2025 was a standout year for roots music books. In a time of political upheaval and uncertainty, authors like Craig Shelburne & Brenda Colladay and Alisa Murphy brought us deep into the history of music institutions that have weathered generations of American ups and downs: the Grand Ole Opry and The Station Inn. Reading about these places is a reminder that culture is often a better litmus test than news cycles, when it comes to what a country stands for and where its soul can be found.
Biographies of Dolly Parton and Alice Gerrard (the latter written by Gerrard herself) highlight women who defied the odds to become iconic voices in country and old-time. Parton first debuted on the Opry at the age of 13 and her influence on American culture has spanned from highlighting women in the workplace with “9 to 5” to donating a million dollars for medical research to accelerate the creation of the Moderna COVID vaccine. Gerrard, while less of a household name, is considered one of the last of the old guard in traditional music; even if you haven’t heard of her, you’ve probably still been touched by her work. These books detail the unlikelihood of these women’s successes given the time and place of their work and both good reminders of changing gender norms that we now take for granted.
Two books on Black American fiddle and banjo music continue the quest to restore African music’s and African American musicians’ rightful place in the history of the American string band tradition. With additional archival and notation resources, these books offer not only scholarship, but an opportunity for dedicated pickers to add to their repertoire, too.
And finally, roots musicians Paul Burch and Charlie Parr channel their creative writing into novels Meridian Rising and Five, respectively, the former a fictionalized story of Jimmie Rodgers and the latter a wild meditation on the wanderings of a troubadour.
From coffee table aesthetics to novels and new tunes, 2025’s roots music books have you covered! See a list of our favorites and a collection of “honorable mentions” below.
Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackmann
Martha Ackmann is known for illuminating the stories of women who rise above societal expectations, so it’s only appropriate that she should tell the story of Dolly Parton’s ascent to success. With new interviews and documents, the book focuses on the price Parton paid for her early fame, penalized and criticized by those who saw it as a betrayal of her roots. Despite legal battles and struggles with her mental health, Parton persevered and went on to use her affluence to help her East Tennessee home, through the development of Dollywood, her charitable work, and the creation of The Imagination Library. Find it here.
Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas for Fiddle and Banjo by Kristina R Gaddy and Rhiannon Giddens
Appropriate for pickers and scholars alike, this collection of early Black Atlantic music is equal parts songbook and history lesson. Nineteen carefully transcribed tunes sourced from 1687 to the 1860s are presented in standard notation and banjo tablature, and accompanied by rich historical essays detailing their origins, cultural context, and evolution over time and place. This collection is another important step in the recovery of Black history of the American musical canon – and specifically the fiddle and banjo canon – from two lauded experts on the subject. Find it here.
Meridian Rising by Paul Burch
Meridian Rising, the debut novel from Paul Burch, fictionalizes the life of country star Jimmie Rodgers and was released this fall to rave reviews. As the Chattanooga Free Press says, “Burch must have done a great deal of research to deliver a story that feels so authentic, but research alone doesn’t make a good novel. The writing is what matters, and Burch skillfully renders a large cast of narrators throughout Meridian Rising, especially its main subject, whose witty, sometimes barbed voice is vivid and memorable.” Find it here.
The World Famous Station Inn by Alisa M Murphy
The passing of JT Gray in 2021 marked the end of an era for The Station Inn. Although the venue continues its bluegrass legacy with new management, it has been long past time to commemorate this (as its name rightly points out) world-famous venue with a book of stories and photos. Author Alisa M Murphy spent two years immersing herself in the culture of the venue and conducting interviews to put together her coffee-table book, The World Famous Station Inn.Find it here.
Custom Made Woman: A Life in Traditional Music by Alice Gerrard
This new memoir from one of our national treasures, Alice Gerrard, features over 100 of her personal photographs along with stories from pivotal times and an exceptional life in traditional music. Gerrard’s career saw her crossing paths with Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, Elizabeth Cotten, and many more. Recent rereleases of Gerrard’s trailblazing collaboration albums with Hazel Dickens have been put out by Rounder Records and Smithsonian Folkways, and they can be listened to in an entirely new context thanks to this book. Find it here.
Fiddling is My Joy: The Fiddle In African American Culture by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje
UCLA Ethnomusicologist Jacqueline C. DjeDje investigates the fiddle in Black America, not only helping restore it to its rightful position in history, but also exploring why fiddle in African American culture disappeared from the mainstream story of the instrument in the first place. In addition to exploring geographic differences in African American fiddling traditions, DjeDje’s scholarship looks at fiddle traditions in West African and how their specific characteristics made their way to both Black and white American fiddlers. The book is accompanied by an online eScholarship Companion with primary source documents and audiovisual examples of music discussed in the text. Find it here.
Five by Charlie Parr
The second collection of short fiction from beloved Minnesota musician Charlie Parr is not for lovers of a tight plot and succinct characters. Parr’s five stories are, according to his own description, “more like sad anecdotes told to you at the end of an impossibly long dinner party by the drunken spouse of someone that you barely know while you’re easing your way to the door, having already put your coat on around the time that these stories began.”
But, if you’re a fan of Parr and his 18 (!!!) studio albums, this collection is a must. Find it here.
100 Years of Grand Ole Opry by Brenda Colladay & Craig Shelburne
Music journalist Craig Shelburne worked tirelessly with Opry historian Brenda Colladay – and dozens of artist, announcer, and Opry employee interviewees – to tell the story of the world’s longest-running live radio show over a century. The Grand Ole Opry is certainly the main character. This book is perfect for collectors and readers alike, since it’s full of illustrations and photographs. It’s separated into chapters by time periods, following the twists and turns of the Opry’s youth, adolescence, and adulthood. From Lester Flatt to the 2010 flood, the book is as deep as it is wide. An entertaining resource for country fans who like to get the full story. Find it here.
Other Reads From Our Inbox
Solomon Simon Dog Man Jack by Cindy Baucom, illustrated by Grace van’t Hof (Self-published)
When you’re walking around the halls of IBMA’s business conference, World of Bluegrass, for good reasons and bad, everything ends up sounding the same. The Earls of Leicester sound just like Flatt & Scruggs. (Thank goodness.) Every single version of “Carolina in the Pines” sounds exactly like Special Consensus. (As they should.) There are pickers born in the 2000s who sound like carbon copies of Frank Wakefield or Don Reno or Wilma Lee Cooper.
But, in the well-intentioned and admirable adoration, emulation, and preservation a homogeneity results. It’s why IBMA jams sound different from SPBGMA jams; why Californian trad bluegrass sounds completely distinct from say, Virginian trad bluegrass these days. Where music happens, ideas cross-pollinate, and we all start sounding like each other, little bit by little bit. It’s a blessing and a curse.
That’s why it’s all the more remarkable when, out of that bluegrass milieu, a singular voice or perspective or sound can pierce through the sameness and rise above. Especially when that sound utilizes exactly the same tools and is built on a similar respect for emulation and preservation. At this year’s IBMA World of Bluegrass in Chattanooga, Red Camel Collective were one such band.
The group – made up of Heather Berry Mabe, Tony Mabe, Curt Love, and Johnathan Dillon – took home the IBMA Award for New Artist of the Year, their first such trophy. While it’s true they’ve only been a band for a few years (they came together first as Junior Sisk’s backing band and he has since encouraged them to take on work, make music, and record albums of their own), each of the Collective’s members are lifelong veterans of the bluegrass scene.
Perhaps that’s why they do sound like themselves and no one else. They know well by now the intricate little details that add up to a unique sonic brand. It’s intuition. They’re able to follow each other and each song wherever they may lead, landing in sometimes surprising or unexpected places. But still, the bones of this band and of their 2025 debut self-titled album are “just” bluegrass. Straight up and down. When you listen, though – or have the pleasure of chatting with any member of Red Camel Collective, like we did speaking to Heather Berry Mabe by phone – you’ll quickly realize this group has much more going on than the same ol’ same ol’.
Y’all sound like bluegrass, straight up and down, but you also sound like yourselves. Your sound has so much personality. You can tell that you’re holding up tradition, but also you’re trying to sound like your own band, your own group. How do you think that you’ve done that? How have you accomplished having a sound that feels within tradition, but also is something that’s all your own?
Heather Berry Mabe: First of all, thank you so much. That is a huge compliment, especially in today’s time. When I was growing up playing – I’ll soon be 38 years old – it was before YouTube and all of that. So I learned from my family members, I learned from my grandpa and my great-grandpa, and then also from the music that I was listening to at the time. Which was everything from ‘90s country to traditional bluegrass. To me, there was no box. I just loved music and it was just about getting as much of it as I could.
I think what influenced me and my husband, as far as having our own sound, I don’t think it was something that we set out to do [intentionally]. Like, “Hey, we’ve got to find a way to sound like ourselves.” I just think that happened organically. And I’m very thankful, because he’s such a recognizable picker, Tony Mabe. My husband is such a recognizable banjo player. You can hear the influences, but he totally sounds like himself. And his singing is the same way.
And, Johnathan, our mandolin player, he has so many influences, too, but he sounds like Johnathan. Nobody else sounds quite like him. I love that. I think on his part, it’s not focusing on trying to sound like anybody, but playing what you love and inspires you.
It’s not really uncommon for backing bands of bluegrass stars to have their own brand, their own shows, their own followings. I’m thinking about Quicksilver becoming their own band more than once or the New South becoming their own band once J.D. Crowe retired. Or how The Infamous Stringdusters got their start.
