee shop, you have a floor wedge aimed at you, and the room is small, your risk for feedback might be pretty high. In that instance, you want to reduce the Microphone Blend and maybe the Bass EQ to accommodate for those things.

“And, of course, everything in-between exists as well – clubs, mid-sized venues, things like that. The system lets you tailor your settings to each of those without being too complicated. It’s just three knobs. If you know how to use them, you can optimize your sound for whatever setting you’re in.”

Yamaha designed Atmosfeel with musicians’ peace of mind foremost, meaning durability on the road and reliability onstage and in the studio. Choose your settings and rest assured they will remain in place, even if you don’t. “The Bass EQ knob has a notch at 50 percent,” says Soriano. “When you get to that spot, it locks you into place. Of course, it’s not too hard to move out of that space, but it certainly will not move on its own.”

Best of all, the 3×3 setup means easy to use, easy to remember. “Even the highest level of professional musicians are human,” says Soriano. “When you’re onstage, you have adrenaline going, and you have to make quick decisions, you don’t want to pause and remember which one of your seven knobs does what. You want to reach down and do what you need to do quickly so you can get on with the performance. The three-knob system is extremely user-friendly for that. You don’t have to spend time thinking about it before making an adjustment.”

Atmosfeel is perfect for recording in a pro studio, home studio, or on the road. “The vast majority of the time, if you’re recording an acoustic guitar, you’re putting a microphone on the guitar,” says Soriano. “Nowadays, especially with the rise in home recording, a lot of people might have trouble getting a clean signal with a microphone in front of their instrument, especially if your room has a lot of reflections in it.”

What does this mean for bluegrass players?

“A lot of artists we work with are primarily bluegrass players,” says Soriano, “so bluegrass was absolutely a primary focus in the development of the FG9X guitars. Bluegrass players most commonly use dreadnought-style guitars, so when we were voicing the pickup system in the FG9’s, we knew they had to be able to use this and be happy with it. That was a big part of our testing.

“Bluegrass tends to be quite guitar-forward, especially if there’s a solo section, for example. Bluegrass players are discerning when choosing their instrument. A lot of players have a strong preference. They want rosewood or mahogany, and there’s a reason behind that. If you’re going to make that decision, and it’s going to show your artistry and your taste, you should be able to have that come through when you’re performing live, even with a pickup system.

In a world of bells and whistles, where everything has to be shiny with lots of buttons and gizmos, Atmosfeel is deliberately stripped-down – no flash, no glitter, just durability and refreshing beauty in its simplicity.

“When you have a minimal setup that’s well dialed in, well executed, and well developed, when you put that work in on the front end, you earn the ability to have a simpler user interface,” says Soriano. “Because we are so confident in the voicing of this system, and in the fidelity and quality of the components, we didn’t have to put a million knobs on the guitar. We could afford to keep it simple and be confident that it’s going to sound great.”

This content is brought to you in partnership with Yamaha Guitars. All images courtesy of Yamaha Guitars.

Somethin’ About Train Songz

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

What first began as a locomotive and string music meme page has transformed into one of the most quirky and beloved sources of independent journalism in roots music, one zine at a time.

Founded by Anthony “The Conductor” Perasso and James “Promontory Paul” Lucey in July 2023, Train Songz has since grown its community to over 28,000 Instagram followers and more than 1,200 paid subscribers. Readers collectively contribute anywhere from $33-$99 per year (or $11 per copy), with three to four issues published per year. The latest, eighth edition features a 44-page interview with Billy Strings’ bassist Royal Masat.

The interview for Masat is a full circle moment for Train Songz, which began with a Billy-centric focus before expanding to feature other bluegrass acts like Mountain Grass Unit, East Nash Grass, and Valley Flower. In fact, it was a Billy Strings show in Bridgeport, Connecticut, attended by Train Songz co-founders (that they rode the train to themselves, no less) where the concept for the then-meme page first came together.

“At the show Billy was wearing a hickory-striped railroad hat that someone (who we’ve since connected with on Instagram) threw up on stage a few shows prior, as trains were passing by the stage,” recalls Perasso.

“I tweeted from my personal account a photo of Billy with the hat on and the caption ‘Train Songz,’ which was a Trey Songz pun – like if Trey Songz is Trey Songz, then Billy Strings is Train Songz,” Perasso laughs. “Four days later, I locked down the @train_songz username and posted our first meme.”

After publishing some popular Billy and Grateful Dead inspired memes, Train Songz began transitioning to a zine in December 2023, while Perasso was home for the holidays and more sedentary than usual after recovering from multiple surgeries. No stranger to producing print media, having previously worked on a satirical newspaper while in college, he says the zine quickly filled a void left empty since graduating in 2017. Now two years in with eight installments of the printed zine, Train Songz has grown into a thriving community bigger and wilder than Perasso, Lucey, and the rest of the core team – including Liza Chaplin (art/design) and Mitchell “Brakeman” Harbin (writer/editor) – could have ever imagined.

Original artwork by Morganne Allen from ‘Train Songz’ Vol. 7, Summer 2025.

“Beyond my personal penchant for print, Train Songz was gathering a community of wooden-instrument-music enjoyers, so print felt like a natural extension of that vibration,” Perasso continues. “And from a more boring media strategy point of view, print (and email!) offers you a direct relationship with your audience that algorithms can’t get in the way of and platforms can’t take away. So for both those reasons, a Train Songz zine felt like a perfect move.”

After wrapping up production on the eighth installment of the zine, the Train Songz crew spoke with BGS via Zoom about the zine’s origins, how they first discovered Billy Strings, the publication’s next steps for growth, and more.

Y’all use pen names in the zine (except for Liza). How did each of you come up with your alter egos?

James Lucey: Before I get to that, I’ll just add that leading up to this interview we all debated if we should do this as ourselves or go by our pen names. It’s been an interesting dynamic, [navigating] who are we in relationship to the zine [and] what the zine is in relationship to us and our audience. We made the zine to try and participate in some way in the broader conversation about modern-day bluegrass music; we’re not the face of the zine, we’re just the people that are powering it.

But regarding my pen name, “Promontory Paul,” he’s the voice of the Old Tune Review, which is one of the core pieces of the zine. In it we pick a handful of old songs [and] dive deep into [their] history through independent research. It’s born out of the idea that these old songs are still being played today and still resonate in some way. In some ways it’s like a time machine, because you’re feeling the same emotions that someone felt hundreds of years ago when they wrote these things. So it’s cool to dive in and see what the actual genesis of those songs are.

[Paul’s] the guy who runs that, but we also feature him in a little recurring cartoon series that sees him playing banjo and getting into all kinds of crazy adventures. “Promontory” is a reference to the Promontory Summit, which was the final completion [point] of the first transcontinental railroad in Utah, when the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroads (which had been building from Nebraska and Sacramento, respectively) finally met.

This effectively connected the old world with the new one, sort of like what we do with the zine.

Mitchell Harbin: My name actually came out of the fact that a brakeman is a role on an actual train – he’s the guy that pulls the brakes. It was actually during the production of the zine’s third issue that I had come aboard to help with proofreading and copy editing. There were a couple of times in that process where James and Anthony were like, “Alright, we’re good to go, ready to launch” and I would pump the brakes and say, “Whoa, hold up.” Which is what eventually spawned the name idea.

Liza Chaplin: I’m still working on mine. [Laughs] It’s an ongoing thing that I’ve been thinking about, but so far I haven’t gotten anywhere with it. At first I decided to put my own name on it to use as a portfolio-building mechanism, but now with how the zine has grown it feels very silly to still have my actual name on it.

Anthony Perasso: “The Conductor” came to be when James and I were talking about taking the meme page offline [and moving] into print form with our first issue. We made a decision that Train Songz was the name of the publication and brand and community – or whatever vibration of people who value the same kind of music as we do, cultivating this eponymous meme page.

As the person who had started the meme page, I didn’t want Train Songz to be seen as an individual, as in, “That’s Anthony, he’s Train Songz.” Our desired outcome would be: “That’s Anthony, he’s The Conductor for Train Songz.” That allowed Train Songz [to be] less a single being and more of a vehicle for those involved. Pun intended. (A mentor even recommended to me that the title of The Conductor be something that can be passed on from individual to individual, like the Pope or the President. Time will tell if we get to that point!)

A Billy Strings train songs data visualization from ‘Train Songz’ Vol. 5, fall 2024.

What was Promontory Paul’s role in this latest issue of Train Songz given its focus on the Royal interview?

AP: Paul’s column still exists in the newest zine, but he went about it in a really cool way. The idea began with our third edition, when we gave Promontory Paul an entire section to write about old bluegrass songs regularly covered by the likes of Billy, the Sam Grisman Project, and whatever other bands we listened to or saw live that quarter. So we’d cite where we heard it played before diving into a history lesson and where it came from.

Then, for this issue with Royal, we took that Old Tune Review and instead of songs we heard out in the wild made it all about songs that he mentioned during the interview. Throughout the interview there are little interjections from Promontory Paul – almost like Clippy, the office assistant on Microsoft Word. It’s been fun to take these gimmicks that worked for us a year ago and apply them to the restrictions presented by this long-form interview. Royal gave us so much that we wanted to give him the entire issue, but we’re still going to sprinkle in the ethos of what our readers are familiar with and what we like to do, which is to connect something that’s happening in the present day – like the recent Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton tour with Royal – to the past. It’s been really fun connecting with folks like that through the zine. It’s almost like Paul’s on a time-traveling train or something. [Laughs]

We send surveys out to our subscribers after publishing each issue and Promontory Paul’s history lessons are always towards the top when it comes to [readers’] favorite parts of the zine. It’s also been a cool way to make note of the fact that it’s not just us behind the scenes who are enjoying this. It really speaks to how much we respect the audience that we have and how that drives us to create the best issue possible every quarter.

