Tag: bluegrass

Caleb Caudle Has Learned to Trust Himself

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

For nearly two decades North Carolina folk singer Caleb Caudle has traveled the country bringing his music to fans wherever they’ll listen, but on his forthcoming eighth studio record he adds a new role to his repertoire – producer.

Released June 5 via his newly launched imprint Hand Plow Records, Heavy Thrill looks to be his most ambitious work yet, as it melds his personal evolution and artistic journey into one singular vision. Whether he’s ruminating on a bumpy road to self-improvement on “Slow Growth,” analyzing self-doubt with “Anxious,” or examining how people deal with adversity on “Path of Desire,” Caudle’s words tell the story of his individual journey through a world that’s changing too fast for him to keep up with.

Although the bulk of the record was recorded at Johnny Cash’s former retreat-turned-studio, the Cash Cabin, Caudle actually recorded his bits for the album at a friend’s studio in the Pocono Mountains – before returning to Tennessee to wrap things up at the same place he captured his projects Better Hurry Up (2020) and Forsythia (2022). He says that the familiar setting not only helped him hone in as a producer, but also helped him to tap into the building’s history as continues chipping away at perfecting his retro modern sound.

“I feel like I’ve started to develop my own sound over the past 20 years that marries traditional elements with more modern sounds,” Caudle tells BGS.

“Because of that I’ve never been afraid to try new things. In many ways I think of what people like Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, or myself are making as modern country music, but in a different timeline where people aren’t as focused on songs about pickup trucks and shaking your ass,” he continues, laughing.

Caudle spoke with BGS about learning from other producers, fatherhood, artificial intelligence, and more.

This is your eighth studio record, but your first time self-producing one of those projects. What motivated you to finally take the plunge?

Caleb Caudle: It’s been one of my end goals for a really long time. I’ve always wanted to produce my own records, but I wanted to go and work with people first that I could learn from. Each has brought different things to the table I’ve picked up on. I’ve also always been involved in the process and have a good idea for how I wanted things to sound. Then after talking with some of my past producers and telling them my plan they all gave me their votes of confidence.

Once I jumped in I wound up doing a lot more pre-production than I’d ever done in the past. I also had great mixing and mastering engineers – Jacquire King and Pete Lyman – who were my safety net in case anything went off track. It turned out to be a really fun experience that even has me thinking about producing records for other folks someday.

While producing the record was new for you, the place you did most of it at – the Cash Cabin – was not. Tell me about what drew you back there to record for the third time?

That place is like my second home now. I’ve done several video sessions there and written with John Carter Cash a bunch. This time around I also kept the band leaner there than I had ever done before. It was just five people total, with no features or guest vocalists like some of my past records have had. I instead wanted to make something that was more self-contained. I knew I could make a record the other way, so I wanted to see what it’d feel like if I took some of those pieces out and really relied on my own instincts above everything else.

It’s also a place with so much history that I’m able to tap into even though I’m writing mostly about my own modern-day experiences. At the end of the day, I love Ralph Stanley just as much as I do Big Thief. They all come from a place that’s honest to that person, which is what I’m after, too. I love what indie rock bands like Bonny Light Horseman do with melodies, but I also love Flatt & Scruggs. It’s all music to me – I’m just trying to take bits and pieces from all of it that I feel would suit my sound.

With that in mind, I also think it’s important to listen to music outside or your own genre. Sometimes when I’m struggling with songwriting I’ll start listening to a ton of jazz to provide that spark that gets me writing again. Other times I’ll go a month listening to music with no lyrics before I grab the pen again. Whether it’s a playwright, actor, poet or songwriter, I always find myself drawn to folks that are passionate about what they’re doing.

Tell me about the writing process for this record… Did anything stand out compared to previous writing sessions? And how many leftover songs did you pen for it that didn’t make the cut?

I’ve had extras every time I’ve made a record. For me, there’s the obvious ones that are going to make the record that everyone feels good about, then there’s another batch of songs that I wouldn’t call “filler,” [that] are less immediate. We do our best to decipher which of those are the missing puzzle pieces for the story we’re trying to build. It’s like having brother and sister songs on the record where something on Side A reminds you of a tune on Side B – it’s all very cohesive. Trimming the fat is such a big part of songwriting for me. As a writer you want to focus on giving people what they need and not all the fluff surrounding it.