So could you tell us a little bit about how your relationship with Junior started as a band? And he just announced his eventual retirement at the end of 2027, as well. I’m wondering how y’all are thinking about what the next couple of years mean for you as a group. Is this your chance to springboard into having a full calendar of solo shows by 2028? Is that too far out to be thinking about?
Playing with Junior, I’ll answer that part first. Johnathan Dillon has been there with Junior since he was 18 years old and he is now 31 – or he’ll be 31 in January. So he’s been there for years and years. I’m not exactly sure how those two got hooked up, I can’t exactly remember the story. But for me and Tony, Junior called me in 2018 to sing a duet with him on an album that he was working on. The song is called “Backwards And Forwards.” I was so tickled when he called out of the blue, especially because I knew this is the first song that Junior Sisk & Rambler’s Choice had ever done with a woman. There’s never been a woman on anything [of theirs before]. So I felt really honored to get to be the first one.
A few months later, he called and said that he needed some help. He asked if Tony and I both would be interested in coming to work with him. Again, I was really tickled to get to be the first woman to play with Junior. We were just so thankful to have the work. It was at a time when my husband Tony was losing his vision. And the rest is history!
It was actually Junior’s idea [for us to be our own band], because there are songs that I’ve written and songs that we love, like I was saying, that really sing to us and speak to us and inspire us. We would sit around and jam on those and they don’t exactly fit Junior’s style. It’s two different styles there. But Junior suggested to us that we cut an album so that we would have something to sell at these venues, something to play on the radio, and all of that. He said, “I think it would be really good for you guys to do that.” So we did. Man, you can imagine our amazement at how much this has blown up! When it started as a side venture.
What are you feeling as you stare down a couple more seasons with Junior, but then his eventual retirement? What’s in the cards for Red Camel Collective? Are you looking ahead already?
We’re doing our best. It’s super hard to plan very far ahead. Lord, sometimes it’s hard for me to plan next week. [Laughs] I’ll be honest with you, most of the time I feel like I’m riding by the seat of my pants, as they say. But we are looking to the future and trying to secure bookings for ourselves so that Red Camel can continue on when Junior retires. And Junior, when he says “retire,” I’m sure that he’ll still keep making records and things like that. He’s using the word “retire” here, but he’s not gonna go away completely, because music is in his blood! It’s just like all of us, we’ll never [stop making music.]
We have plans to go as far with Red Camel as we possibly can. Man, if Johnathan Dillon and Curt Love will have me and Tony – I’m sure he feels the same way – if they’ll have us for the rest of forever, we’ll stay with them for the rest of forever! [Laughs] We love making music together. And we are working on a new album right now. As much as I loved the first one, this next one, it’s just beautiful to see the growth. It’s got several songs that I wrote. Of course, we’ve released one single, “In the Mexican Sun,” and it’s getting played on SiriusXM and a lot of bluegrass DJs are playing that one for us. We’ve got a music video that goes along with that, too.
I’m glad you bring up the single, I feel like it’s the perfect sunny, summer vacation song for moving through fall into winter. It reminds me of Jimmy Webb and the way he writes songs and it also reminded me of Dale Ann Bradley’s “Somewhere South of Crazy.” Can you tell us about the story of the single, because I know from the premiere we did that the songwriter has quite the bluegrass pedigree too…
Yeah, absolutely. We reached out to our buddy Malcolm Pulley, who is a banjo player extraordinaire and incredible bluegrass songwriter. He wrote “In the Gravel Yard” for Blue Highway. He wrote “How Many Roads,” several folks have recorded – Tina Adair, Michelle Nixon, and the list goes on. But he’s just such a good writer, so we reached out to him to ask if he had any songs. [We were] expecting traditional bluegrass, something along that line. I had no idea that he had ever written anything like this.
I believe this is right, he was playing with a jazz quintet at the time – I forget the name of the quintet. They had a [woman] lead singer who was so good. Anyway, he sent me this song that was written I guess in the early to mid ‘90s. The way they recorded it together, it sounded like a Hispanic song, I don’t know if you call it a rumba beat or whatever. It was most certainly not bluegrass! But I loved it, man. I loved the melody and the way that lady sang. It was so good.
I thought, “Man, this is just begging for banjo.” I could hear, instead of the four-quarter time that they were doing, like to halftime it and put a bluegrass spin on it. I thought, “This will really work.” I worked on a little demo of it and sent it over to Johnathan and he was like, “Wow, you’re right. I think that is really cool.”
Let’s talk about the IBMA Award you just won. It’s funny to me – and I think it’s funny to everybody – how every year in the New Artist of the Year category at IBMA barely any of the artists are new!
[Laughs] It is like that, ain’t it?
You just made the point, you’ve only been a band for two years. Your debut album just came out in February of this year. So you guys are new in so many ways, but you’re all also lifelong musicians, veterans. Tell me about what it meant to y’all to step on stage and receive that trophy, because these are peer-voted awards. And yeah, maybe you aren’t new, maybe you’ve been doing this for decades, but this is also a “moment” y’all are having as a band.
It’s so hard, because there are so many emotions. Tony and I, we’ve been married for 20 years and we’ve both, even before that, we’ve just been doing this our whole lives. This is all we’ve ever wanted to do is make music. I know and he knows that’s why the good Lord put us here. We know that it’s our purpose in life and it’s our story. As I look around and compare, I see these young people making such great strides and hitting so many marks so early in their careers. Tony and I, while we had some success, throughout the years for some reason we could just never get that momentum going.
When you’re a person who battles anxiety and crippling self-doubt, those types of things can really eat at you. [They] make you question, “Am I capable of this?” I will tell you the truth. I just said earlier, I’m 38 years old. I have never in my life grown in confidence the way that I have in the last two years. Putting together this album, writing these songs, working through the production process, putting ourselves out there as something brand new.
[Getting the award] felt like a confirmation. It felt like, “Yes. This is where you’re supposed to be.” At the end of the day, an award is a glass thing. It’s just a thing. Awards are not what matters, because there are so many incredible artists and musicians who will never be recognized in that way. Does that take away from their value? Absolutely not! On the other hand, it just felt surreal and it felt like a big kiss on the forehead from the good Lord above to me.
As a band, we were just all blown away. We were not expecting it. I know everybody says that, but this is absolutely the truth. [Laughs] In a category with Jason Carter, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, AJ Lee [& Blue Summit], and Wyatt Ellis and all. Man, we absolutely were completely surprised and blown away – and just extremely grateful, because there are folks who work so hard for years and never get that sort of acknowledgement.
I wanna talk about the new album as well, which came out in February. It’s your self-titled debut. Like what we’ve already talked about, it combines traditionalism as well as contemporary sounds. It’s forward-looking.
But what I noticed first is how live it sounds, warm and inviting – like you’re in the room with y’all. It’s really crisp and it’s really clean, but it also sounds like real music. It doesn’t sound like it came out of a can of bluegrass cheese whiz.
[Laughs] I love it.
Can you tell me a little bit about how you guys accomplished that sound?
For Red Camel Collective, this was our first experience recording together. It was so different from recording with Junior, because the songs and the arrangements are different. I don’t know that we went in with any expectations except to do the very best job that we could. I think those were basically our only expectations.
As far as the sound, we record live. We track live and then we go back and fix and edit. I wish I could answer your question better! … Music is all about feel. Aaron Ramsey said one time, “It’s all about feel, it’s not a science project.” I think that you can strive so hard for perfection that you suck all the soul and all of the life right out of it. There has to be a balance between what we perceive as perfection and the feel and the groove of the music. Because all of the best albums, the ones that I love the most, were all created before autotune! And there are notes in there that would probably end up being tuned today. But they sure didn’t bother me. ‘Cause it’s all about the feel and the vibe.
I’m thankful to work with musicians who recognize that. While they want it to be right, more than anything they want it to have a good groove. We don’t want anything to interrupt that groove, ’cause that’s what makes people wanna get up and dance.
Speaking of sonics, I love how your voice sounds on the record, too. Could you talk a little bit about your vocal process and maybe your inspirations – or who you looked up to as you were developing your own voice as an instrument? I also can’t help but notice you have two vocal powerhouses guesting on the album, Suzanne Cox and Sharon White.
They’re heroes of mine!
Who are the inspirations and heroes that you feel have been infused into your own voice? Or maybe you’ve just done it all yourself?
Lord, no! Uh-uh, absolutely not. [Laughs] The first one that I have to list is Dolly Parton, because she was my earliest influence when I was just a little girl. The first song that I ever sang anywhere was in my grandpa’s church. I sang “Coat of Many Colors” and she was just my hero in every sense of the word, vocally, aesthetically, that she was a songwriter, an actress. I just adored her. I saw her in all these cute little movies like that Christmas movie she made and I just adored her.
Alison Krauss would’ve probably been the next one who came into my purview. Then that album that Alison did with the Cox Family. I was just a kid when that came out and I had never heard anything more beautiful in my life than their voices. They were so angelic. I would put that album on to go to sleep when I was just a little kid. I loved it so much. Suzanne Cox is probably my favorite female vocalist ever. Ever. I love Alison to no end, but there is just something that draws me to [Suzanne]. I call Suzanne Cox the queen of phrasing. Because no matter what it is that she’s singing, she will phrase it exactly the way it should be phrased. She’s a genius and she doesn’t even realize it, because it is so natural to her and it’s not forced. It’s just effortless. It’s just a gift. She just has one of those one-in-a-million voices and I’ll always sing her praises.