 

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A post shared by Royal Masat (@royalmasat)

I saw recently that Royal left a copy of Train Songz #7 at the NPR Tiny Desk following the session he recorded there with Billy. What did seeing that mean to y’all?

AP: He’s been a follower of ours for a long time and brought that copy of the zine to NPR on his own after reaching out to us to subscribe about a year ago. We knew he’d been reading along for a while, so once this tour came up with him, Bryan, and Billy, it just seemed like the perfect thing for the zine to cover. It was important for us to capture the combination of old and new in those shows dedicated to Doc and Merle Watson and T. Michael Coleman and featured the King of arena-grass playing these smaller rooms of 400 to [2,200] people with one of the most preeminent guitarists alive in Bryan Sutton.

It took us a second to come around to the idea, because we’ve been very cautious about not becoming a Billy Strings-exclusive fan zine. We want to serve the broader ecosystem, but that tour was something we couldn’t pass up, especially with Royal being a reader. Once we did reach out, he blew us out of the water with the time he put into it. His interview with Mitchell ended up being over 4,000 words that he sent us by email after wrapping up a tour in Europe. Once that wrapped I remember him sending us a literal tome – he took it very seriously and his responses were so thoughtful.

The final result almost looks like a children’s book with the way Liza designed it. None of that would be possible without our paying supporters, who make it possible for us to work with the 17 artists we partnered with on this issue to bring it even more to life with quirky illustrations that tie back to things Royal said, like throwing in an illustration of a medieval horse with a knight in shining armor where Royal refers to his bass as his trusty steed. I like to refer to what she does as “Andy Warhol-ing.” [Laughs]

Inset artwork by Sara Dennis from the 8th and most recent edition of ‘Train Songz.’

I know you just mentioned not wanting to become exclusively a Billy Strings fan zine. However, I’m curious to hear when and how y’all first encountered his music?

LC: The first time I saw Billy was at RiverRock, a free festival on Brown’s Island in Richmond in 2019 before he blew up. I had heard of him prior to that, but after seeing him live I became absolutely mesmerized. I didn’t like bluegrass for the longest time, but something clicked with me when I saw Billy and was like, “Oh, this is what I want to keep following and chasing.”

MH: In college, I was a huge Deadhead and Phish fan and was consumed by the jam world. Then I heard about Billy on some Facebook groups and message boards, talking about how he covers The Dead really well.

I moved to Boston shortly thereafter and the first month I was living there Billy played at the Wang Theater. I wound up buying a ticket and went without having listened to his music at all beforehand and was absolutely blown away. To me, it was like a psychedelic Dead or Phish show combined with bluegrass, which in hindsight probably hit on the homesickness I was feeling at the time, because I had been around bluegrass before, but wasn’t really interested in it when I was living in the South. From there, I jumped down the rabbit hole into more old-time bluegrass, which is when I started playing the music myself. So I attribute my musical pursuits now to that moment and think that is probably true of other people, too.

JL: I remember [going down] a YouTube [rabbit] hole in 2020 and coming across a set of Billy playing Doc Watson tunes. It may have been Royal’s first gig with him. I just so happened to be in a bit of a bluegrass moment at the time I found that video of Billy and was instantly hooked, resulting in me digging even deeper. I was already a Deadhead as well, so I loved his covers of those songs too. Then I worked my way to his original stuff – which is also sick – and I have YouTube to thank for it!

AP: I remember James, “Promontory Paul,” showing me Billy for the first time. Like most of the bands I like, I channel my music taste through him. When we first got into him there was still a lot of remote work going on, so we’d listen to Billy while doing that or even while we were playing games like Fortnite. I started listening to a lot of The Dead in order to try to get to the point where I could listen and name the year the show came from. But over time Billy started taking more and more of the market share of my listening time away from the “What year is this Grateful Dead show from?” project.

What are your next steps for continuing to grow Train Songz?

AP: We occasionally host concerts (the next one is February 12, 2026 with The Asheville Mountain Boys), and have captured audio recordings – which we call Tiny Train Sessions – in the past, but we look at them more as a marketing tactic than a growth mechanism.

My day job is a social media manager and doing that I’ve noticed that the best way to get a lot of views on Instagram is to post reels, because they [are served] to non-followers and new followers first. We could post a bunch of concert clips and other things to build our audience, but we intentionally opted to not do that because we’re firm believers that things that grow slow last a long time. We don’t want to gatekeep or make it hard to find us, but rather [hope folks will] find us organically through a friend sharing one of our memes or sending you a copy of the zine itself. I want the first point of contact to be someone who’s already within our ecosystem that really digs it and turns you onto it, one person at a time.

All visuals, artwork, and zine scans courtesy of Train Songz. Learn more about artists Morganne Allen and Sara Dennis.

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Thomm Jutz, Frank Evans, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Get ready to enjoy some excellent new roots music – bluegrass, country, blues, and more.

To start us off and get us in a romantic holiday mood, the Bibelhauser Brothers from Kentucky offer their bluegrass rendition of John Prine’s “Glory of True Love.” Releasing, appropriately, on Valentine’s Day, the song reinforces just how well suited Prine originals are to the bluegrass treatment – it doesn’t have to just be “Paradise”! Following up with his own cover of a country classicist, banjo picker Frank Evans pulls together an all-star cast for a live video performance of Roger Miller’s “TJ’s Last Ride.” Evans released the single studio version last week, following it up with Shad Cobb, Thomas Cassell, Mike Bub, and Jimmy Stewart joining him for the excellent live video of the track.

For a bit of gospel, Eighteen Mile releases a new single today, “Living Waters,” showing yet again the deep connections between bluegrass and sacred music. It’s a thoughtful, contemplative, and inspiring breath of fresh air – or, perhaps, a refreshing sip of cool, living waters. Plus, singer-songwriter Thomm Jutz brings us a live performance video of a new bluesy, original track, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Blues,” just voice and tender fingerpicked, acoustic blues in duet. Jutz reflects on the undying temptation of such vices and how the low points they often bring can be a vehicle to better things. “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Blues” heralds Jutz’s upcoming solo album, Ring-A-Bellin’, arriving in April.

To close us out, Nashville honky-tonkin’ staples – and life partners – Hannah Juanita & Mose Wilson have a brand new EP and with it, a video for the title track, “If I Ever Lost You.” Gauzy and retro, Juanita and Wilson put on throwback styles and sounds without it feeling contrived or gratuitous – while all decked out in countrified wedding garb. It makes perfect sense, as they explain, “As we prepare to wed this year, the lyrics hit especially close to home. We drew inspiration from the greats who paved the road: George & Tammy, Loretta & Ernest, Red & Kitty, keeping their timeless storytelling at the core.”

There’s plenty to boot-scoot to below, so get scrolling! You Gotta Hear This…

Bibelhauser Brothers, “Glory Of True Love”

Artist: Bibelhauser Brothers
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Song: “Glory of True Love”
Release Date: February 14, 2026
Label: Common Loon Records

In Their Words: “‘Glory Of True Love’ has been a part of our repertoire during live shows for many years with the Bibelhauser Brothers. It’s a beautiful feeling to ‘grass up’ such a timeless tale of love, written by one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation, John Prine. Recording this single has been a really special way to follow up since dropping our full-length record, Down the Road, including mostly original songs just four months prior, as our band and our signature sound has evolved. This is our first recording featuring Boston, Kentucky, native Turner Hutchens on mandolin, with Jeff Guernsey tracking twin fiddles, Steve Cooley on banjo, Adam on bass, and Aaron singing and playing guitar. We hope you enjoy our own Bibelhauser Brothers spin on this John Prine classic, with more music to come soon!” – Bibelhauser Brothers, Aaron and Adam

Track Credits:
Aaron Bibelhauser – Vocal, guitar
Adam Bibelhauser – Bass
Steve Cooley – Banjo
Turner Hutchens – Mandolin
Jeff Guernsey – Fiddles

Eighteen Mile, “Living Waters”

Artist: Eighteen Mile
Hometown: Upstate South Carolina
Song: “Living Waters”
Release Date: February 13, 2026

In Their Words: “In the Bible, there is a story commonly called the story of the ‘woman at the well.’ In that story, Jesus is talking to a lady who was married five times, likely abused and abandoned in those relationships before eventually becoming an outcast in her society. Jesus, using an analogy, called himself the ‘living water’ and said that she could believe in him and be completely, eternally fulfilled. C.S. Lewis famously said, ‘If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.’ This song captures the heart behind everything Eighteen Mile does. We want people to experience and find complete fulfillment in Jesus, the ‘Living Waters.'” – Carson Aaron

Track Credits:
Hallie Ritter – Upright bass, harmony vocal
Carson Aaron – Acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
Emily Guy – Lead vocal
Jack Ritter – Acoustic guitar
Savannah Aaron – Fiddle
Andy Leftwich – Mandola
Steve Pettit – Mandolin
Rob Ickes – Resonator guitar

Frank Evans, “TJ’s Last Ride”

Artist: Frank Evans
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Song: “TJ’s Last Ride”
Release Date: February 6, 2026
Label: Englehardt Music Group

In Their Words: “I’ve loved Roger Miller’s music since childhood, from the Robin Hood soundtrack to constant car rides with his greatest hits, which made choosing one of his songs feel natural. ‘TJ’s Last Ride’ stood out for its Hartford-like imagery and the mournful warmth of a Stanley Brothers ballad. In the session, we agreed to keep it simple – the take you hear is almost entirely the third run-through. I was honored to record it with Casey Campbell, Mike Bub, Justin Moses, Shad Cobb, and Jake Stargel.” – Frank Evans

Video Performance Credits:
Frank Evans – Banjo, vocals
Jimmy Stewart – Dobro, vocals
Mike Bub – Bass
Thomas Cassell – Mandolin
Shadd Cobb – Fiddle
Jake Stargel – Guitar

Video Credits:
Videographer – Kyle Horan
Video Editor – Frank Evans

Thomm Jutz, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Blues”

Artist: Thomm Jutz
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Blues”
Album: Ring-A-Bellin’
Release Date: February 13, 2026 (single); April 3, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “Going on the road at 19 was the perfect way to live at the time. No responsibilities but to make it to the next gig. Do what you know how to do and move on. That way of living follows its own archetypal patterns, that’s why it doesn’t matter where you are, you could be going up and down the Mississippi River in 1898 or the damn Autobahn in Germany in 1998.