Since writing and recording these songs you and your wife learned you’re expecting your first child this summer. How has that knowledge shifted the perspective you have of these songs?

While I didn’t know I was going to be a dad before I wrote it, it almost feels like a record that’s preparing me for that whole process. It’s a really measured and honest look at where my life is right now. There’s a lot of mass confusion in our world currently with artificial intelligence and inflation that feels out of my control. That’s the macro side of it, but I’m also looking at things on a micro level by taking care of the earth and those around me.

With this new label I’ve set up, with every 100 records I sell I’m providing 1,000 meals to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina. I want to do all I can to help the people around me in a meaningful way. I’m not saying to disregard the big stuff by any means, because I do believe it’s important to be tapped into what’s going on in the world, but for me personally I feel like my time is best placed in my own community with the people of Appalachia around me.

You just mentioned your label, Hand Plow Records. Tell me more about launching that and the intentionality behind its name?

I live across the street from my great uncle who has a single-horse hand plow that belonged to his great-grandfather and goes back multiple generations. My parents used to plow tobacco near Winston-Salem and sold it to RJ Reynolds, so it’s something I’ve always been around. It also seems like really hard work, which has me drawing lots of parallels between what I do as a musician and the farming they did. I weather storms the same way they did, by putting in the work, planting seeds and constantly nurturing them while they blossom and grow. Farmers are critical to our way of life, so I wanted to use the name to honor them for their hard work and sacrifice.

Is “Slow Growth” reflective of that hard work and change, whether it be on a farm, internally, or in society at large?

That’s a song about honing your craft and trying to become a better person each day. I’m not out here looking for shortcuts, even though so much of society right now is about “how I can get things done the quickest,” especially with AI – which in music feels like cutting corners on something I’ve dedicated 20 years of my life to. I don’t know that anything meaningful will ever come of that process, because lessons learned are the whole point. I don’t think I’d be writing the songs that I’m writing now had I not written the songs that I had before them.

AI feels like a very cheapened version of real life, and I’m not interested in that. It’s a huge threat to the existence of art and creativity – both things that can’t be faked or fast-tracked. It’s a slow process where you have to put the work in every day. There’s days where I pick up and play for two hours but don’t write a single word, but it still feels important. It feels like part of this bigger process where I’ve dedicated my life to this thing, so the fact that someone could use AI to generate a song that sounds like me is scary. It can give them an approximation of what I may sound like, but it’s not getting at where I’m at currently. It’s replicating what’s already been made, but I’m out here trying to tell new stories. It’s the opposite of progress.

Another song that reminds me of stepping away from technology and plugging into the moment is “Sequoia Polaroids.” Tell me about what inspired that one.

I’m constantly trying to pay attention to the small details. [My wife] Lauren and I were on a solo tour opening for Ray Wylie Hubbard in California a while back and we made a trip out to Sequoia National Park. That song is almost like a page from that day. We wound up taking a bunch of Polaroids and throwing them on the dash of the car. The song is about being present in those moments and spaces that feel ancient and vulnerable.

Places like Sequoia are majestic and big and we have an opportunity as humans to help preserve or destroy them. Those spaces are so important to me, so it was really cool to get a song out of that day. The trees out there shrink you in a way that’s very humbling – it’s a beautiful thing.

Nature is a great way to get in tune with yourself, just how vinyl is a great way to interact with music on a deeper level. On that note, I know the physical version of Heavy Thrill incorporates some cool imagery taken from its title track. How did that come to be?

I’ve got to shout out Skillet Gilmore, who did the art. He’s an incredible artist in Raleigh that I love working with. The ants carrying the peach pit [that appears on the center of Heavy Thrill on vinyl] come from a lyric in the title track about how an army of ants can lift up a peach. [That] is symbolic of our chaotic world and how we’ve got to work together to get things done, setting aside our differences along the way in order to find some common ground. When we do that you’ll realize we all have a lot more in common than we think and that our goal should be to help everyone be happy and thrive. A rising tide lifts all ships, so it’s important to work together and show empathy to your fellow humans, because you never know what sort of hard times they’re going through. It’s like Mr. Rogers once said: “Look for the helpers.”