Then you mentioned Sharon White. It was so cool to have her come and Suzanne Cox come in and sing on that song, “Last Time I Saw Him.” But the Whites, man, oh my gosh. They were like the it group for harmony backup in the ‘80s and ‘90s country. That’s who everybody sought out, because their voices – it doesn’t matter who they’re singing with – they make whoever they’re singing with sound like a million bucks. And their singing lead, too. Their tone and their delivery is so pure.
That’s what draws me to vocalists. It’s purity. Sometimes with singing you can just hear it’s just put on. That just doesn’t sing to me. It’s a hard thing to describe really, isn’t it? It’s just something in the purity of people’s voices that really draws me in.
A few years back, we put out an album called Modern Old-Time Sounds for the Bluegrass and Folksong Jamboree. The title was a nod to that 1960s trend of naming records in a way that tried to cover every possible base. It was tongue-in-cheek, but it still sums up what we do – and what you’ll hear on our latest Lonesome Ace Stringband album, Big Wing. We don’t really play old-time music so much as make a modern old-time sound, and that’s exactly what this playlist is all about
Up here in Canada, we have a wealth of traditional music – distinct regional fiddle styles from coast to coast, songs and ballads that reflect the multicultural makeup of our country, and Indigenous music that predates all of it. Even with this abundance of homegrown music to draw from, many of us have found ourselves charmed by the traditional “old-time” sounds of the American South.
Being far away – geographically and culturally – from the source of the music you love presents some challenges, but it also affords a certain freedom. The first step is always to understand where the music comes from and its history; eventually, though, we all need to find our own voice within it. That’s sometimes easier to do when you’re removed from entrenched scenes and long-established communities.
One way I see this playing out in the old-time music coming from Canada is that writing original tunes and songs seems to come naturally and early in the journey. Whether it’s composing new tunes in the tradition or letting the sounds and themes of traditional music color our lyric writing, we’ve developed a wealth of modern old-time sounds up here – and I’m excited to share a few examples in this playlist. – Chris Coole, Lonesome Ace Stringband
“Maggie At The Door” – Arnie Naiman
Arnie Naiman has been playing old-time music longer than anyone else on this list. When I first met him in the early ’90s, he’d already been playing for around 20 years. Back then, he was mostly on fiddle, but sometimes he’d pull out the banjo at the end of the night and share some of the original tunes he always seemed to be writing. This led to us making a couple of albums together – and to me becoming a lifelong fan. “Maggie at the Door” is a great example of how he can write a banjo tune that also works on the fiddle – not as easy as it sounds. It was written for his dog and it’s probably the most badass-sounding tune ever written for a golden retriever.
“Lonesome Song” – Rube & Rake
Rube & Rake are Josh Sandu and Andrew Laite. Both live in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and are writing beautiful songs while touring hard. We ran into them in the UK last year and were instantly taken by their deft playing and the “low lonesome” sound of their harmony singing. “Lonesome Song” is a moody example of all that.
“Platform Four” – The Slocan Ramblers
The Slocan Ramblers are Canada’s bluegrass band – at least as far as I’m concerned. Although Frank Evans no longer plays full-time with the group, I chose this tune to remind everyone that while he’s mostly known for his three-finger bluegrass playing these days, he’s also on another level as a clawhammer player. There are a few licks on “Platform Four” that he’ll probably take to the grave.
“Narrow Line” – Mama’s Broke
Mama’s Broke are another duo from Eastern Canada (Nova Scotia). We crossed paths with Lisa Maria and Amy Lou Keeler at the Baltimore Old-Time Gathering a few years ago. They put on a riveting show and blew us away with their singing and playing. The arrangements on their records are so imaginative – they capture the spaciousness of their live sound while layering on subtle textures. “Narrow Line” is an excellent example of this and one hell of a song.
“White Horse Plains” – The Red River Ramblers
The Red River Ramblers feature the music of Douglas Richard Sinclair, a Red River Métis musician whose last album, Reverie, showcased original tunes inspired by the Métis fiddle tradition. “White Horse Plains” highlights Douglas’ tuneful guitar playing and answers the question: What would Norman Blake have sounded like if he’d been Métis?
“Saint Elizabeth” – Kaia Kater
Kaia Kater’s 2016 album Nine Pin made a lot of folks take notice of this exceptionally talented songwriter. Kaia is a perfect example of someone who’s really tried to get to the roots of the music; she studied Appalachian traditions at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia. She’s taken what she learned there and carried it to a creative place that defies genre or categorization. “Saint Elizabeth” is a perfect example.
“New Caledonia” – Pharis & Jason Romero
Pharis & Jason Romero probably need no introduction to anyone here. They’re old friends of ours and we’re big fans of their music. It almost seems remiss to share a song that doesn’t feature their beautiful singing and lyrics, but we’re always enchanted by Jason’s tune writing, backed by Pharis’ always-right-on-the-money guitar playing. “New Caledonia” is one of those tunes that instantly takes you somewhere. It manages to say a lot without a single word.
“The Wheels Won’t Go” – Hannah Shira Naiman
Hannah Shira Naiman comes to the music honestly. She grew up learning fiddle and banjo from her dad, Arnie Naiman, while listening to her mom, Kathy Reid-Naiman, sing the songs of Jean Ritchie, the Georgia Sea Island Singers, and the Delmore Brothers. Hannah has taken it all in and made something uniquely her own. “The Wheels Won’t Go” is the title track of her 2022 album.
“Wellington” – Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Allison de Groot is one of our most treasured banjo exports – clean, hard-driving, and full of tone. Best known these days for her work with Tatiana Hargreaves, she’s also a fine composer. “Wellington” is one of her own tunes, a reminder that she’s as creative as she is technical.
“Mama’s Boy” – Lotus Wight
Lotus Wight (AKA Sam Allison) is best known for his work with Sheesham and Lotus & Son. He’s a beautiful banjo player, a lovely jaw-harpist, a rock-solid bassist, and even plays the contrabass harmoniphoneum. I didn’t know until his last album that he’s also a moving songwriter, somewhere between John Hartford and Leon Redbone. “Mama’s Boy” tells the story of the three men who were fathers to Sam over the course of his life. I can’t remember the last time I heard such an honest and tender song.
“From Silence” – Daniel Koulack
Daniel Koulack hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he’s been making music and teaching banjo for many years. (Allison de Groot is one of his students.) Daniel has always been game to take the clawhammer banjo to new and unexpected places – which might explain “From Silence,” possibly the only clawhammer banjo and saxophone duet in the known universe.
“At the Airport” – Old Man Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke is one of the crown jewels of Canadian singer-songwriters and he also happens to be one hell of a clawhammer banjo player. He’s written most of his songs on the banjo (at least the early ones), which gives them those unmistakable twists and turns – in both phrase and melody. And he has that rare gift for putting a bit of hope into everything he writes, whether the song is sad, funny, or introspective. “At the Airport” is a perfect example.
“May Day” – The Andrew Collins Trio with The Lonesome Ace Stringband
The Andrew Collins Trio (Andrew Collins, James McEleney, Adam Shire) collaborated with us on “May Day,” a tune Andrew and I wrote together many years ago. These three are next-level players who are always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on their instruments. Known for mixing new acoustic bluegrass with classical and jazz influences, we had fun diving into some weird old-time with them on this track from our new album.
Hear ye, hear ye! A fresh collection of new music, premieres, videos, singles, and more is here. You Gotta Hear This…
To start off, Good Country purveyors, Texan duo Briscoe, offer a brand new music video for “Free.” It’s a track from their new album inspired by lessons learned by Truett Heintzelman from his grandfather, as well as an ode to the Texas roots he shares with his grandad – and with his bandmate, Philip Lupton, too. Also bringing a newly minted video, singer-songwriter Rachael Sage and her band the Sequins celebrate love, friendships, and togetherness on “Belong To You.” The adorable music video was created by hosting an open casting call inviting participants to arrive and join in the taping with whomever they “love the most.” Sidle up to your loved ones and click play.
Bluegrass guitar great Bryan Sutton sits down with mandolinist Sierra Hull for a new rendition of an instrumental classic, “Grandfather’s Clock,” this week, too. But, this time, Hull is playing a six-string instead. Did you know she’s an equally accomplished guitar picker? Meanwhile, Sutton quite fittingly performs the tune on a guitar once owned by his own grandpa. Elsewhere, you’ll find South Carolina-based gospel bluegrass band Eighteen Mile sharing a new single below. “What Mercy Means” is an excellent example of how the long relationship between gospel and sacred music and bluegrass and old-time continues today.
Keep scrolling, though, because we have two more videos for you to enjoy. If you have young roots music fans around – or if you’re young at heart – the Okee Dokee Brothers have an adorable new animated music video for their track, “Little Old You.” Sure, the Brothers make children’s music, but this is listenable at all ages, that’s for sure. The message of the track is sweet and timely, as they put it: “…We’re [all] infinitely big in all our little ways.”
And, finally, the cosmic and (literally) magical Valerie June has a new single out this week and an accompanying visualizer you won’t want to miss. “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” is raucous, impassioned, and brash – just how we like June’s music – and demonstrates yet again how complex and inviting this indie-string-folk mastermind can be. Especially when she brings the blues and the banjo together in exciting ways like this.
There’s plenty to watch and hear, so let’s get to it! ‘Cause seriously, You Gotta Hear This.