“There’s always somebody waiting to play another game, frequently with a bottle of booze. For some people, that charm never wears off. It did for me. I got sick of the people I was with, sick of myself for sitting down at the table to play their game.

“As it turned out, that part wasn’t over when I moved to Nashville – as it turned out, it was necessary, so better things could come.” – Thomm Jutz

Hannah Juanita & Mose Wilson, “If I Ever Lost You”

Artist: Hannah Juanita & Mose Wilson
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “If I Ever Lost You”
Album: If I Ever Lost You (EP)
Release Date: February 13, 2026

In Their Words: “‘If I Ever Lost You’ is a love letter to the golden era of country delivered in a classic, heartfelt shuffle. It’s our first co-release and our first duet, built from years of collaboration and crafted as a performance we both get to share on stage. The song speaks from the heart; love is everything when it’s here, and its absence is everything we fear. As we prepare to wed this year, the lyrics hit especially close to home. We drew inspiration from the greats who paved the road: George & Tammy, Loretta & Ernest, Red & Kitty, keeping their timeless storytelling at the core.” – Hannah Juanita & Mose Wilson

Track Credits:
Hannah Juanita – Vocals
Mose Wilson – Guitar, vocals
Jeff Taylor – Piano
Norbert McGettigan III – Bass
Matty Meyer – Drums
Ryan Stigmon – Pedal steel

Photo Credit: Thomm Jutz by Don VanCleave; Frank Evans by Scott Simontacchi.

Two Decades of ‘Dusters Discography

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

With over a dozen studio credits and even more EPs and live albums to their name, the Infamous Stringdusters have been one of the most persistent forces in bluegrass and roots music ever since staking their claim with 2007’s Fork In The Road.

Even as members changed in those early years, the band quickly found its core – Andy Hall (Dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), Chris Pandolfi (banjo) and Travis Book (bass) – and rapidly began homing in on a sound that’s equal parts traditional and progressive bluegrass with a touch of country, jam, and other influences along the way. That variance has led to each of the band’s recordings having a distinctly different flavor than its predecessors, from the harmonious bluegrass symphony of Silver Sky to the feature-rich Ladies & Gentlemen, hope-fueled Laws of Gravity and Rise Sun to the somber Toward the Fray.

“Making a record that sounds like the Stringdusters isn’t the challenge,” Book told me in 2022 for No Depression. “The challenge is seeing just how deep we can get on each song in order to make it the best, most authentic version of itself it can be. This requires us all setting aside our egos, being open to suggestions, and trusting one another to create the best music as possible.”

In celebration of our Artist of the Month, we take a look back on the Stringdusters’ sonic evolution and essential tracks from their two decades in service of bluegrass and the song.

“Fork In The Road” – Fork In The Road (2007)

On their emphatic 2007 debut, Fork In The Road, the band – then comprised of eventual Punch Brother Chris Eldridge (guitar) and Jesse Cobb (mandolin) alongside Book, Garrett, Hall, and Pandolfi – quickly struck a chord with bluegrass aficionados on songs like “No More to Leave You Behind” and the album’s title track. The latter of which positions the band’s fiddle maestro front and center as his high-pitch croon carries the weight of being at a crossroads. Whether it’s a hypothetical take or one rooted in the group’s own musical experiences, it’s safe to say the path the ‘Dusters have taken since has more than paid off with a legacy 20 years strong and counting.

“Magic #9” – Things That Fly (2010)

The band show off their picking prowess on the whimsical “Magic #9,” a track that resulted in their first-ever GRAMMY nomination at the 53rd annual awards in 2011. While the ‘Dusters can thrash and sing bluegrass harmonies with the best of them, songs like this also showcase the group’s knack for crafting their own instrumental compositions. Their tunes pack just as much story and emotion – if not more – into a three-and-a-half minute burst than most of their counterparts with vocalized accompaniment. Coincidentally, the GRAMMY the song was up for was not in a bluegrass category, but rather for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Given the band’s penchant for string music, unreal levels of improvisation, and the consistently inconsistent award nominations process, it’s the least bit surprising, if not even a bit fitting.

“Rockets” – Silver Sky (2012)

The song that first unlocked my captivation for the Infamous Stringdusters (and still my favorite to this day) is “Rockets.” It was around the time the album it’s included on, Silver Sky, dropped that I began seeing the band in concert for the first time and this song was always a staple. The uplifting temperament and optimistic nature of Book’s vocals combined with the meticulous instrumental timing – from Garrett’s fiddle interjections to Pandolfi’s hard-driving banjo backbeat and Hall’s slick Dobro tones – culminate in a joyous, borderline spiritual experience every time I hear it.

Because of this and other tracks on Silver Sky like “Fire,” “Night On The River” and “Walking On The Moon” I consider the record without a doubt their most essential project to date. Although, as you’ll see, the great tunes haven’t slowed down in the years since.

“Still the One” (featuring Nicki Bluhm) – Ladies & Gentlemen (2016)

The ‘Dusters’ 2016 effort Ladies & Gentlemen stood out for many reasons – most notably its more folk-leaning bluegrass numbers and star-studded list of collaborators ranging from Mary Chapin Carpenter and Lee Ann Womack to Sara Watkins and Jennifer Hartswick (Trey Anastasio Band). However, the most frequent collaborator from the record was Nicki Bluhm. Her contribution on “Still The One” blossomed into frequent support songs on the road performing not only that track, but several other cuts from the breakthrough album. It wound up taking the band’s already spectacular knack for partnering with others to another level. As for the song itself, “Still the One” is a powerful rallying cry about a love that persists even when heavy rain, or life’s difficult moments, try to get in between and tear you apart.

“Gravity” – Laws Of Gravity (2017)

After a decade of slinging bluegrass, country, and roots-adjacent bangers, the ‘Dusters finally reached the musical mountaintop with their 2017 album, Laws of Gravity, which earned them their second GRAMMY nomination and first-ever win for Best Bluegrass Album. Central to that accomplishment was the album’s de facto title track “Gravity,” an anthemic adventure.

Similar to the aforementioned “Still the One,” the song focuses on the story of two inseparable lovebirds charting out a future life of memories together, even if they don’t know exactly when, how or why it will all happen. Most important to them though is the memories being made in the current moment, whether that be together, at a Stringdusters show, or something entirely different.

“Rise Sun” – Rise Sun (2019)

With the lead and title track to their 2019 album Rise Sun, the Infamous Stringdusters make a late entry to folk music’s stomp-clap party, combining the early 2010s trend with heated string music like few 2010s contemporaries could muster. The track also features a noticeably hopeful hue set in motion by the metaphor of a rising sun not only spawning a new day, but bringing change and the opportunity for a fresh start, as well. In that sense, the band had no idea how much hope people would need the following year, when COVID shut down the world. The result of which inspired the band’s next original entry to this list. But first, the ‘Dusters pay homage to the father of bluegrass…

“My Sweet Blue Eyed Darling” – A Tribute to Bill Monroe (2021)

The bluegrass ballad in pole position on Bill Monroe’s 1977 album Sings Bluegrass, Body And Soul, was “My Sweet Blue Eyed Darling,” a track that holds the same spot on the Stringdusters’ 2021 recording, A Tribute to Bill Monroe. On it, Pandolfi leads the way with his steady, blistering banjo while Garrett and the others hit home on the signature high and lonesome harmonies that Monroe is legendary for.

Fittingly, this collective album honoring the bluegrass legend wound up earning the ‘Dusters their third GRAMMY nomination in 2022, though they came up short to Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart. Their foray into recording covers isn’t anything new for the band, who later went on to record a Flatt & Scruggs tribute along with a series of Undercover EPs (more on that later) in addition to weaving other folks’ material into their live sets on a nightly basis.

“Pearl Of Carolina” – Toward the Fray (2022)

While the Stringdusters’ members call many places home, there may not be a more appropriate individual place with which to associate the band than Western North Carolina. Touching on that connection to the Old North State, Book sings about love and longing to return home on “Pearl of Carolina.” The song’s title stems from an intro script he was crafting for his musical talk show podcast, The Travis Book Happy Hour, as a way to describe the region.

In addition to being grounded in a person or place, similar to “Gravity” or “Still the One,” “Pearl of Carolina” is also a reminder to search for the places and small things in life that bring you joy. While much of Toward the Fray takes on a darker tone, “Pearl” stands out as a burst of much-needed normalcy on a project otherwise finding inspiration in a world of disarray.

“Touch Of Grey” – Undercover, Vol. 3 EP (2024)

The band has covered a bevy of artists on their Undercover series of EPs, from Tom Petty to The Highwaymen, The Cure, and ZZ Top, but none fit the band’s style and sound (with the exception of the Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs stuff, perhaps) than their rendition of The Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Grey” on Undercover, Vol. 3. Released in 2024, the ‘Dusters’ take on the Dead’s most commercially successful hit combines the best of both groups, further adding to the song’s timeless nature – a message that, 40 years after its original release, feels just as relatable and relevant as ever.

“Working Man Blues” – 20/20 (2026)

Much of the Infamous Stringdusters’ journey over the past two decades has been inhabiting the role of blue-collar road warriors playing anywhere for anyone who would have them. With that in mind, there’s no more fitting song to kick off their next album, 20/20, than “Working Man Blues.” The band sings about a man clocking in before sunrise and doing hard labor all day before clocking out and heading to the bar in search of fun. It’s a combination of rugged, resistant, and rowdy that embodies the Stringdusters’ entire sound and ethos for 20 years now – and, if we’re lucky, will continue for another 20 more (and then some).