One of my favorite parts of the record is the instrumental transition two thirds of the way through “No Show,” which feels like a new composition entirely. How did it come about?

That instrumental piece is something I’ve been playing at sound checks for a couple years called “June Bug Crawl.” I included it on the record because I was always a fan of when folks like Doc Watson included instrumentals on their records. I thought the song was really cool even though it’s in a different key than “No Show” is, but I still wanted them to live together on the record. I give a lot of credit to my buddy Philippe Bronchtein, who played pedal steel and keys on the record. He’s very good with the more electronic side of things. We basically had to get the instrumentals into a different moment to execute that transitional moment. It was executed flawlessly and really works well given the context of the song and record.

On a more reflective note, what has bringing Heavy Thrill to life taught you about yourself?

It’s taught me to trust myself. This is the first time I’ve seen an album all the way through calling the shots myself. I’ve spent 20 years doing this and developed good instincts over that time, so it’s important to believe in those and remain confident in what I’m doing.

Photo Credit: Joseph Cash

The Essential 1977 LP Tony Rice Gets a Reissue

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

The first time I ever heard Tony Rice play and really heard it, I was a teenager. I was listening to one of the few regular broadcast outlets for bluegrass music in the Tri-Cities region of Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia that I was aware of at that time, WQUT-FM’s “Bluegrass Hour,” sometime in the late ’70s. I believe the song was “Way Downtown.” I hadn’t heard Doc Watson’s version, and all I could think was, “Who the HELL is this?” Literally.

A relative newcomer to the music, I recognized that voice as the same one I’d heard on some tunes from J.D. Crowe & the New South, the eponymous masterpiece that had come out in 1975. But the guitar seemed so different than any I’d ever heard; I could feel that and I wasn’t even a guitar player yet. The leads seemed to flow like silk and the tone was so large and woody. As a banjo player at the time, it made such an impression that I didn’t even pay much attention to the banjo break by my favorite player – Crowe.

Turns out, it was “Way Downtown” from Tony Rice, which was originally released in June 1977. ROU 0085 is an album that I, along with so many bluegrass fans, came to know and love. At the time I didn’t know that it was Tony’s first solo record for Rounder, the company with which he would spend virtually the rest of his recording career. Or that it was the first LP since he had left J.D. Crowe’s New South. He had recorded two solo records while in Crowe’s band: Guitar (Red Clay 103, King Bluegrass 529, Rebel 1582 – 1974) and California Autumn (Rebel 1549 – 1975). Now, nearly 50 years later, Craft Recordings has remastered 0085 and it will be available once again in a fresh pressing and as high-res digital audio on June 5, sounding better than ever.

Tony left the New South, one of the greatest bluegrass bands ever assembled, in 1975 to play music with mandolinist David Grisman, who soon put together a supergroup of his own in the San Francisco Bay Area that didn’t exactly play bluegrass or jazz, but something in the middle – something new. Tony had met Grisman while recording Bill Keith’s Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass (Rounder 0084 – 1976).

In an interview my Still Inside co-writer Caroline Wright did with Tony in 2003, he recalled the Keith project as an “…amazing recording, I think. Stuff where Keith somehow was able to pull more out of me than I thought I had in me.”

At the same time, the musicians gathered for Keith’s record ended up recording Tony Trischka’s Banjoland (Rounder 0087 – 1977). During the session, Grisman played Rice a recording of the music he was making with the Great American Music Band featuring Richard Greene, John Carlini, Taj Mahal, Joe Carroll, and others. To say Rice was moved is an understatement: “…This music that I heard Grisman play on that tape machine, it instantly started flowing through the veins. I’d never heard a sound like that. I was in heaven.”