Briscoe, “Free”
Artist:Briscoe Hometown: Austin, Texas Song: “Free” Album:Heat of July Release Date: September 19th, 2025 (album); November 14, 2025 (video) Label: ATO Records
In Their Words: “I’ve learned a great deal of lessons from my grandfather and the life that he lived so well. He was chock full of wisdom and always keen to share that wisdom with me and my siblings. Perhaps the most important thing he taught me was the art of moderation and the joy in being content with what you have. ‘Free’ is an ode to him and the Texas roots we both share, as well as a reminder for people of all walks to savor a life lived right down the middle.” – Truett Heintzelman
Artist:Valerie June Hometown: Humboldt, Tennessee (now Memphis, Tennessee and New York, New York) Song: “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” Release Date: November 12, 2025 (single) Label: Concord
In Their Words: “Working with producer and bassist Matt Marinelli and drummer Andy Macleod brings a wild, rambunctious twist to this old blues standard, “Rollin’ and Tumblin’.” I love taking the banjo out of its traditional comfort zone and driving it into a raw, heavy, metallic space – like someone tossing and turning through sleepless nights until they finally let go.
“Decades of digging into how the blues bleeds into every style have taught me one thing – those roots never die. Every time I twist that sound through my own work, I find new ways to grow and let those old ghosts roar again.” – Valerie June
Track Credits: Valerie June – Vocals, banjo Matt Marinelli – Basses, producer, engineer Andy Macleod – Drums
Video Credits: Filmed at Magnolia Pearl in Fredericksburg, Texas by Brights and in Big Sur, California by Dr. Ietef Vita.
Eighteen Mile, “What Mercy Means”
Artist:Eighteen Mile Hometown: Upstate South Carolina Song: “What Mercy Means” Release Date: November 14, 2025
In Their Words: “I’ve always been intrigued by the mental picture of Moses climbing up Mount Sinai to meet God in Exodus 34.The Bible paints a picture that the mountain was dark and terrifying and it even describes earthquakes and thunder, all because the holy presence of God was there. I wrote this song to capture the divine tension of a powerful holy God meeting an unholy man. The song then relates the Bible story to my personal story, that even though I deserve the punishment that comes from being a sinner before a holy God, he surprises me with overflowing mercy every morning instead.” – Carson Aaron
Track Credits: Hallie Ritter – Upright bass Carson Aaron – Acoustic guitar, lead vocal, songwriter Emily Guy – Harmony vocal Jack Ritter – Banjo, harmony vocal Savannah Aaron – Fiddle Andy Leftwich – Mandolin, mandola, acoustic guitar Steve Pettit – Mandolin
The Okee Dokee Brothers, “Little Old You”
Artist:The Okee Dokee Brothers Hometown: Denver, Colorado Song: “Little Old You” Album:Little Old You Release Date: November 11, 2025 (video); November 7, 2025 (album) Label: Okee Dokee Music
In Their Word: “This tune is a special one for us. It reminds us that we’re infinitely big in all our little ways. Even our tiniest feelings ripple like oceans, our dreams comfort the night, and our smiles can light the way for others.” – Justin Lansing
“It’s a gentle anthem to our place in the cosmos – showing that our smallest actions have big effects. We are silly and wise, young and old, and infinitely big in all our little ways.” – Joe Mailander
Track Credits: Justin Lansing – Vocals, guitar Joe Mailander – Vocals, guitar Dean Jones – Organ
Video Credits: Directed by Jack Carr. Art Directed by Zachariah Ohora. Animated by Tom Jolliffe & David Jenkins.
Rachael Sage & The Sequins, “Belong to You”
Artist:Rachael Sage & The Sequins Hometown: Hudson Valley, New York Song: “Belong To You” Album:Canopy Release Date: November 14, 2025 Label: MPress Records
In Their Words: “‘Belong To You’ is the first song I’ve intentionally composed as a gospel ballad. It meant the world to me that many of The Sequins ended up singing on the arrangement, rather than me performing all the harmonies myself (as has often been the case). Kevin J. Killen’s soulful Hammond organ and guitar playing and Will Wilde’s incredible blues harmonica add so much; Dave Eggar’s cello performance keeps everything grounded so beautifully.We all genuinely feel so much love and devotion for one another, so the vibe that was captured via our friendships really mirrors the lyrics and adds so many beautiful layers of emotion.
“Because it’s one of the more universal songs on the record, it’s been really magical to perform it live, and have audience members at the gigs share their individual interpretations of it with us. Trina Hamlin, who also sings on the track, has been singing it with me live lately and it makes it very easy to sing about unconditional love and friendship when one of your best friends is harmonizing with you!” – Rachael Sage
Track Credits: Rachael Sage – Lead vocals, background vocals, piano Doug Yowell – Drums Dave Eggar – Cello Kerry Brooks – Upright bass Will Wilde – Harmonica Kevin J. Killen – Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Hammond B3 organ, background vocals Trina Hamlin – Background vocals Mikhail Pivovarov – Background vocals
Video Credits: Jenny He – Director, producer Shadow Play Pictures, LLC. – Production company MPress Records – Executive producer
Bryan Sutton, “Grandfather’s Clock” (with Sierra Hull)
Artist:Bryan Sutton with Sierra Hull Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Grandfather’s Clock” Album:From Roots to Branches Release Date: November 14, 2025 (single) Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “I’m so happy to have Sierra Hull on this record. We chose the song, ‘Grandfather’s Clock,’ just because it’s a classic, beautiful melody. A lot of people know what a great mandolin player Sierra is, but I’ve always known what a great guitar player she is. This song meant a lot to us and, in fact, I’m playing my grandfather’s old Martin 0-17 guitar on this track.” – Bryan Sutton
“Bryan is one of my favorite musicians in the world to listen to and make music with. He knows how to elevate any musical situation he enters. Whether he is supporting a simple melody with pure tone and restraint or providing a wave of rhythmic brilliance and musical playfulness to ride along with, he always knows how to make things feel and sound easy. He’s one of my biggest heroes, so I’m both honored and thrilled to get to be a part of this new duets project with him!” – Sierra Hull
In 1925, world leaders were signing the final treaties coming out of WWI; Congress authorized work on Mt. Rushmore as a national memorial; the Scopes Trial was held in Tennessee; and the first patent on radio transmission was only 28 years old.
And, in 1925, WSM first broadcast its barn dance – soon to become the Grand Ole Opry.
One hundred years later, the Grand Ole Opry is the world’s longest-running radio program. After a century that saw changes unparalleled in world history, audiences are still drawn to the Opry. Every week thousands make the pilgrimage to the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville while others tune in around the world. The show continues to inspire new generations of performers to aspire to step “into the circle” on the Opry House stage.
President Jimmy Carter on the Grand Ole Opry stage with Kelly Foxton, Hank Snow, Mel Tillis, June Carter Cash, Skeeter Davis, Bill Monroe, Jeannie C. Riley, and others on October 9, 1980. Photo courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
In The Beginning Was Insurance
In the 1920s, Edwin Craig was watching radio stations emerge across the nation – and seeing the money-making potential for sponsors and owners. He convinced Cornelius Craig, his father and founder of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, that a radio station could sell a lot of insurance.
Soon, the fifth floor of the company’s downtown Nashville building held a radio studio. The call letters WSM stood for “We Shield Millions,” the company’s motto. A program that would become the lifeblood of country music started as a way to promote life insurance.
The hiring of George D. Hay away from Chicago’s WLS was the beginning of the WSM Barn Dance. The 30-year-old who called himself The Solemn Old Judge and started every show with a steamboat whistle would set the tone for much of the Opry’s 100 years – including its name.
Which all started with a clash of cultures.
Some upper-crust Nashville residents complained the only radio they could hear on weekends was string band programming from the dominant WSM station. In response, WSM began carrying the syndicated “Music Appreciation Hour.”
The Barn Dance slot followed the classical program, and Hay, not one to pass up a good line, said, “For the past hour, we have been listening to music largely from Grand Opera, but from now on, we will present ‘the Grand Ole Opry.”
George D. Hay is pictured at microphone with a whistle and Uncle Jimmy Thompson is seated in this 1925 photograph from when the Grand Ole Opry was still the WSM Barn Dance. Photo courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
For years, the Shield Men – door-to-door National Life and Accident insurance salesmen carrying the company’s shield logo – introduced themselves as representing the Grand Ole Opry. They would even listen outside windows to see who was tuned in to the Opry – and who would be a likely customer.
The earliest WSM shows relied on local talent, running heavily toward fiddlers and string bands. But Hay would invite whoever he thought the audience would like.
DeFord Bailey, a Black musician grounded in both the blues and old-time string band music, became a regular, wowing audiences with his harmonica. Kitty Cora Cline, the first female soloist, performed on hammered dulcimer, and Fred Shriver played the accordion. Uncle Dave Macon on his banjo with Sid Harkreader on fiddle and guitar set the stage for the comedy that would remain central to the Opry’s success, with songs like, “Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy.”
A Beacon
As the recording industry grew, the variety of musicians available to the Opry grew, as well. The show began featuring brother duets, cowboy music, Western swing and solo crooners. Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys were featured stars for decades.
Opry singers expressed the joys of new romance, the happiness of Sunday dinner on the lawn, the sorrow of lost love, and the loneliness of leaving home. Audiences across America listened – and related. The Opry became a focus of family life.
Dolly Parton, like many rural listeners, grew up without electricity. Her family faithfully listened to the Opry on a battery-powered radio. Waylon Jennings’ dad would hook their radio to the car battery. Jeannie Seely’s family would pile in the car and drive up a hill until they could get the signal. Opry history is filled with stories of musicians who listened as children – and dreamed of growing up to perform, like their idols, on the iconic stage.
Opry member Dierks Bentley, who gracefully moves between country and bluegrass, told BGS, “Being invited to join at all is the biggest honor – especially for me, personally. I grew up listening to all the Opry greats on the radio with my dad, so becoming a member is like having the ultimate backstage pass to see the best musicians in the world. And to be invited by Marty Stuart … hands down, it was one of the coolest nights of my life.”