Continue exploring our Artist of the Month coverage of the Infamous Stringdusters here.

Photo Credit: Daniel Milchev

The Many Perspectives of Rissi Palmer

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Rissi Palmer is putting her lifelong love of country music into Perspectives, her first project in six years. With three tracks produced by Shannon Sanders and a fourth by Dan Knobler, the new EP places Palmer back in the artist spotlight after a period of time focused on personal and professional evolution.

Palmer also hosts an Apple Music country radio show, Color Me Country, which spotlights original music from artists of color. But there’s even more to the story. She’s collaborated on a children’s book titled Color Me Country: A Celebration of Black Women Who Shaped Country Music and she’s also wrapped a memorable tour called The Trailblazing Women of Country, where she performed some of the best-loved songs from Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton. Off the stage, she’s devoted more time to her two daughters following her divorce, while still ramping up to the release of Perspectives.

Though she’s based in Durham, North Carolina, Palmer caught up with Good Country in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the Your Roots Are Showing conference. At the event’s opening night concert, she sang “Old Black Southern Woman,” a heartfelt ballad that touches on the loss of her mother when Palmer was just seven years old. Perspectives also offers a cover of the SteelDrivers’ “Can You Run?” as well as an original song titled “Good For Me” (about diving back into the dating pool) and a rendition of a Loretta Lynn classic, “Somebody Somewhere.”

“All these things came together, and Shannon so graciously decided to be a part of this with me,” Palmer recalls. “He said, ‘Well, two of these songs sound very bluegrassy. What if we just did the whole project like that?’ I was like, ‘That’s kind of dope,’ because I hadn’t done anything like that. And again, perspectives. Two Black musicians, making this very bluegrassy, but still very soulful, project. And I decided midway through that we’re going to call it Perspectives.”

What was on your mind as “Old Black Southern Woman” was taking shape?

Rissi Palmer: I wrote that with Kyshona, and that was our first time writing together. Kyshona has a way of getting straight to the heart of whatever it is that you’re talking about. I had the idea for the chorus, the “ooh-ooooh” thing, in my head, and I hadn’t really started writing anything. So, we sat down and we started talking. When you go to her house, she’s got all these really cool plants from her mom and her grandma. We talked about that, and I wanted to write something that paid homage to my mother but also acknowledged all the other women that came in and helped raise me.

It’s a universal thing, too. Everybody thinks of getting older as really bad, and I don’t know what I thought my 40s were going to be like, when I was in my 20s. I honestly don’t know, but I don’t feel old! [Laughs] I think I thought 40 was going to feel different, but 40 actually feels just like a creakier 25! And I see the blessing in it. I feel really lucky to be here, because I outlived [my mother] and I have babies now. I just wanted to write something that says it’s OK to get old. It’s actually really cool to be able to get old and to see the fruits of your work.

I think the title kind of throws people off because they’re like, “Oh, this is a song about some Black people.” But it’s actually about getting to be old, seeing the blessing and good in that, and making the most of it.

When you sing that song now, it gives you a chance to talk about your mom and share her memory. Is that extra special for you?

Yeah. It was hard, I’ll be honest. The first few times that I sang it were really hard and I would cry. I’m starting not to cry when I sing it. Especially when we get to the lyric, “Every curse my family claimed ends with me.” That’s always where it got hard. You don’t realize how hard it is to overcome and not repeat mistakes.

Was it a dream for you as a kid to become a singer?

I’ve always known. I don’t know how, but I’ve always known that this is what I wanted to do. In that way, I’m very lucky. It was never, “Maybe I should be…” I would say that I was gonna do other stuff, just to make my parents happy, because I figured that they were probably really scared about me wanting to be a singer. So, I was like, “I’ll be a lawyer.” They’ve got a lawyer. My brother is a lawyer, so they got one. So, we’re good. [Laughs]

Now I did not always want to be a country singer. I wanted to be a singer and I wanted to write songs. I knew the kind of songs that I wanted to do, but I didn’t call it that. That didn’t become clear to me until I met my first managers, and then that was when I realized, “Yeah, I guess that is what I want to do.”

Is bluegrass an influence for you?

I like bluegrass! I’m a Rhonda Vincent fan and I’ve always been an Alison Krauss fan. And on Jon Randall’s first record he has this really cool song with Vince Gill called “My Life.” That’s one of my favorite records, by the way. It’s called Walking Among the Living.

I’ve always been a fan. I’ve always listened. I’ve always had those things on my playlist. I just never thought of myself as that, because there’s a very distinct vocal style. There’s a very distinct cadence in which they’re singing. A lot of the people on the show last night [at Your Roots Are Showing] were just brilliant bluegrass singers, and I never thought of myself that way because I can’t do that. Like, that’s not what I do. I didn’t really think of it as something that I could do. I used to write stuff like that all the time and I tried to give it to other people. But it was Shannon – Shannon was the push. Shannon was like, “Let’s do this.”

What was the Trailblazing Women of Country tour like?

It’s one of my favorite things that I’ve ever done. It was an all-female band and it was myself and Kristina Train, who’s a brilliant singer, as the two leads. We split the show in half, usually there was an intermission between Kristina and me, and we sang two songs together. You know how it is to be a fan, but you don’t necessarily know everything by a person? Patsy, I knew. For Patsy, I didn’t even have to study, because I knew all those songs. Most of my Dolly stuff I knew, but there’s a lot of words in “Coat of Many Colors”! And then Loretta, I’ll be perfectly honest, I had not gone super deep into Loretta’s catalog, so that was fun. That was the one that I needed the most work.

And I loved it! We did mostly theaters. I played in places I never went before. I went to Alaska. We did Wyoming – and you haven’t lived until you’ve driven across Wyoming! It’s just space! It’s wild! With the audiences, it was really funny how they varied. Sometimes we would make jokes, and sometimes people would say things to me. Like, someone asked me once, “Where’s your blonde wig?” when we got to the Dolly part. And I was just like, “Did you ask Kristina that?” They didn’t say anything, and I was like, “Girl, why would I cover up my fabulous hair?” and everybody started laughing.

You know, we got some weird comments. There were some people that (gasps) when I walked out. And afterwards, people would say really kind things. I never had anything rude said to me. But I did notice the [look of surprise] at first. It was good for me. It reminded me about why I love country music. I think I needed that, because you spend so much time, like with Color Me Country, talking about what’s wrong with the industry and talking about ways that we’ve been slighted or ignored. Then you lose sight of why you even started this in the first place, and that was why. It’s because of those songs. It’s because of those women. It’s because of the connection that the audience had with that music.

I can’t tell you how many people came up and told me stories. I met one woman who actually saw Patsy Cline performing on the bed of a truck when she was a kid. And I was just like, “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard before.” That’s country music.

You’ve got a lot of things coming up. Where would you like this new music to take you?

That’s a great question. I put so much into other facets of my career for the last few years. I put a lot into my children, because of our changing family situation, and just wanting to be there for them. At the same time, I was wanting to experience the career wave that I was having and trying to balance that. So, my own music took a backseat. I started feeling like, “I think people forget that I sing.” And really what I’m saying is, “I think I forgot that I sing,”

I was still doing shows, and still doing things in between, but it was like, “I don’t want everybody to forget why I’m here.” Really I’m saying, “I don’t want to forget why I’m here.” The Trailblazing Women of Country really cemented that for me, especially the “country” part. I’ve been experimenting and trying different things – and there is a project that comes later – but I wanted to do this. I felt like this was a really important statement to make, like, “This is why she talks so much shit.” [Laughs] Because this is where I started and this is what I do.

Photo Credit: Dire Image

Laurie Lewis’ O California!
Was Made With Open Ears
and Open Minds

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s noon in the Bay Area, and singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Laurie Lewis is sitting in her backyard on what she describes as “a beautiful sunny day.” She spent her morning pulling up oxalis, and now she’s painting a railing she purchased at Urban Ore.

“It’s a good handrail for our front steps and along the walkway for my partner, Tom,” she says, “so I’ve been sanding it, wiping it down, and painting it.” Later during this interview, she’ll continue pulling up weeds, noting, “It’s very liberating for me, getting my hands in the dirt. It feels really good.”

The reason for today’s call is Lewis’s new album, O California! Like its predecessors, it’s an emotional palette of songs – five originals, five traditionals, and a cover of close friend Alice Gerrard’s “Sweet South Anna River” – that blend the many genres influencing her work, from bluegrass to country, jazz, and even a hint of rock. O California! features the stellar musicianship and vocals that define Laurie Lewis and her band, The Right Hands: Brandon Godman (fiddle), Hasee Ciaccio (bass), and George Guthrie (banjo, guitar).

A two-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year and a two-time GRAMMY nominee, Lewis is no stranger to BGS readers, as she’s been featured many times. Dedicated fans are also deeply familiar with her longtime partner, mandolinist Tom Rozum, and his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. “He’s doing pretty well,” Lewis says. “He had spine surgery in November and he’s recovering very well from that. He had been living with intense sciatica pain for a year and a half, and the pain is gone, so that’s great.”

What would you like readers to know about O California!?

Laurie Lewis: Let’s see… all kinds of things. I wrote five of the songs on the album and they’re all over the map, so they’ll say, “She’s got a lot of different musical influences.” We’ve also drawn from the folk tradition and some great traditional songs and thrown that in the mix. It’s all done with the same four people and same four voices on beautiful acoustic instruments. Sonically, it’s really nice. You really hear the personalities of these particular four people working together. It’s what made me want to make the album.

This is album number 25 in your catalog. Artists often speak of albums as chapters in their lives. Which chapter is O California!?