After moving to the Bay Area and staying in Grisman’s basement for a few months, he played on David’s first Rounder release in 1976, The David Grisman Rounder Album (Rounder 0069). Tony would also become a huge piece of the DGQ’s groundbreaking first recording, The David Grisman Quintet (Kaleidoscope F5; Pastels 2016; Rhino 71468), released the same year as Tony Rice. The bluegrass feel he added to “Dawg music” gave it much of its distinctive sound.

When he started recording Tony Rice in July 1976, it had only been three years since the great Clarence White, Tony’s mentor and hero, had been killed in a tragic accident in California. White’s influence is strong on the record, although Rice was blazing his own path by then. 0085 was the first Tony Rice record to feature “the Antique,” his 1935 Martin D-28 Herringbone serial number 58957, which had once belonged to Clarence. The distinctive power and tone of this instrument became a signature part of Tony’s sound from this point forward.

In his liner notes for the record (one of two sets of liners, the other by Philip Elwood of the San Francisco Examiner, who noted the power of “urgency” in both Tony’s guitar playing and singing), Jack Tottle called Rice “…quite probably the most important living bluegrass guitarist.”

It was hard to argue with that. But Rounder 0085 served to keep Tony – an emerging superstar even then – in front of the bluegrass audience at a time when he seemed to disappear from it back East. Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys lead guitarist, the late James Alan Shelton, said, “Because at that time now, nobody had seen Tony. He was like Santa Claus. He was somebody you hear about, but he didn’t make many appearances!”

Such was the mystery engendered by records like Tony Rice, as well as Manzanita (1979), Skaggs & Rice (1980), The Bluegrass Album (1981), Vol. 2 (1982), Vol. 3 (1983), Church Street Blues (1983) and Cold on the Shoulder (1984), that when Tony finally came back east and played live in front of a bluegrass audience at Denton, North Carolina, in 1984, he got a standing ovation for his soundcheck.

The musicians helping out on 0085 were a perfect mix of Tony’s most recent bands – and also mark a dividing line between them. New South alumni Larry Rice, J.D. Crowe, and Jerry Douglas meshed with with DGQ bandmates Todd Phillips (this time on bass), Darol Anger, and David Grisman, as well as violinist Richard Greene at 1750 Arch Studios in Berkeley, California, with engineer Bob Shoemaker – Grisman’s engineer and later Rice collaborator Billy Wolf was not available. Tony chose a number of standards as the bedrock for the album, but he also cast a gaze forward with experimental tunes like David Nichtern’s “Plastic Banana,” and “Rattlesnake,” the first “Dawg Jazz” tune David Grisman ever wrote in 1966.

In The Book of Dawg: Dawg Jazz Grisman says, “Although I had already written some atypical (for bluegrass) melodies in minor keys, this one utilized some chord types – minor 6th, 7ths and flat 5s – that are more commonly found in jazz, as well as four bars where the time signature changes from 4/4 to 3/4 and back.”

Even classic old-time/bluegrass numbers on Tony Rice – like “Eighth of January” – feel like Dawg tunes, with unique fiddle/mandolin harmonies and jazzy improvs. And they should, since the tune was part of the Quintet set list and was something listeners in the Bay Area heard at live gigs at the time.

The bluegrass selections ran the gamut from Jimmy Martin stalwarts “Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler” and “Mr. Engineer” to “Banks of the Ohio,” “Hills of Roane County,” “Way Downtown,” and “Farewell Blues,” a Crowe showpiece that Tony also wanted to do because Clarence played it a lot. In between were fiddle tunes like “Temperance Reel” and bluegrass instrumentals – one from the Monroe canon (“Big Mon”) and another from Jim & Jesse (“Stoney Creek”).

Tony described the record as “keeping a foothold” in bluegrass but admits he “didn’t know what he was doing” when he went in the studio to record it.

That may be one reason that of all the records Tony recorded in his long career, this was tied for his least favorite. In his authorized biography Still Inside – written by myself and Caroline Wright and released in 2010 – he said, “I don’t like that album. Something is missing; I can’t explain what it is… The only two albums of my own I can’t stand are the one I did for Sab Watanabe and the first one I did for Rounder. If I never hear them again, it would be too soon.”