Dan Rogers, the Opry’s senior vice president and executive producer, said the Opry has always been a place to celebrate the good times and be uplifted during the tough times. “Think about,” he said, “the folks who tuned in on Saturday nights during World War II. That was their only source of entertainment throughout the week.” Minnie Pearl, with her signature “How-dee,” and Roy Acuff gave them respite from war news.
On the first show after the 9-11 attacks in 2001, Rogers said, “Our background singers sang an a cappella version of ‘God Bless America.’ And one by one, the people in the audience stood and sang along. And I remember thinking, I bet everybody tuned in across the country is singing along to ‘God Bless America.’”
The Opry’s response to the COVID-19 crisis created desperately needed connection during a frightening time of isolation.
Just a week after deciding that live audience shows weren’t safe, Opry staff arranged a pared-down streaming production with no audience and a skeleton crew. Longtime cast members Bill Anderson, Jeannie Seely and Connie Smith held down the first night alongside Mandy Barnett, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, and Sam Williams.
For the second weekend of restrictions, veterans Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, and Brad Paisley sat on stools spread out across the stage and pulled off what Rogers called “a beautiful, beautiful show.”
Watching from his office, Rogers started reading comments from grateful listeners. For months, people marked their calendars to tune in. They wrote, “I’m in Europe. I set my alarm. It’s 2 a.m. here, but I wanted to experience this with a community.”
Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, and Brad Paisley perform for an empty Grand Ole Opry House during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. Photo by Chris Hollo, courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
Kathy Mattea, the newest Opry inductee, feels those connections whenever she performs there.
People may have sung along to her hit “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses” in their car or in the shower, but at the Opry, she says to BGS, “Here’s your chance to sit with an audience and sing this song that everybody knows. Nobody knows who the person next to them voted for and it doesn’t matter at that moment.”
“The Ellis Island of Country Music”
In the early days of radio, what was called hillbilly music was as limitless as the range of a 50,000 watt radio station. And the Opry remains dedicated to maintaining those wide open spaces.
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, in their forward to the book 100 Years of the Grand Ole Opry, refer to the show as the “Ellis Island of Country Music – a place where all are welcome.”
Contemporary country often has been accused of being homogenous and limited. But despite the factors that have controlled commercial country, the Opry maintains its open-arms attitude. Rogers said, “The two core tenets of an Opry show are celebrating the past, present, and future of country music, and also showcasing multiple genres under the country music umbrella.”
In any show, he said, “You might have something that’s on the top 20 of the country charts today. And you’ll have country classics. You might have a contemporary Christian song, Americana string music, or even something from outside the genre by somebody who just happens to be a country music fan or was influenced by country music.”
In 1974, the R&B-oriented Pointer Sisters included an original country song, “Fairytale,” on their second album. The cross-over hit earned them an invitation to the Opry stage, where they became the first Black group to perform.
Ringo Starr appeared for the first time in 2025 and James Taylor’s debut on November 11 will be remembered as a big part of the 100th anniversary celebration.
And, Rogers said, “Because we can do it, it’s fun to take a chance on a new artist.”
Before his first Opry appearance in July 2022, Zach Top had no hits to his name. But Rogers remembered the programming team saying, “You don’t see an artist like that every day. It sure feels to us like our audience would absolutely eat that guy up!” Today, Top’s music is everywhere.
Bluegrass has been a staple since before it had a name and it has never lost its place on the stage. Bentley and Del McCoury played “Roll on Buddy, Roll On” when the Grand Ole Opry House first reopened after the 2010 flood closed its doors for months.
Charlie Mattos is a 10-year veteran Opry announcer and longtime co-host and producer of WSM’s morning show. He said that on any given night, a portion of the Opry House audience “may truly have never seen a bluegrass band play.”
“And when Del McCoury and the boys finish with an incredible instrumental,” Mattos continued, “or Sister Sadie blisters the stage … the enthusiasm that comes out of that crowd, the immediate standing ovation for the insane musicianship that they have just witnessed …” Mattos said, “it blows their minds.”
Mattea said, “Bluegrass is front porch jazz – the virtuoso playing and the vocals and the harmonies and the trading off of licks. That’s how I fell in love with bluegrass.” And the Opry exposes millions to that brilliance.
A Good-Natured Riot
The Opry show is a complex set of acts and sets requiring precision planning, flexibility, and good nature on the part of the announcers – and commitment on the part of the performers. Rehearsals are brief or non-existent. Timing is everything.
Borrowing a phrase from George D. Hay, the Opry is still sometimes called a “good-natured riot.”
Mattos said, “When you come to see the show live, you see it all. The set changes. The artists leaving as the announcer sends them off. You can see the stage crew out there and usually in 90 seconds they can completely swap things around.”
But while reading a commercial during set changes, Mattos may notice the stage manager giving the “stretch” signal. He might have to keep talking for as long as four minutes – a millennium in radio time.
Sometimes the commercials themselves become the entertainment.
The first time Glad Wags sponsored an Opry segment, Chuck Morgan was announcing. While he stood off-stage reading the dog food commercial, house bassist Bill Linneman came up behind him and started barking. “By my last year there, there were like 20 people behind me going at it,” Morgan said. (The consensus is that Connie Smith does a great chihuahua imitation.)
A Family
Jeannie Seely – who racked up nearly 5,400 performances on the Grand Ole Opry before her passing in August 2025 – remembered it was more than the music that fueled her desire to join the Opry: “That’s hearing these people, like Mr. Acuff and Minnie [Pearl] and Jimmy Dickens and all of them, coming together every week,” she says in 100 Years of the Grand Ole Opry. “They always sounded like they were so glad to be together. They picked on each other and joked, and I thought, that’s just like a family.”
And they were family. When the plane Jim Reeves was aboard crashed in a wooded Nashville suburb, Marty Robbins and Ernest Tubb joined the search party, as did the elegant Nashville socialite Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon – known as Minnie Pearl.
Opry star Jean Shepard was expecting her second child with husband Harold “Hawkshaw” Hawkins when Hawkins died in the plane crash that also killed Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. After months feeling adrift, as Shepard was quoted in the 100 Years book, “I looked down my driveway one day and here come two big black limousines full of the so-called ‘higher-ups’ from the Grand Ole Opry. They said, ‘We want you to come back to the Grand Ole Opry.’ And it really meant a lot to me.”
The family feeling is no accident. In earlier years, Opry members had to perform a specified number of Saturday nights a year. While there’s no set number today, Rogers said they look for a sense of commitment in new members. “It truly is about that relationship,” he said.
Rogers quoted Mattea, upon her invitation to become a member, saying, “These people treat you like family, no matter what.”
One of Mattea’s favorite Opry memories involves a bass player who toured with her. “He was sitting on a stool, playing and singing some old Western swing chestnut, and suddenly Riders in the Sky leaned into the dressing room in full regalia and started singing harmony.
“He was gobsmacked. He felt it was the highlight of his life,” she said.
Bluegrass performer Kody Norris’ music is influenced heavily by first- and second-generation bluegrass. But the band’s preference for flashy suits dates back to a family-friendly welcome Norris received 25 years ago.
His parents took nine-year-old Kody backstage at the Opry, “and I met Bill Anderson. And he had on a red rhinestone suit. That’s the first one I ever saw up close, where I could touch it.”
Later that day, upon meeting his equally rhinestone-clad hero, Porter Wagoner, young Kody got so excited he spit out his chewing gum. Wagoner graciously grabbed two Opry-logoed napkins, one of which the little boy used for his gum. The other one the grown Norris still keeps in perfect condition.
The Circle is Unbroken
In 1974, the Opry left its revered home of decades, the Ryman Auditorium, to move to the deliciously air-conditioned 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry House.
To honor its longtime home, the Opry crew cut a circle out of the Ryman stage and inset it in the new Opry House stage. The circle symbolizes the Opry’s continuity, respect for the past, and optimism for the future.
Mattea experienced that sense of a completed circle on the day she became an Opry member.
“Suzy [Bogguss] was there. We’ve toured together and sung on each other’s records. She’s my closest artist friend, and she was the only one at the ceremony who was not a member. And I thought how generous it was of her to be there.
“So, while I was overflowing with celebration, to get to invite my friend to the party publicly in the name of the Opry was the sweetest gift. It was a moment I’ll never forget, and I’m going to be there for her induction, too.” Bogguss will officially be inducted as an Opry member in early 2026.
Braid Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens return the Circle to the Opry stage after the 2010 flood. Photo courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
Join The Celebration
There’s nothing low-key about the Grand Ole Opry – so in the classic Opry spirit, fans have had plenty of opportunity to celebrate the centennial all year long.
Earlier this year, NBC broadcast a three-hour anniversary special, with dozens of stars ranging from Reba McEntire to Jelly Roll to The War and Treaty. The Opry also took the show to London’s Royal Albert Hall for the very first time. You can stream clips of these and other Opry events on YouTube and social media.
With the Virgin Music Group, the Opry has produced the album Opry 100, Country’s Greatest Songs (released November 7). Among the unforgettable recordings are Vince Gill singing his heart-rending “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” Dolly Parton singing “I Will Always Love You,” and Ashley McBryde covering the classic “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” You can order the album from the Opry site.
Craig Shelburne, Brenda Colladay, and Opry members and employees collaborated on 100 Years of the Grand Ole Opry, a book filled with anecdotes and photos that vividly illustrate the Opry’s remarkable history. And to teach your children well, there’s also a new childrens’ picture book written by Emily Frans and illustrated by Susanna Chapman. Find them in your local bookstore.