This chapter is this band at this moment in time, these particular four people. I wanted to celebrate our working relationships together. It’s something that wouldn’t have happened at another time in my career, because I wasn’t working with these particular people for as long as I have been on this album. They are all on the previous album, but that was me calling all the shots. This is me settling in, listening to everybody, and trying to make a whole out of the four parts.

How did this approach make the creative process different?

Usually I come into a recording situation with more of an idea of what I want a song to sound like. This one, I came in with snippets and vague ideas for [the band] to have their way with it. We collaborated on arrangements and we listened to every idea. It’s not that I don’t listen to other people’s ideas at other times, but generally there might be more input than just three other people if I’m doing that.

I’m a collaborative artist. One of the reasons I play music is because it’s my best way of communicating in the world. And that is, for me, to an audience. But it’s also true for me to my bandmates and other musicians. It was fun to say, “We’re making a band album. This is what it’s going to be. We’re going to let people toss out songs.” “How does this sound?” “Oh yeah, great. Let’s do that.” It was, “How shall we do it?” “I’ve got an idea.” “How about if we do this?” It’s a very free and open feeling.

[The band are] all very open-eared and open-minded about the music. It doesn’t have to be the way Earl Scruggs did it, or the way Bill Monroe did it, or anything. It doesn’t have to fit into a neat bluegrass category. I’ve played with musicians in the past who have been more or less open, and all it takes is one more closed-off person to direct the band in a particular direction.

You’ve stated in the past, paraphrasing here, that writing is sometimes specific and sometimes spontaneous, sometimes it’s almost random, sometimes it’s unfinished. What was it this time, or was it some of each?

I’d say it was some of each. With the song “O California,” I was writing lyrics in the studio. I did a scratch vocal and changed the lyrics three times before I came home and overdubbed an actual vocal. That’s unusual for me, that it was in such an unformed state when I got into the studio, but it’s when we had the time and I knew the bones of it were good. Some vocal lines, some lyrics, just were not right yet, but I knew what it was about.

When did the songs start coming together as an obvious collection? Was there an intention in mind, a theme, when you all got together?

We started this project in a different way than I have other projects. We had little tours booked, so we would get together a day early before every tour, because we all live in different parts of the country. They would fly out here, we’d rehearse a song, get what we wanted down, figure it out, and then go on our tour and play it every night. We’d have a studio day booked on the day we got back from the tour, so we’d go in and record whatever we had worked out the week before and played on the tour. It was a fun way to approach a project and it spaced it out over a long period of time. It took close to a year.

When it’s spaced apart that way, how do you make it feel like a collection, rather than recording individual pieces of music?

Because it’s all us. It’s like an old friend – you can pick up the conversation right where it was. You haven’t changed your tone or your relationship with each other so drastically that it doesn’t fit together. It would be different if I were doing something like that over a year and just getting together with whoever I thought was the right person to play on a particular song. Then, the only thing that would hold it together would be my production values.

Do you still write ideas on notes, or have you tech-ed your way up to phone apps?

Oh, no. I write. I like to write with a good pen or a pencil on a piece of paper. I will make notes sometimes on voice memos, but mostly that’s it. I’m old-fashioned. I feel like there’s something that happens, the tactile feel of a writing utensil on the paper, that is easier for me to get a thought out than to sit at a keyboard. I’ve been known to still write letters, in fact.

We live in a world of texts, emojis, phone scrolling, and what’s being called “an epidemic of isolation.” Bluegrass is associated with festivals, musicians getting together and jamming, and community. Is this still true?

Oh, definitely. In fact, here in the Bay Area it’s having a real resurgence of community jamming culture. That’s always been at the basis of bluegrass. It’s what everybody wants to do – get together and let their instruments do the talking, let the songs do the talking. It’s a wonderful thing. I love it so much.

You mentor and teach at workshops and music camps, where you connect with younger and up-and-coming musicians. What do they want to know? What do they need to know?

One of the things that I try and impart to people is the importance of finding your own voice, because many young musicians have heroes they want to emulate. That’s how you learn, but at some point you have to find what you want to say with your voice and your instrument. That’s one of the things I try to emphasize and help people feel confident that they have something to say and their own way of saying it.

There is intergenerational connection at these camps and workshops, contrary to the ageism on both sides, that society seems to push: “What do those kids know?” or “What do those old people know?” What is your perspective?

There’s still a lot of that, but luckily there are enough people, young and old, paying attention and willing to listen to each other. It’s especially helpful when there are youth music camps and stuff like that, because then the kids have each other, but they also have their mentors there. They’re there because they want to learn, and it’s usually the older people who are teaching them, but then they get to be with their cohorts, their age group, and that helps a lot.

I certainly learned a lot from teaching at kids’ camps. When I first was asked to teach at a youth-oriented fiddle camp, I thought, “I can’t do that. I don’t know how to talk to kids. I don’t know anything about that stuff.” I said yes because I tend to say yes to things, and I found it to be so enlightening and so important in my life. It’s very enriching.

On a 2021 FolkWorks podcast, you talked about The Good Ol’ Persons playing a trade show luncheon years ago in front of a room full of drunk men. You described it as being “thrown to the wolves.” Many years later, how are we doing?

In terms of women musicians out in the world, there are so many more, and it is so great to see. And the technical abilities – you can’t fault it. You can put Molly Tuttle up against any guy. It’s been some huge steps forward in the time I have been in the music business, but it’s still very male-dominated from the top. It takes generations to change things like this, these ways of thinking, and now there’s a real cultural backlash happening and I don’t know how that’s going to play out. Women have made huge strides and maybe that’s just going to be taken away. Every generation has to fight the same fights, apparently.

Overall, how is bluegrass doing, to your eyes and ears?

That’s a really hard question for me to answer. Honestly, there’s a part of it that has gotten very entrenched in staying within a particular genre. I hear a lot of songs by people singing in a bluegrass style about bluegrass music, or their cabin home and I think it’s in danger of becoming a trope instead of a living, breathing art form.

Luckily, there are enough people out there creating in the art form and doing great stuff. There’s so much of everything happening all the time now that it’s going in all different directions at once. There’s good stuff and bad stuff, and it all depends on your point of view.

Who is making an important contribution, in your opinion?

I hear a few things now and again that I respond to and like a lot. I’m not very impressed with a lot of technical brilliance. I want to be made to laugh and cry, and if it doesn’t do one or the other or both, I’m not all that interested in it.

In terms of bands, Mighty Poplar can do it, and the duo Paper Wings, two young women, Emily Mann and Wila Frank, who I actually met at a fiddle camp when they were teenagers. They’re pretty wonderful. And I always like hearing what my old friends are coming up with in terms of songs and writing. I love hearing whatever 92-year-old Alice Gerrard is coming up with. She has a way of putting her finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the world and is pretty great.

In 1998, you recorded a song called “The Refugee.” Twenty-eight years later, here we are …

Oh, I know. I find it unfortunate that [that] song is still so incredibly relevant – or more relevant. I find it very unfortunate that song has not outlived its message. It’s terrible. I wrote it when Guatemala was in such bad shape, people were fleeing, and there was all this backlash. It’s an empathetic song. These days, empathy – there’s a whole movement, “empathy’s a bad thing.” It’s so crazy.

In a 2020 interview with BGS you said, “Music has a real way of being able to soothe and heal grief.” Could you talk about that healing power, not only as a songwriter, but also as a lover of music, a listener?

Oh, yeah, it’s true. I stand by that. There’s nothing like it. It’s such a direct conduit to the heart. A song can sneak in and express something for you that you had no words for. It can help you, as a songwriter, to figure out a way to express what you might be going through in a way that makes it universal. You put it out there in the world, everybody can feel it and relate to it, and it makes you feel a part of something greater than just your little dark cell that you might be stuck in, or your own personal grief.

It has helped me deal with things, with grief in my life, to be able to learn a song that makes me cry. Every time I hear it, I learn it, and it becomes part of me. It becomes part of my way of being able to express myself, or to write a song that every time I start trying to sing it, I’m in tears or something. You learn to work through your grief by embracing it musically. It’s an incremental way of dealing with things, and it’s really healing.

It’s a sense of support through the company of songs that speak to us.

Yeah. You are not alone. Especially with all the internet stuff, people spend a lot more time not with actual other humans, having conversations or whatever. To hear something, to listen and understand that other people are going through the same alienation or grief or loss, or whatever it is that you are experiencing, makes it easier to bear.

The French author Jean Giono, who wrote The Man Who Planted Trees – I wish I could find this quote – said in an essay that an artist’s duty is to express yourself for all the people who don’t have the words or the art to express themselves. It’s your duty in society, your job, to put it out there for everybody who can’t.

Photo Credit: Dawn Kish

Clay Street Unit Chat Sin & Squalor and Excitement for the Future

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Since their inception in 2021, Clay Street Unit has quickly risen into the national spotlight. The rollicking Americana string band is garnering the frequent tag of “must-see” by their rapidly growing fanbase.

Formed in Denver, Colorado, the sextet is unique in sight and in sound. With a foundation soaked in bluegrass, the ensemble also includes a drummer and a pedal steel player – which often kicks the act into the realms of indie folk and honky-tonk. Ultimately, this lends them to a wildin’ out scene when placed in a packed room of fans and the curious alike, something that has become commonplace as of late.

It’s at this exact juncture – of deeply held dreams and aspirations coming to fruition – that Clay Street Unit will finally release their debut album, Sin & Squalor (out February 13 via Leo33). The 11-song LP is a perfect introduction to this band of melodic pirates as they currently navigate the high seas of the music industry. The record not only captures the essence of the outfit, it’s also impressive in nature, showcasing the vibrant energy of the group’s live show via the studio.

Produced by the Infamous Stringdusters’ Chris Pandolfi, Sin & Squalor is a sonic roadmap to the here and now of where jamgrass stands in the modern era. With members of Clay Street Unit hailing from a variety of places in the U.S. (Alabama, Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois), their multilayered influences lead to traditional acoustic aspects mirrored by modern sounds. Each texture a product of the unique environments from which these musicians proudly emerged.

Catching up with mandolinist Scottie Bolin and guitarist Sam Walker, the duo spoke at length with BGS about the group’s origin, how their sound came to be, and what’s in store for Clay Street Unit. The road seems to be wide open as this troupe has created quite a buzz, coast to coast, coming into 2026.

I was kind of curious about how 2025 wrapped up for y’all.

Sam Walker: I think 2025 was probably the most important year we’ve had yet. It was a huge year for us, as far as crossing off a bunch of big local goals and national goals. We got to play Red Rocks with some of our heroes and buddies, Leftover Salmon and Kitchen Dwellers. We got to play [our] biggest hometown show in Denver at the Ogden Theatre, and had the privilege of selling that place out and playing with our good buddies, Andy Hall and Chris Pandolfi from the Stringdusters. And then, we signed our record deal [with Leo33] and got to plan the rollout for this record and finally get it released.

I would surmise last year will really be setting the pace for 2026, justifying all the blood, sweat, and tears going into this.

Scottie Bolin: Yeah, absolutely. A ton of work went into making the album and getting the songs where you wanted them to be. And finally getting to tour a bunch last year has been really rewarding, getting to play these songs to live crowds and really hitting the road hard.

You guys have had a pretty fast trajectory for five years together. And I was wondering about the background of how the band formed and the timeline of how it all came together.

SW: Our former banjo player, Jack Klein, and I met one night at a brewery in Denver, a couple blocks from Clay Street and the house I was living in at the time. I played some guitar, picked tunes all night at my house, and ended up booking a gig over at that same brewery. It all happened really organically. We weren’t really trying to start a band. It just felt like the right people, right place, right time to try to get something going. We ended up meeting our former drummer and bass player, and then everything kind of picked up steam a little bit quicker than we thought.

We were playing The Patio [at Sloan’s], then [Cervantes’] Other Side, then the [Cervantes Masterpiece] Ballroom. People kept buying tickets, listening, and supporting the music. As things grew, some people weren’t really dedicated to being lifelong musicians in the band. I ended up going on tour and playing with Colorado [jamgrass] band Morsel that our bass player [Jack Kotarba] and Scottie had started. We all became really close buddies over that tour. And things kind of naturally shifted in a different direction for some members. We all kind of crossed paths at the right time.

SB: At the end of the day, we were all just kind of playing music with various groups and side projects in Denver, playing a lot of bluegrass. And things just clicked. Everyone got along really well. The band, at its core, is a group of good friends. And it just snowballed and grew from there.

SW: I moved out here to Colorado eight or nine years ago. And we had this big 4,000-square-foot party house. There were four or five guys living in it at any given time. It was just where everyone would kind of come through and hang, and we would play music all night. It felt like a revolving door of people in there. That house was kind of where everything started.

We got the band going and rehearsed. It felt like the origin of the band. We were listening to a ton of Tony Rice at the time. I kind of came into bluegrass the long way. I didn’t grow up being a huge disciple or anything like that. But, obviously, moving out to Colorado, I got a class in bluegrass culture pretty quick. We were just obsessed with that Tony Rice record, Manzanita.

Was playing in a band something you each wanted to do or is it just the way everything unfolded?

SB: I’m from Charlottesville, Virginia. I started [playing] in college [at the University of Colorado Boulder with] Morsel. We tried to make a go of it. We did a couple tours. [But], the touring lifestyle is hard and takes full dedication from the whole group. Some of the guys [in Morsel] didn’t wanna do that. So, I stepped away from that. Luckily, right around that time, I met Sam and all the Clay Street guys.

SW: I grew up down south in Montgomery, Alabama. I kind of came into it the opposite way. I played in a Widespread Panic/Grateful Dead cover band in college and just sang. Then, I moved out to Colorado and picked up the guitar. I’d always sang and written a few songs and loved live music. But, I really kind of fell into it. It wasn’t something necessarily in my early twenties I expected to be doing for a living.

All the dominoes fell in the right places and I was around the right people that gave me a lot of confidence to push the boundaries of what I was comfortable with. Playing in some side bluegrass bands around town really helped me feel more comfortable about being a part of the Denver music scene. Everything happened step by step. I wasn’t really trying to make it a career, but a few years later, it felt like something that made sense – to take the leap and try to push it as far as we can.

Your band is a huge melting pot of sound. Is that by design or just how it all just came together?

SW: I feel like it’s a little bit of both. We definitely didn’t set out or want to be a traditional bluegrass band. Obviously, when we added the drums and pedal steel and electric bass that decision was kind of made for us. It’s kind of a melting pot of everything we listen to and the music we like.

When Scottie and I go to write a song, we don’t think, “This is a bluegrass tune,” “This is a folk tune,” “This has an indie feel.” We let the music and everybody’s kind of flavor and influence on how the song’s going to sound. We don’t really try to have those guardrails of how it needs to sound or what vibe it needs to be.

When I was listening to the album, I kept thinking how I really want to see you guys live. And I think that’s a real testament to the band, to have that kind of sound radiating out of an album that encourages you to go to the live show, which I think is probably the endgame for you.

SW: Absolutely. At the core of our band, we’re a live band. It’s where we really shine through, and you can just feel the energy up there. We always try to say, “There are only so many Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights,” and we want to elevate that and bring the energy and the emotion and let [the audience] loose – life’s too short to not go out and enjoy live music. We want to make sure at every show we’re bringing that to the table, our full attention to the energy and making sure that everyone’s having as good a time as they can.

Is there any kind of ethos behind the title of the album?

SW: It’s our origin story. [When we started], we didn’t know how to do it or if we were doing it right, and we weren’t doing it with much, just trying to put it together piece by piece. It sounds a little heavy, but it’s more about the beauty of humanity, the nature of [life] we have all been through, and it’s a commonality of everybody. It’s the nature of our music and string instrument music – music that has a little more “down in the holler” feel. It all felt aligned with what we were trying to get out for the first record.

Why was Chris Pandolfi the guy you wanted to produce this?

SB: I had the opportunity to work with Chris before with Morsel, which was a little bit more of an electric rock jam with some bluegrass elements in there. He produced a few albums for [Morsel]. So, I knew what it was like to work with him. I knew that he was just a musical genius and the right guy for setting the vibe and making sure we were comfortable in the studio.

[Chris was] coming in with great arrangement ideas for our band, specifically, and being a great mentor all-around. [Clay Street Unit] actually had the pleasure of being his wedding band this last summer, which was awesome. I feel like the Infamous Stringdusters, Greensky Bluegrass, a lot of those Colorado bands, Leftover Salmon, have really kind of set the tone of what is “allowed” in that genre and for pushing the boundaries of what people want to hear. With the Stringdusters, I’ve seen them live for 10-15 years and they’ve really made a mark on the bluegrass scene, the Colorado music scene, and definitely a big impact on us.

You’re currently hitting the five-year mark together. What does that milestone mean to you right now?

SW: The last five years have been so much of a learning curve and going through so many different stages of figuring out who we are and how we want to operate. I feel like now we’re really starting to get a grasp of what we want to do and who we want to be as musicians, as a band, and as people. The last five years were such a blessing and such a great learning experience, but I think we’re just so excited for the next five years of just pushing this thing to the limit and, and trying to, to make the best music we can and, and really just enjoy every step of it together.

SB: It just takes a long time to get a group of people on a mission aligned and I think we’re finally there. Everyone’s on the same wavelength of what we want to get done and what we want to accomplish. We’ve got a really busy year ahead of us, and it’s kind of the culmination of the last five years of hard work that’s been coming to fruition – we’re pretty excited.

Photo Credit: Lead image by Robert Chavers. Alternate image by Tobin Voggesser.

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Foy Vance, Rissi Palmer, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

We have new music for you, as always, to herald the end of the week and beginning of the weekend. You Gotta Hear This!

From just outside of Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter Connor Daly releases a new single today, “Echoes of Midnight.” An Americana “fast waltz” with a melancholy tinge, the track is clean but gritty. Daly thinks it’s the best song in his catalog to crank through a loudspeaker, and we agree. A longtime friend of BGS and Good Country now, Rissi Palmer releases her brand new EP Perspectives today, so we’re celebrating by sharing a new song from that collection, “Good to Me.” Written with Shannon Sanders and Hilton Wright II, the song finds Palmer much more assured in what she wants and needs from a life partner than she was in her 20s. (Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Palmer about the EP, coming next week right here on BGS.)

Also in a country space, roots music renaissance man Jim Lauderdale announced a new upcoming album today, Country Super Hits Volume 2. He certainly has plenty of “super hits” to celebrate; we’re kicking off the countdown to the new LP by sharing “Everybody’s Got A Problem.” There’s a kernel of truth in that hook somewhere, isn’t there? Relatable, charming, and effortlessly traditional country, it’s another Lauderdale banger. Then, from across the Atlantic, Foy Vance launched a brand new, homemade music video earlier this week for “Hi, I’m The Preacher’s Son.” With sonics gleaned from the intersection of folk and outlaw, the song is well matched by the trippy and fun video that combines animation, stop motion, and many other forms and styles into a unique visual journey. His dad was a preacher and fond of a parable; the track and video suit their inspiration perfectly.

Don’t miss Bryan Sutton unveiling another tune from his upcoming duets album, as well. This time he’s partnered with fellow guitar picker Jake Stargel on an acrobatic and oftentimes jaw-dropping rendition of the popular fiddle tune-guitar instrumental “Crazy Creek.” These are two of the most personality-rich players and stylist on six strings, doing what they do best. Each single from the album, From Roots to Branches, has been stellar – this latest outing continues that trend.