And, on November 28, 2025, the official 100th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry we all hold dear, the Opry is celebrating with two huge birthday party shows featuring country stars and Opry members like Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Trace Adkins, Dailey & Vincent, Bill Anderson, Jamey Johnson, Marty Stuart, and many, many more. Tickets are available here.
Of course, the celebrations will continue in 2026.
“The Opry is the core and soul of country music,” Bentley said. “It’s a place where the past, present and future of our genre all come together. There isn’t anywhere else like it.”
All photos courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties, credits and attributions as marked. Lead image: Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys and the Opry Square Dancers take the Opry stage at the Ryman Auditorium in the 1960s.
Have you ever dreamed of hanging out, jamming, and learning from your all-time favorite bluegrass artists? Then you don’t want to miss your opportunity to be part of the best pickin’ party ever, The McCoury & Douglas Family Pickin’ Party happening January 2-5, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona.
We’ve assembled an exclusive playlist (listen below) featuring all of the amazing artists who will be on site for four days of masterclasses, performances, and workshops, including Del, Ronnie, and Rob McCoury, Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, David “Dawg” Grisman, Sara Watkins, Molly Tuttle, Marty Stuart, Sierra Hull, and more.
Limited spots for this one-of-a-kind experience remain. And if you’re already registered, start getting excited by jumping into our BGS playlist. Registration and more information can be found at DelMcCouryPickinParty.com.
This content brought to you in partnership with the McCoury & Douglas Family Pickin’ Party and Dreamcatcher Events.
Artist: Bryan McDowell Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland Latest Album:Bryan McDowell (out November 7, 2025) Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): Red
What other art forms – literature, film, dance, painting, etc. – inform your music?
Literature, and particularly the novel form, is where I’ve gotten more and more inspiration. I appreciate lessons in a sort of general creative craft that I’ve found by understanding, for example, painters’ processes, but I think since I’ve worked increasingly with lyrics, I’ve turned more to some classic novels for inspo. Some of the newer unreleased songs are from that source, like this laid-back song I have that draws on Crime and Punishment, the first psychological thriller I think it is. The entirety of the book is the suspense and mental anguish of knowing a person who’s committed a terrible crime and is momentarily suspended from actual accountability for it. They’re just tortured to illness by their thoughts. As it turns out, that suspension of accountability is gripping. At least, I think so. What we do in those moments or what we think we would do or think is worth a bit more exploration.
Most songs aren’t quite so directly inspired by another particular work as this, but I know I’ve often taken songs I had that seem unfocused and I’ll back up and try to imagine a central character and maybe even plot out a bit of a storyline, thinking about the main conflict. When I do that, I think I’m always trying to conjure up some feeling of a subtle and human and well-developed character in a book. A novel does this thing of pulling you in close to a character by sustained familiarity and rich development. And a good song might do something similar, it’s just that maybe it’s presented as more of a puzzle box using all kinds of literary devices, meaning-laden language, and rhythm, etc. But if it’s like a puzzle box, then you as the writer still have to be intimate with the characters so that you can unfold them with precision. You have to have everything in its right place.
What’s your favorite memory of being on stage ?
The first year I started touring back in 2012, I was playing with the Claire Lynch Band at MerleFest. I think we had a mainstage afternoon set on Saturday, maybe. Russ Jordan was there and all the usual Wilkesboro crew and there was a decent crowd out in the old Lowe’s lawn chairs. So we finished our set and I walked off and was striking the stage for the next act, which was the Tony Rice Unit. Well at some point I start hearing rumblings that Tony didn’t have a fiddler with him. He had planned on getting king Stu [Stuart Duncan] over for the set, but MerleFest had booked the Nashville Bluegrass Band on like the Creekside Stage opposite Tony’s mainstage set. As it turned out, all the names of great fiddlers being thrown around were over there watching Stu, of course.
Anyway, I was there at the mainstage. Right place, right time. He didn’t know me from Adam, but Tony’s bass player was bending his ear giving me a good recommendation, because he was also the bass player for the Claire Lynch Band. Tony got up there and did the whole line check with the band and walked backstage as if they would play the set as a four-piece, but Mark Schatz must’ve been selling me hard, because five minutes before set time he pulls me back to their little green room and Tony walks up and sticks out his hand and says in his kind of broken-up voice, “How would you like to be a member of the Unit?” He seemed really frail even then and I remember consciously kind of being careful shaking his hand. I got up and did a quick mic check and the tech put a wash of the band in the monitors. Russ announced the Unit and I walked up and played the set with my stomach in my throat and looking fresh off the turnip truck.
I really hope Tony enjoyed it, or at least that he didn’t mind me much over there. He seemed to be having a good time, anyway. It’s the only time I ever got to play with or even speak with him, but his albums were probably the single biggest influence on my musicianship. I was going to Rice Unit concerts before I was born and had played his tapes until the pitch was all messed up and then switched to CDs and played them until they were all scratched to hell – and on and on. Sometime later I found out that Sierra Hull had decided to hire me based on that set with Tony (she was listening out in the VIP section) and then as a result I think I ended up getting a lot of good work with people down the road. I’ve had a lot of good memories on stage now and been able to sit in with many of my heroes, but that one still stands out.
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do they impact your work?
I got really into section hiking during and before COVID, when I was back in Carolina and I ended up doing some of the Appalachian Trail up in Pennsylvania. At one point I could’ve walked out my front door and a mile up the road was a hundred miles of trails I could link up with that eventually led up to Mount Mitchell, the tallest peak east of the Mississippi. Such a great use of a week or weekend. Woods, mountains, and the quiet are my home. I hear the sweet decomposing forest floor smell is particularly good for mental health.
It doesn’t take long walking like that before everything I should be doing just falls into place. Musically, in life, with people. It all works itself out. I have an important line of a song come to me or a new crooked fiddle tune just falls out. There’s an old-timey tune I haven’t named yet that came to me like that. I think we all have much better versions of ourselves – our more authentic selves – that come back rising up once we get out from under the weight of these daily intrusions.
The sociologist Habermas called it a “colonization of the life world,” crept up slowly over the last 100 years with all the markets reaching their tendrils into our daily lives, encroaching on the time that we have to just be human and experience the world without dealing with being persuaded by something or someone. Going to the woods for me is just a remembering of yourself as a person and who you are in the world, which is the thing I think that modernity would like us most to forget.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
I’m a big fan of Wayne Shorter’s Witch Hunt. I used to listen to that album incessantly back in the day. He’s one of my favorite musicians, generally, but there was some strange and good voodoo happening with the crew on that recording. Everyone was at their most tasteful. That music was greater than the sum of its parts, and the sum of its parts is no small sum if you look at the album personnel. Great writing, great playing.
If you didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?
If I didn’t work in music, I’d own a boutique cheese curds shop that’s word of mouth only and hard to find. I’d call it the Squeakeasy. Just need backers.
The nominees for the 2026 GRAMMY Awards have been announced by the Recording Academy, looking ahead to “Music’s Biggest Night” on Sunday, February 1, 2026 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. The primetime show will be broadcast live on CBS and will stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
Legends, icons, familiar names, and first-time nominees can all be found across the 95 GRAMMY categories that have been unveiled. In the Country & American Roots Music field, standouts include Tyler Childers (4 nominations), Lainey Wilson (3 nominations), Sierra Hull (4 nominations, including Best Instrumental Composition), Jesse Welles (4 nominations), and I’m With Her (3 nominations). Alison Krauss & Union Station, who released their first album in 14 years, Arcadia, earlier this year, have been nominated twice for 2026, bringing Krauss’ total number of nominations across her career to 46. Krauss is one of the most-nominated and most-awarded artists in GRAMMY history.
Unsurprisingly, one of those nominations for Krauss & Union Station finds Arcadia in the running for Best Bluegrass Album. The LP will compete with Carter & Cleveland by Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland, A Tip Toe High Wire by Sierra Hull, Outrun by the SteelDrivers, and Highway Prayers by Billy Strings for the Best Bluegrass Album gramophone. (This year, Best Bluegrass Album is Strings’ sole nomination.)
In country, for the first time Best Country Album has been split into two constituent categories, Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Traditional Country Album. Kelsea Ballerini, Tyler Childers, Eric Church, Jelly Roll, and Miranda Lambert will vie for Best Contemporary Country Album this year, while Charley Crockett, Margo Price, and Zach Top find themselves nominated for Best Traditional Country Album – with father-and-son Willie and Lukas Nelson nominated as well, pitted against each other for the very first time.
Outside of the Country & American Roots Music field, roots musicians are represented far and wide. Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, and Antonio Sánchez’s BEATrio self-titled record is nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Dan Auerbach is up for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical). Elton John and Brandi Carlile are nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and Best Song Written For Visual Media. Plus, Sinners, the phenomenal and horrifying Ryan Coogler film steeped in various roots music traditions, has racked up five nominations across categories and fields.
It’s certainly an exciting roster of nominees for the 2026 GRAMMY Awards! Below, find the complete list of nominations 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.
The 68th Annual GRAMMY Awards will take place on Sunday, February 1, 2026.
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
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
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
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 CityVolume 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
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)
“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: Tyler Childers by Sam Waxman; Sierra Hull courtesy of the artist.
Happy first Friday of November! Let’s kick off a month of new music roundups with our first edition of our usual weekly collection for November.