There’s plenty to enjoy below! Scroll to listen, ’cause You Gotta Hear This…

Connor Daly, “Echoes of Midnight”

Artist: Connor Daly
Hometown: Ashburn, Virginia
Song: “Echoes of Midnight”
Release Date: February 6, 2026

In Their Words: “As soon as I started writing the first pieces of ‘Echoes of Midnight,’ I knew exactly what kind of production I wanted for the song. Going into the studio with David Dorn at Farmland Studios in Nashville, it didn’t take long for him to understand the vision. Big drums, wide acoustic guitar arrangements, and energy pushing through every line. It’s one of those songs that was clearly meant to be played live and I knew I needed to hear it fully take shape in the studio. Lyrically, ‘Echoes of Midnight’ captures a very now-or-never feeling of young love that has always stood out in my catalog. If I could choose any of my songs to play through a loudspeaker, this would be it.” – Connor Daly

Track Credits:
David Dorn – Keys
Shaun Richardson – Acoustic guitar
Tim Denbo – Electric bass
Dave Racine – Drums
Justin Ostrander – Electric guitar
Connor Daly Steggerda – Songwriter, vocals

Jim Lauderdale, “Everybody’s Got A Problem”

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Artist: Jim Lauderdale
Hometown: Troutman, North Carolina
Song: “Everybody’s Got A Problem”
Album: Country Super Hits Volume 2
Release Date: February 6, 2026 (single); March 27, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “This song relates to the common experience of going through difficult times and that very few of us are immune to that; it’s one thing we all have in common.” – Jim Lauderdale

Rissi Palmer, “Good to Me”

Artist: Rissi Palmer
Hometown: Durham, North Carolina
Song: “Good to Me”
Album: Perspectives (EP)
Release Date: February 6, 2026

In Their Words: “I started this song with Hilton Wright II and completed it with Shannon Sanders (producer of the project). I sat on this chorus for three years, in the midst of a divorce, not sure what I wanted to say. On this side of things, I’m a bit more clear about what I want from a partner. The things that 29-year-old Rissi wanted are very different from what 44-year-old Rissi wants. We had a really good time writing this…” – Rissi Palmer

Bryan Sutton, “Crazy Creek” featuring Jake Stargel

Artist: Bryan Sutton
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Crazy Creek” featuring Jake Stargel
Album: From Roots to Branches
Release Date: February 6, 2026 (single)
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “Ever since Jake Stargel came on the scene, I’ve been fascinated and inspired. I think his playing is continually creative and powerful. He was the one that actually suggested ‘Crazy Creek’ and part of my goal with this duets project was just to try to capture musical conversations with my friends. We definitely do that here with ‘Crazy Creek.'” – Bryan Sutton

Foy Vance, “Hi, I’m The Preacher’s Son”

Artist: Foy Vance
Hometown: Bangor, Northern Ireland
Song: “Hi, I’m The Preacher’s Son”
Album: The Wake
Release Date: February 4, 2026 (video); March 13, 2026 (album)
Label: Rounder Records

In Their Words: “Being a preacher, my Dad was fond of a fable. Parables and philosophies poured out of him on a good day. I couldn’t fully appreciate them at the time, but I would learn to cling to the little wisdoms he shared. So much of him has influenced what I do. Seeking ways to say something concisely.

“I’m glad of that influence. I am also glad to be free of any certainty that gives someone the desire to be a preacher. Even if I felt certain about whatever God might be, I reckon the desire to become a preacher should never allow you to become one!” – Foy Vance

Photo Credit: Foy Vance by Gregg Houston; Rissi Palmer by Dire Image.

Artist of the Month: The Infamous Stringdusters

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

During the Infamous Stringdusters’ recent holiday gig at The Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina, the storied venue was packed out with jamgrass freaks, the performance itself a kickoff of sorts for the band’s 20th anniversary in 2026. I found myself standing sidestage when show opener Bronwyn Keith-Hynes came up next to me. A smile emerged on her face taking in the band and the audience.

“The Stringdusters made me want to start a band,” the GRAMMY-winning fiddler said, turning to me. “The Fork In The Road album was the most influential modern bluegrass album for me when I was at Berklee.”

Keith Hynes’ sentiment conjured numerous memories and moments I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of when it comes to the ‘Dusters. The first time I ever laid eyes and ears on them, it was the 2008 Targhee Bluegrass Festival in Alta, Wyoming. I was 23 years old and a rookie reporter for the Teton Valley News, based just down the mountain in Driggs, Idaho. By that point in my life, both personally and professionally, I was diving deep into the jamgrass world – the intersection of ancient tones, psychedelia, improvisation, and a collective love of the Grateful Dead.

The initial spark of the modern jamgrass movement was lit by Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, and the String Cheese Incident, all three acts coming into the national spotlight by the end of the 1990s. A musical template had been formed, and the ‘Dusters would emerge in the early 2000s to throw gasoline onto that melodic fire, ultimately becoming a missing link (alongside Greensky Bluegrass) between jamgrass originators, those ‘90s propagators, and folks currently carrying the torch into new, exciting realms: Billy Strings, Sierra Ferrell, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, and more.

“That’s what’s so beautiful about bluegrass music, in particular,” Stringdusters fiddler Jeremy Garrett told me recently. “You pass it on to the next generation and they take it and they do their thing with it. Luckily for us, we were around at a time that [that] was very important, and a transitional time in the industry.”

In 2010, a couple of years after my introduction to the band at Targhee, when I returned to my native North Country of Upstate New York, I found myself covering a show at the intimate Showcase Lounge at Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont. I was there to see the ‘Dusters once again. Their sound and energy immediately transported me back to the Rocky Mountains that I missed dearly. (Sharing the bill was another rising jamgrass act, Trampled by Turtles.)

I remember walking away from that gig feeling in awe and refreshed with a genuine feeling that something was happening. Something was on the horizon when it came to bluegrass and string band music. This wasn’t a traditional bluegrass band in matching suits, standing like statues. It was a rock show with acoustic instruments. Baseball caps and long hair, grins ear-to-ear. More provocative than standstill, more vibrant than just going through the motions of what past generations were instructed to do.

“Being able to showcase our own songs, in our own way, [our] writing skills, and making the decisions on what was chosen to play and how to play it [were] foremost for most of us at the beginning,” Garrett says. “Over time, we realized that we were actually growing a community. And after all these years, that honestly has become the most important part, the most important thing that we could possibly do.”

What I witnessed in Wyoming and Vermont years ago is what I’ve continued to experience with the Infamous Stringdusters, in person and in method, from Florida to Colorado and beyond. They set the pace then for where we stand with jamgrass right now, built on a full-throttle approach, one which remains sonically elusive as well as paying homage to the architects of bluegrass and those who broke from the pack and made something all their own.

Aside from the talents of the Stringdusters, either as individuals or the sum of their parts, you also have a unique setup. Alongside founding members, banjoist Chris Pandolfi and Dobroist Andy Hall, who emerged from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, you have the tradgrass pedigree of Garrett, who was born and raised in a traveling family bluegrass band hailing from Idaho. This fusing of road-tested grit and grace with conservatory-style techniques is at the heart of what this group does best: jam.

All of which circles back to the Asheville Orange Peel performance in late 2025. There were tightly knit melodies and freewheelin’ improvisational explorations. They broke down the invisible walls between themselves and the audience, maintaining a two-way street of momentum, energy, and inspiration from both sides of the microphone – a vortex of sound and scope, all revolving around a deep sense of community.

“The band is stronger than ever and making some of the best music we’ve ever made,” Garrett says. “But, the thing I see that is the most important being carried on is that community factor. We certainly didn’t invent that, but we took note and applied the philosophy to our scene, and hopefully the next generation realizes how important that piece is.”

Ultimately, this 20th anniversary celebration for the Infamous Stringdusters is a culmination of a tried-and-true effort to bring this hallowed music into the unknown and unfolding musical landscape of the 21st century. With their upcoming album, 20/20 (out February 13 via Ameriana Vibes) they continue their efforts to break new ground and forge ahead, together, whatever the next 20 years hold for jamgrass and the ‘Dusters.

The Infamous Stringdusters are our Artist of the Month. Below, enjoy our Essential Infamous Stringdusters playlist and stay tuned as we share brand new and archive content on the ‘Dusters throughout the month of February here on BGS – and across our social media channels. Like our exploration of their 20-year discography or our oral history of the band featuring all five members in conversation.

Photo Credit: Daniel Milchev

See the Winners from the 2026 GRAMMY Awards

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

The 2026 GRAMMY Awards were handed out on February 1, 2026, by the Recording Academy at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Broadcast live on CBS, the primetime awards show is now viewable on demand on Paramount+. Earlier in the afternoon, the GRAMMY Premiere Ceremony, which was streamed via the GRAMMYs website and on YouTube, was held at the Peacock Theater, handing out dozens and dozens of additional awards across fields and categories.

Best Bluegrass Album was announced during the Premiere Ceremony. This year, nominees included Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter (Carter & Cleveland), Sierra Hull (A Tip Toe High Wire), Alison Krauss & Union Station (Arcadia), the SteelDrivers (Outrun), and Billy Strings (Highway Prayers). Strings took home the award, racking up his third gramophone in the category. While Hull, who was nominated in four categories, including Best Bluegrass Album, did not take home any GRAMMY Awards yesterday, she was featured during the Premiere Ceremony as a presenter and she made an appearance on the red carpet for the primetime awards show. Roots/bluegrass/folk supergroup I’m With Her – featuring Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins – were nominated and won twice, taking home the Best Folk Album trophy for Wild and Clear and Blue and the award for Best American Roots Song for “Ancient Light.”

Tyler Childers, who was nominated in four categories this year, received his first-ever GRAMMY Award for Best Country Song for “Bitin’ List,” a viral sensation from his critically acclaimed 2025 album, Snipe Hunter. The LP had been nominated for Best Contemporary Country Album – in one of the much buzzed-about split categories of Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Traditional Country Album – but the trophy went to Jelly Roll’s Beautifully Broken instead. In the other split category, upstart fan favorite Zach Top took home the Traditional Country honor for his sophomore release, Ain’t In It For My Health. It marks Top’s first GRAMMY Award.