To begin, banjoist Gena Britt – whom you may know from Sister Sadie – releases her brand new solo album, Streets, Rivers, Dreams & Heartaches today. We’re sharing “What Kind of Memory Will You Be” off the new project to celebrate its launch. It’s one of Britt’s favorite tracks from the album. Her Sister Sadie bandmate, fiddler Deanie Richardson, is also included in our roundup today, joining fellow fiddler Kimber Ludiker (of Della Mae) on a twin fiddle rendition of a rip-roaring original instrumental, “No-See-Um Stomp.” It’ll have you dancing and smacking the hell out of some sandflies, too.
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Sammy Brue previews his upcoming album that pays tribute to one of his creative heroes, Justin Townes Earle, by crafting songs from inhabiting and being inspired by Earle’s journals. Brue wrote “Lonely Mornings” based on snippets of unrecorded lyrics in Earle’s journals, before Earle’s own recording of “Lonely Mornings” was released on ALL IN last year. The tunes stem from the same source, and feel connected, but show the intricate ways a single origin point can grow into two distinct songs. Watch the video for Brue’s “Lonely Mornings” below.
Our Missouri bluegrass pals the HillBenders bring us a brand new music video for their most recent single, a rock and roll and disco-infused string band version of Ola Belle Reed’s classic, “I’ve Endured.” The band leans into their genre-blending tendencies and highlight a couple of new members in the new studio music video, too. Plus, Americana-folk singer-songwriter Brendan Walter launches his new album, Disappearing Days, today and we’re sharing a new music video for his song “Pipe Dream.” Contemplating the realities and trials of building a career in the music industry, “Pipe Dream” and the album together demonstrate Walter’s goals in music are anything but far-fetched.
Make sure to check out a new single from guitarist-writer-archivist Cameron Knowler, as well, who covers Elizabeth Cotten’s “Wilson Rag” in a simple, pared-down arrangement featuring acoustic guitar, pedal steel, and kick drum. Knowler tweaks Cotten’s original arrangement slightly, continuing the age-old tradition of musical transfer and cross-pollination in bluegrass, old-time, and beyond.
It’s quite a nice roundup to get the month rolling, isn’t it? Check it out for yourself below, ’cause You Gotta Hear This.
Gena Britt, “What Kind of Memory Will You Be”
Artist:Gena Britt Hometown: Star, North Carolina Song: “What Kind of Memory Will You Be” Album:Streets, Rivers, Dreams & Heartaches Release Date: November 7, 2025 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “This song was penned by one of my Sister Sadie bandmates Dani Flowers and co-written by Paul Sikes. She had actually sent it to us several years before she ever joined the band. I remembered it and pulled it back out when I was starting to gather songs for this recording. I asked her if she would mind if I recorded it one weekend that we were on the road and she graciously agreed. We had so much fun working this up and recording it in the studio. It ended up being one of my favorite tunes on the album. And, that Dobro ride at the end of the song by Jeff Partin is out of this world good! I hope everyone enjoys listening as much as we did recording it!” – Gena Britt
Track Credits: Gena Britt – Banjo, lead vocal John Meador – Guitar, harmony vocal Alan Bartram – Acoustic bass, harmony vocal Jason Carter – Fiddle Jonathan Dillon – Mandolin Jeff Partin – Resonator guitar Tony Creasman – Drums, percussion
Sammy Brue, “Lonely Mornings”
Artist:Sammy Brue Hometown: Ogden, Utah Song: “Lonely Mornings” Album:The Journals Release Date: November 12, 2025 (video); January 23, 2026 (album) Label: Bloodshot Records
In Their Words: “The song ‘Lonely Mornings’ was written in collaboration with Justin Townes Earle’s journals. After I wrote this song, New West Records released a new album of Justin’s called ALL IN which contained unreleased recordings and songs of his. I was ecstatic to find a song called ‘Lonely Mornings’; it was like a sign. Even though our songs didn’t sound similar, they are connected through a couple lines at the end of his last verse and a similar cadence on the tag line. I found the early rendition of his lyrics and they seemed to be almost a decade old, which goes to show how long Justin really carved a song like it was made of marble. I found inspiration and a whole song in just one verse of his true version of ‘Lonely Mornings’ before I even knew it existed. To me, this song holds the mundane scenes that go with living the artist lifestyle. It also holds a sentiment that we both share, which is the love of spending a morning alone… a writer’s heaven.” – Sammy Brue
The HillBenders, “Tradical Volume 1: I’ve Endured”
In Their Words: “We’ve always leaned into ‘bluegrass meets rock ’n’ roll,’ a tag our late manager Louis Myers, co-founder of SXSW, gave us early on. So when we started talking about a new recording project, we didn’t feel the need to change course. Like I tell people, we blame our love for traditional roots music and classic rock on our parents’ vinyl collections. There are so many great legacies to pull from in that wax.
“Instead of putting out a standard album or EP, we decided to start a new series called Tradical, where we let those two loves live together. The first release is Tradical Volume 1: I’ve Endured. For the traditional side we went to Appalachian songwriter Ola Belle Reed’s classic ‘I’ve Endured’ and gave it a rock almost disco groove.
“This track also lets you hear our newest bandmates and singer-songwriters, Andrew Morris (banjo/mandolin) and Jody Bilyeu (keys/mandolin). Jody takes the lead vocal on this first Tradical release. This song is our nod to the rocky road that is show business and to the people who keep going against the odds simply because they love music and performing.” – Jimmy Rea
Track Credits: Jim Rea – Guitar, harmony vocal Gary Rea – Bass, harmony vocal Jody Bilyeu – Mandolin, lead vocal Andrew Morris – Banjo John Anderson – Drums
Cameron Knowler, “Wilson Rag”
Artist:Cameron Knowler Hometown: Yuma, Arizona Song: “Wilson Rag” Album:East of the Gilas (Lagniappe Session) Release Date: November 14, 2025 (EP) Label: Castle Dome Records
In Their Words: “As far as anyone knows, Elizabeth Cotten composed ‘Wilson Rag’ and recorded it a few times on various projects. Though her performances often include a third part which changes slightly from take to take, I decided to focus on the first two parts, adding a bit of reharmonization to make the tune sing with my buddy Will Ellis’ pedal steel playing. Ellis also engineered this track at his home studio in East Nashville, where varied bird songs quietly spilled through a large window. I’m the one playing the ratty Lyon & Healy kick drum from the nineteen teens or twenties, which was performed live with an early-1900s Antonio Grauso acoustic guitar, tuned quite low. I’m also using one of Guy Clark’s old thumbpicks. This tune sure feels great under the fingers and is one that I’ve played for quite some time.” – Cameron Knowler
Artist:Deanie Richardson & Kimber Ludiker Song: “No-See-Um Stomp” Release Date: November 7, 2025 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “I wrote ‘No-See-Um Stomp’ after meeting a flock of no-see-ums for the first time on the East Coast. As a PNW girl, I was mortified by their existence and the one billion bites I suffered. This tune came out of me very quickly. The first part is the swarm and the second part… human agony. I recorded it once with my band Della Mae and, although there’s an amazing ‘twin guitar’ moment with Avril Smith and Molly Tuttle, I always heard this tune as a twin fiddle tune. As you know, you never encounter just one of these bugs, so I’m very excited to have a twin fiddle version of this with Deanie Richardson. We took a mild ‘controlled chaos’ approach to this, which fits the tune perfectly. Instead of linear twin fiddle parts, we depart here and there, swarming around each other just like the little critters this tune was written for.” – Kimber Ludiker
Artist:Brendan Walter Hometown: Dallas, Texas Album:Disappearing Days Song: “Pipe Dream” Release Date: November 7, 2025 Label: RECORDS/Sony Music Nashville
In Their Words: “I started writing this song while I was still in college, when I was figuring out if I wanted to pursue my majors or follow my lifelong dream of being a musician. At first, music felt like a pipe dream due to the fact that I knew nothing about the industry or how to get started. During college and for about a year after graduating, I bartended full-time to survive while nurturing this dream to make music my full-time gig. Those long nights definitely lit a fire under me to fully pursue music. I had no idea how I was going to accomplish my dreams in this wildly new world, but I knew I wanted it more than anything else and I wasn’t going to stop until I could make it a reality.
“Now, having a couple years in the industry under my belt, I still feel like I’m the new kid on the block, but I know a lot of other artists have felt that way so I thought it was fitting to show a glimpse of my struggles and aspirations along the way. I also worked in a strum pattern inspired by Mumford & Sons, because their music got me into playing guitar and writing songs. I had the opportunity to play with session musicians for the first time when making my debut album and, on this song specifically, I got to play with the very talented Kurt Ozan. Hope everyone enjoys this one!” – Brendan Walter
Photo Credit: Gena Britt by Tom Turk; Sammy Brue by Joshua Black Wilkins.
Eyes on the future, heart in the past – it’s the cornerstone of how award-winning mandolin player, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Sierra Hull crafts her music, and how Gibson Master Luthier David Harvey and the Gibson Custom Shop crafted her new signature mandolins: the F-5 Master Model and F-5G.
The F-5 Master Model boasts a red spruce top, eastern curly maple back and custom narrow neck, and ebony fretboard, while the F-5G offers a red maple neck and body, Sitka spruce top, and ebony fretboard. Both models feature the Sierra Burst VOS Varnish finish and come with certificates of authenticity, Sierra Hull/Gibson BlueChip pick, and mandolin cases – vintage replica for the Master Model and hardshell case for the F-5G.
The instruments are the result of Hull’s many years of dedication, hard work, and talent, alongside a working relationship with Gibson that began when she was 12 years old and already a four-year veteran on her instrument. Growing up in Byrdstown, Tennessee, with few if any resources for musicians, the slightest instrument repairs required a two-hour drive to Nashville, where, at the time, Gibson had a shop in the Opry Mills Mall.
Hull had graduated from her first F-style mandolin, “a starter-model Epiphone that was so cool because it said ‘Gibson’ on the truss rod cover,” she says, to a flatiron mandolin she bought used from a local player and still has in her collection. In need of new frets, and in Nashville with family, they went to the mall in hopes of a walk-in or referral. Hull had recently played the Opry with Alison Krauss and upon entering the Gibson Showcase shop, Grascals mandolin player and Gibson staffer Danny Roberts recognized her and put a new, limited edition Adam Steffey signature model in her hands.
“My dad remembers them saying, ‘How would you like to have one of these?’ He’s thinking, ‘Yeah, buddy, I bet she would, but we ain’t got that kind of money to spend on a mandolin,’” Hull recalls. “They gave me that mandolin and it was such an unbelievable moment, as a 12-year-old, to be given this incredible instrument. That was the beginning of my relationship with Gibson. I’ve mostly played a Gibson mandolin ever since.”
Fast-forward to 2009 and Sierra Hull’s main instrument: her Gibson Master Model, built by Gibson Master Luthier David Harvey. “The 2009 was brand new at the time,” she says. “Dave made some modifications to it to suit what I was looking for and it has become my voice.”
That mandolin eventually became the springboard for her signature Master Model and F-5G, in line with her original specifications for the 2009. “I have small hands, so Dave took the neck down a little bit for me,” she says. “We put an aged varnish on it instead of the normal gloss, which makes it a little more unique than one right off the line.
“I’ve always preferred that thin, matte varnish type finish, so we decided to recreate that with the signature line. So many people often ask me about my mandolin; they think I’m playing a Lloyd Loar most of the time. I’ve put a lot of miles on this mandolin since 2009. I’ve played it as my primary instrument since then. When I got it, it didn’t look anything like it does now in terms of being so worn, but it didn’t look brand new and shiny, either. I always loved that about it, that there was a certain aged vibe to it already because of the finish.”
In addition to the aesthetics, the Master Model parallels Hull’s unique sense of blending her deep bluegrass roots with contemporary sounds. It is, she says, the perfect instrument for that mix of past and present. “When I think about the kind of music I play, both these days and throughout my career, I’m so rooted in traditional bluegrass,” she says. “I grew up going to bluegrass jams on the weekends, sitting in a circle – you need a mandolin with volume, something you can dig into, like the Master Model.”
“Part of the reason we all want to play F-5 mandolins is because Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass, played an F-5,” she continues. “I love an A-style mandolin as well, but there’s something that makes you feel legit about playing bluegrass on an F-5 mandolin, because it just feels right – the feel, the look, the sound, the pointedness that those F-style mandolins have. The idea of having a mandolin that you can really channel that traditional thing that as mandolin players we’re born to love in bluegrass music – Gibson is the gold standard for what we think of in terms of every F-style mandolin that you see.
“There’s a lot of great builders out there, so many talented luthiers building beautiful mandolins, so it’s no slight to any of them. But nobody would be doing that if Gibson didn’t exist and build these F-5 mandolins with Lloyd Loar’s stamp of approval on them. When I pick up my Master Model, it feels like the connection to that legacy.
“Even though I tend to think my sound is more progressive and modern – way more so than what you think of when you think of Bill Monroe – that’s the world I come from, so I want a mandolin that feels connected to those roots. But the clarity, the top end, the sparkle that these mandolins have, too – they have a large span on what they can bring to the table. No matter what musical direction I go in, I never find myself lacking from the side of what the instrument can do. It really shows up in all those situations.”
Bringing the Sierra Hull Master Model and F-5G from concept to showroom was a two-year process. Hull, David Harvey, and Gibson worked closely, taking time and care to not rush the work, but instead building the mandolins to her exact specifications.
“As a youngster I couldn’t have dreamed of having my own signature line with Gibson, so it was wild to get the call,” she says. “I’ve learned so much in this process over the past couple of years. Getting to go up-close, help pick out the wood, and see it go from a chunk of wood to mandolins that have my name on them is such an experience. To see it all come to life is a full-circle moment that takes me back to sitting in the Gibson Showcase at 12 years old and playing one of my heroes’ signature lines. To see these mandolins with my name on them is overwhelming. It’s such an honor.”
Mat Koehler, Vice President of Product at Gibson, joined the company almost ten years ago. He says bringing the vision of Sierra Hull signature mandolins to fruition was, in fact, over a decade in the making, beginning with conversations and leading up to the present.
“Even ten years ago, Sierra was one of the best, if not the best, mandolin players in the world,” he says. “When I got here, I was like, ‘Why don’t we have a Sierra signature model?’ The answer, of course, is very complicated. I think everybody’s intention was to make that happen, but we had a restructuring of the company, change of leadership, change of management, a lot of things, a lot of obstacles. So this is really the culmination of a long time spent both ideating what a Sierra signature model would be and then executing it, finally. I am very happy and proud to be involved in some small way. But this is all Sierra and speaks to her incredible talents.
“Her impact [on the instrument] has been huge,” says Koehler. “She represents the next generation of players. She really refreshed the mandolin and offered a completely fresh take. Mandolins are a little bit similar to banjos in that with bluegrass music in the mainstream, if it’s not Mumford & Sons or Nickel Creek, it’s almost ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ Sierra has done an amazing job of taking mandolins into the mainstream in both her music and her collaborations with other amazing musicians. I see a recharging of the bluegrass world right now and Sierra is one of the many leading the charge.”
At the intersection of tradition meets technology, precise replication of Hull’s Master Model in order to build her signature mandolins was done by 3D scanning of the 2009 Master Model, a process Hull describes as “kind of like an ultrasound of your instrument. They run it over the whole instrument, you see it on the screen, and they capture all the specs in a detailed way.
“It gave us a good, strong starting point to mimic the Master Model that I love so much. From there, I got to pick out the wood and watch the process in real time. Essentially they made a replica of my mandolin that Dave Harvey, for fun, distressed to look like my mandolin, and they nailed it on the first try. We used those scans to build the signature line.”
True to her preferences, she selected a thin matte varnish finish on the models, a custom look that Gibson titled “Sierra Burst.” She also opted for the traditional Loar nut width and flat, scalloped fingerboards. “It’s much like I feel my career tries to do – lean into traditional while having some progressive new things as well,” she says.
“We did a custom tailpiece design. I didn’t want a lot of flair on the instrument. I didn’t want crazy inlays or my name spread across the fretboard. But I’m so honored to be the first woman to do a signature mandolin line with Gibson, so part of me did want a little touch of feminine something on there. If you look closely, there’s a little heart dotting the i on my signature on the truss rod. On the tailpiece, the traditional script says ‘The Gibson,’ but where the tailpiece has a curve up top, you’ll see a little heart built into the design, and a little bit of a heart at the bottom and my initials.”
“Sierra has played dozens of original Lloyd Loar 1923 F-5s, so we couldn’t cut any corners with her,” says Koehler. “We wanted to make sure her instrument was on par with any of the amazing mandolins she has played, because she would know right away what looks right, feels right, and sounds right. There are lots of different ways you can spec mandolins, but hers is true to the 2009, which would have been, at the time, a core Master Model F-5.
“That mandolin is her number one instrument to this day, so obviously we had the recipe. … Sierra’s took the very same path as our historic reissue 1923 F-5, which was we scanned her mandolin, we detailed it down to every tiny little nick and ding on it, just so we had a record of the current state of that mandolin, how it looked. The feel of the neck is really unique on hers because it was handmade by Dave Harvey at Custom.
“[3D] scanning has been a complete game-changer for us. Not only has it opened the door to be able to recreate instruments more accurately, it’s rekindled relationships with artists. Customers and fans of Gibson who want the most accurate now can finally have it, knowing it’s mapped identically from the original instrument. … Now, in a matter of maybe twenty minutes, you can do an entire mandolin, just waving a wand over it. That wand is capturing thousands and thousands of points…”
When the mandolins were ready, Hull – still a bit incredulous about having her own signature line – made a special trip to the Gibson shop to test each Master Model. “I guess it’s rare for someone to ask to do that, but I was like, ‘Can I come in and play all these?’” she says. “So we just made a fun day of it. The consistency of the sound, the build, and the playability is all at an insanely high level. All this stuff is done by hand and it’s no small feat to accomplish that. Dave sets them all up. He is the only one to set up my Master Model since 2009, so he knows what I want. Not that I expected anything less, but it was comforting and confirming that this is something I could be proud of.”
“We were overjoyed that she wanted to do it,” says Koehler. “That’s going over and above. She wanted to support this every way she could and obviously she was really excited about it, which makes us really excited. … For her to go the extra mile with us – we were very appreciative. … The fact that the endorsing artist would go to that length of playing it to test it out is amazing.”
It’s been a long, remarkable journey from Opry Mills Mall to seven-time IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year and two GRAMMY nominations, but Sierra Hull hasn’t forgotten the early days. Cognizant that signature edition mandolins are beyond the financial grasp of most players, her next collaboration with Gibson is an Epiphone model, bringing her back to her first instrument.
“I want this to be something that doesn’t price everybody out,” she says. “We’re going to work on an Epiphone model that will be a little bit more affordable for young players and people who are just starting on mandolin, the same way I was when I was a kid. It’s important to me not to have those people feel forgotten. I’m excited to work on it with Gibson as the next part of this story.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gibson Custom Shop.
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