Of course, beyond the Country & American Roots Music field, folk and roots music were represented in peak form across the many genres and categories of the 68th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Album of the Year was awarded to Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, one of the best roots projects of last year as selected by the BGS Class of 2025. From the Premiere Ceremony and Best Bluegrass Album to the primetime broadcast and Album of the Year, roots music is and always has been a keystone of the biggest night in music.

Below, find the complete list of winners (in bold) from the Country & American Roots Music field, plus select categories featuring roots musicians, artists, and projects from across the various other GRAMMY fields and categories.

Country & American Roots Music

Best Country Solo Performance

“Nose On The Grindstone” – Tyler Childers
“Good News” – Shaboozey
“Bad As I Used To Be” – Chris Stapleton
“I Never Lie” – Zach Top
“Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

“A Song To Sing” – Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton
“Trailblazer” – Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson
“Love Me Like You Used To Do” – Margo Price, Tyler Childers
“Amen” – Shaboozey, Jelly Roll
“Honky Tonk Hall Of Fame” – George Strait, Chris Stapleton

Best Country Song

“Bitin’ List” – Tyler Childers, songwriter. (Tyler Childers)
“Good News” –  Michael Ross Pollack, Sam Elliot Roman, Jacob Torrey, songwriters. (Shaboozey)
“I Never Lie” – Carson Chamberlain, Tim Nichols, Zach Top, songwriters. (Zach Top)
“Somewhere Over Laredo” – Andy Albert, Trannie Anderson, Dallas Wilson, Lainey Wilson, songwriters. (Lainey Wilson)
“A Song To Sing” – Jenee Fleenor, Jesse Frasure, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, songwriters. (Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton)

Best Traditional Country Album

Dollar A Day – Charley Crockett
American Romance – Lukas Nelson
Oh What A Beautiful World – Willie Nelson
Hard Headed Woman – Margo Price
Ain’t In It For My Health – Zach Top

Zach Top accepts the Best Traditional Country Album award for ‘Ain’t In It For My Health’ during the 68th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy.)

Best Contemporary Country Album

Patterns – Kelsea Ballerini
Snipe Hunter – Tyler Childers
Evangeline Vs. The Machine – Eric Church
Beautifully Broken – Jelly Roll
Postcards From Texas – Miranda Lambert

Best American Roots Performance

“LONELY AVENUE” – Jon Batiste, Featuring Randy Newman
“Ancient Light” – I’m With Her
“Crimson And Clay” – Jason Isbell
“Richmond On The James” – Alison Krauss & Union Station
“Beautiful Strangers” – Mavis Staples

Best Americana Performance

“Boom” – Sierra Hull
“Poison In My Well” – Maggie Rose, Grace Potter
“Godspeed” – Mavis Staples
“That’s Gonna Leave A Mark” – Molly Tuttle
“Horses” – Jesse Welles

Best American Roots Song

“Ancient Light” – Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, Sara Watkins, songwriters. (I’m With Her)
“BIG MONEY” – Jon Batiste, Mike Elizondo, Steve McEwan, songwriters. (Jon Batiste)
“Foxes In The Snow” – Jason Isbell, songwriter. (Jason Isbell)
“Middle” – Jesse Welles, songwriter. (Jesse Welles)
“Spitfire” – Sierra Hull, songwriter. (Sierra Hull)

Best Americana Album

BIG MONEY – Jon Batiste
Bloom – Larkin Poe
Last Leaf On The Tree – Willie Nelson
So Long Little Miss Sunshine – Molly Tuttle
Middle – Jesse Welles

Best Bluegrass Album

Carter & Cleveland – Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter
A Tip Toe High Wire – Sierra Hull
Arcadia – Alison Krauss & Union Station
Outrun – The SteelDrivers
Highway Prayers – Billy Strings

(L-R) Brandy Clark, Reba McEntire, and Lukas Nelson perform onstage during the 68th GRAMMY Awards. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy.)

Best Traditional Blues Album

Ain’t Done With The Blues – Buddy Guy
Room On The Porch – Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’
One Hour Mama: The Blues Of Victoria Spivey – Maria Muldaur
Look Out Highway – Charlie Musselwhite
Young Fashioned Ways – Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Bobby Rush

Best Contemporary Blues Album

Breakthrough – Joe Bonamassa
Paper Doll – Samantha Fish
A Tribute To LJK – Eric Gales
Preacher Kids – Robert Randolph
Family – Southern Avenue

Best Folk Album

What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow – Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson
Crown Of Roses – Patty Griffin
Wild And Clear And Blue – I’m With Her
Foxes In The Snow – Jason Isbell
Under The Powerlines (April 24 – September 24) – Jesse Welles

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Live At Vaughan’s – Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet
For Fat Man – Preservation Brass & Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Church Of New Orleans – Kyle Roussel
Second Line Sunday – Trombone Shorty And New Breed Brass Band
A Tribute To The King Of Zydeco – Various Artists

Molly Tuttle walks the red carpet at the 68th GRAMMY Awards. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy.)

General Field

Producer of the Year (Non-Classical)

Dan Auerbach
Cirkut
Dijon
Blake Mills
Sounwave

Jazz, Traditional Pop, Contemporary Instrumental & Musical Theater

Best Jazz Performance

“Noble Rise” – Lakecia Benjamin, Featuring Immanuel Wilkins & Mark Whitfield
“Windows – Live” – Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade
“Peace Of Mind / Dreams Come True” – Samara Joy
“Four” – Michael Mayo
“All Stars Lead To You – Live” –  Nicole Zuraitis, Dan Pugach, Tom Scott, Idan Morim, Keyon Harrold & Rachel Eckroth

Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Trilogy 3 (Live) – Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade
Southern Nights – Sullivan Fortner, Featuring Peter Washington & Marcus Gilmore
Belonging – Branford Marsalis Quartet
Spirit Fall – John Patitucci, Featuring Chris Potter & Brian Blade
Fasten Up – Yellowjackets

Best Alternative Jazz Album

honey from a winter stone – Ambrose Akinmusire
Keys To The City Volume One – Robert Glasper
Ride into the Sun – Brad Mehldau
LIVE-ACTION – Nate Smith
Blues Blood – Immanuel Wilkins

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Wintersongs – Laila Biali
The Gift Of Love – Jennifer Hudson
Who Believes In Angels? – Elton John & Brandi Carlile
Harlequin – Lady Gaga
A Matter Of Time – Laufey
The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume 2 – Barbra Streisand

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

Brightside – ARKAI
Ones & Twos – Gerald Clayton
BEATrio – Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sánchez
Just Us – Bob James & Dave Koz
Shayan – Charu Suri

Sierra Hull speaks on stage during the 68th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy.)

Gospel & Contemporary Christian Music

Best Roots Gospel Album

I Will Not Be Moved (Live) – The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Then Came The Morning – Gaither Vocal Band
Praise & Worship: More Than A Hollow Hallelujah – The Isaacs
Good Answers – Karen Peck & New River
Back To My Roots – Candi Staton

Latin, Global, Reggae & New Age, Ambient, or Chant

Best Música Mexicana Album (Including Tejano)

MALA MÍA – Fuerza Regida, Grupo Frontera
Y Lo Que Viene – Grupo Frontera
Sin Rodeos – Paola Jara
Palabra De To’s (Seca) – Carín León
Bobby Pulido & Friends Una Tuya Y Una Mía – Por La Puerta Grande (En Vivo) – Bobby Pulido

Best Global Music Performance

“EoO” – Bad Bunny
“Cantando en el Camino” – Ciro Hurtado
“JERUSALEMA” – Angélique Kidjo
“Inmigrante Y Que?” – Yeisy Rojas
“Shrini’s Dream (Live)” – Shakti
“Daybreak” – Anoushka Shankar, Featuring Alam Khan, Sarathy Korwar

Children’s, Comedy, Audio Books, Visual Media & Music Video/Film

Best Song Written For Visual Media

“As Alive As You Need Me To Be” [From TRON: Ares] – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, songwriters. (Nine Inch Nails)
“Golden” [From KPop Demon Hunters] – EJAE & Mark Sonnenblick, songwriters. (HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI)
“I Lied to You” [From Sinners] – Ludwig Göransson & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters. (Miles Caton)
“Never Too Late” [From Elton John: Never Too Late] – Brandi Carlile, Elton John, Bernie Taupin & Andrew Watt, songwriters. (Elton John, Brandi Carlile)
“Pale, Pale Moon” [From Sinners] – Ludwig Göransson & Brittany Howard, songwriters. (Jayme Lawson)
“Sinners” [From Sinners] – Leonard Denisenko, Rodarius Green, Travis Harrington, Tarkan Kozluklu, Kyris Mingo & Darius
Povilinus, songwriters. (Rod Wave)

Production, Engineering, Composition & Arrangement

Best Instrumental Composition

“First Snow” – Remy Le Boeuf, composer. (Nordkraft Big Band, Remy Le Boeuf & Danielle Wertz)
“Live Life This Day: Movement I” – Miho Hazama, composer. (Miho Hazama, Danish Radio Big Band & Danish National Symphony Orchestra)
“Lord, That’s A Long Way” – Sierra Hull, composer. (Sierra Hull)
“Opening” – Zain Effendi, composer. (Zain Effendi)
“Train To Emerald City” – John Powell & Stephen Schwartz, composers (John Powell & Stephen Schwartz)
“Why You Here / Before The Sun Went Down” – Ludwig Göransson, composer. (Ludwig Göransson, Featuring Miles Caton)

Photo Credit: All photos by Getty Images for the Recording Academy, courtesy of the Recording Academy. Photographer credits as marked.

Lead and Alternate Images: I’m With Her, (L to R) Sara Watkins, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sarah Jarosz, accept the GRAMMY for Best Folk Album. Shot by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for the Recording Academy.