He likened it to James Taylor getting physically sick once in a restaurant upon hearing Sweet Baby James, which many people considered his masterpiece. “He said it was literally torture…,” Tony said. “I thought, ‘Damn, I’m probably one of the few people who can appreciate that!’”

But Rice devotees all include songs from this album in their favorites list, especially numbers like “Don’t Give Your Heart to a Rambler” – where, as Philip Elwood says in the liners, “…Tony seems to vocally leap into the lyrics and in doing so generates an excitement the whole band picks up on…” This is also true on “Hills of Roane County,” another favorite.

The album was recorded at a time where Tony was near his vocal peak, showcasing his voice in all its warmth and contemporary clarity that endeared him to recent bluegrass converts – who might also be fans of, say, the Seldom Scene – as well as traditional fans who loved his renditions of the bluegrass standards here. For my generation and those to follow, Tony’s versions of these tunes became standards.

The real standout to my ear is “Hills of Roane County,” which is based on a poem Tennessean Willis Maberry finished while serving time for the 1884 murder of Thomas Galbreath. The song was first recorded in the country tradition by the Blue Sky Boys in 1941 and later by the Stanley Brothers (perhaps the ultimate bluegrass cover was by Paul Williams in Jimmy Martin’s band). Tony’s haunting, brooding version of the tune features wonderful twin fiddling from Richard Greene and Darol Anger, a great drop-D guitar break, and what was, in 1977, an utterly modern live vocal rendering of the old melody that perfectly fit the upper ranges of his baritone. Although he complained in Still Inside that “…if I could go back and do it again, I wouldn’t have used as many ornaments with the vocal. I overdid it, but in the moment, you don’t know that.”

But Rice’s wistful emotion and phrasing on lines like “Just three months later I’d taken Tom’s life…” make it sound like he absolutely knew the man and regretted it. The end of the guitar break features a flat 7 movement with jazz piano voicing similar to Tony’s kickoff to “Ten Degrees” from J.D. Crowe & The New South two years earlier. Shew…

Once again, James Alan Shelton echoed the opinions of so many guitarists: “I’ve never heard a guitar sound any… boomier and still have good tone as what he got on ‘Hills of Roane County.’ That guitar just sounds like it comes out of the depths of hell.” When I interviewed Tony in August of 2006, he said, “I don’t even remember that guitar break.”

The remastered version of the record, out via Craft Recordings on vinyl and digital platforms – and high-res audio – has more presence and power than the original by far to my ears; it’s great to finally hear this record the way Tony and the crew probably heard it in the studio going down. This is particularly important since the record was done almost completely live with very little overdubbing or editing.

Kudos to mastering engineer Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio, who also handled the Craft Recordings re-release of Tony’s only solo project, Church Street Blues as well as Rice’s favorite of his solo records, Backwaters. The masters for all these Craft releases were made from the original analog master tapes.

Tim Stafford lives in Greeneville, Tennessee and is the co-author with Caroline Wright of Tony Rice’s authorized biography, Still Inside. He was awarded IBMA Liner Notes of the Year in 2021 for his work on Rebel Records’ reissue of Tony’s second album, California Autumn. An alumnus of Alison Krauss & Union Station, Stafford co-founded Blue Highway, which is celebrating 32 years in 2026; their most recent project is Live at ETSU! on Down the Road Records. Stafford was named IBMA Songwriter of the Year in 2014, 2017, and 2023.

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Wyatt Flores, Larry Keel, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

New Music Friday is here! And here’s what we’re listening to today. You Gotta Hear This:

Kicking us off, Western North Carolina’s premier bluegrass outfit Balsam Range bring us a bluegrass classic: a train song. “Life I Left Behind” is out today, the latest single from the IBMA Award-winning group is soulful and brooding, built on strong harmonies and the clean modern bluegrass sound the band has become known for. Below, bassist and singer Tim Surrett describes how the track is personal to him and his family.

From north of the NC border and a few steps towards jamgrass, guitarist and singer-songwriter Larry Keel has dropped a new, hilarious song this week entitled “Butt Dial.” Yep, it’s about exactly what you think it’s about – and it was co-written with bluegrass legend Peter Rowan. Keel and Rowan each tell us about the song and its inspirations and you can take a listen as well.

Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light share a new music video today for “Yodelay,” a cozy and vibrant song about the afterglow of good times and fellowship. Written by Sumner and Dinty Child of Session Americana, the group tracked the song at eTown in Colorado after winning studio time at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band contest last year. An EP, also titled Yodelay, is on the way later this month.

Country star-on-the-rise Wyatt Flores has a new single out this week as well, as he looks ahead to his next album, Scared of Heights, coming in late July. “Half The Man” showcases the level of contemplation and introspection always evident in Flores’ writing and the grit and red dirt he brings to modern, mainstream country.

Rounding out our collection this time is Memphis-via-New York singer-songwriter Kate Prascher, whose new song “Jubilee” was inspired by a stroll across an old train trestle in the Hudson River Valley. Folky in a timeless fashion with a delicious and slow sonic build, “Jubilee” carries some of the eeriness Prascher felt when writing the song walking that train track.

Trains, butt dials, good times with good friends – exactly what we want in our weekly round-up! Enjoy, ’cause You Gotta Hear This!

Balsam Range, “Life I Left Behind”

Artist: Balsam Range
Hometown: Haywood County, North Carolina
Song: “Life I Left Behind”
Release Date: June 5, 2026

In Their Words: “There has always been a connection between bluegrass and trains. It’s personal for me because my dad worked nights for 30 years on the Norfolk Southern Railroad. Sometimes he would take me to work with him so I could ride the trains all night. There is a mysterious romantic quality about the freedom of the rails, and I think this new song has a bit of that. There’s a conflict between the freedom of going and the life left behind.” – Tim Surrett

Track Credits:
Caleb Smith – Acoustic guitar, lead vocal
Tim Surrett – Upright bass, resonator guitar, harmony vocal
Marc Pruett – Banjo
Alan Bibey – Mandolin
Stephen Hudson – Fiddle, harmony vocal

Wyatt Flores, “Half The Man”

Artist: Wyatt Flores
Hometown: Stillwater, Oklahoma
Song: “Half The Man”
Album: Scared of Heights
Release Date: June 5, 2026 (single); July 31, 2026 (album)
Label: MCA/Island Records

In Their Words: “I finally feel like I know who I’m supposed to be, right here in this moment. I’m not second-guessing myself anymore on what the music’s supposed to be, what I’m supposed to be chasing, or who I’ve become. This is who I am now in 2026. Still figuring out my struggles and mental health but finally getting the confidence to step back into this and to believe in myself again.” – Wyatt Flores talking about his upcoming album, Scared of Heights.

Larry Keel, “Butt Dial”

Artist: Larry Keel
Hometown: Lexington, Virginia
Song: “Butt Dial”
Release Date: June 3, 2026

In Their Words: “‘Butt Dial’ is a real-life, happy accident story that led Peter and a friend to reconnect and have a fun, late-night phone conversation. The lyrics are mostly Peter’s and I tweaked some words and phrasing to sync with the music I wrote for the song. Collaborating with Peter is such an easy, natural process. Can’t wait for more!” – Larry Keel

“Butt dialing is one of those phenomena of the guess times we live in. Sometimes you are listening to a soundtrack of a friend’s life, like entering someone’s dream, you can only wonder what is going on! In the song the butt dialing friends finally connect! Writing with Larry Keel is like that, jumping into an unknown dream!” – Peter Rowan

Track Credits:
Larry Keel – Guitar, vocals
Winston Mitchell – Mandolin
Justin Doyle – Bass
Kyle Tuttle – Banjo

Kate Prascher, “Jubilee”

Artist: Kate Prascher
Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee
Song: “Jubilee”
Album: Sunday Afternoon
Release Date: June 3, 2026 (single); August 28, 2026 (album)
Label: First City Artists

In Their Words: “‘Jubilee’ follows a ghost train. I wrote it while walking on an old train trestle in Rosendale, New York, a town ringing with the eerie history of a stone quarry, carrying memories of my hometown across it. By the time I climbed down from the track, the song was mostly written. It’s a lyrical exploration of the word ‘jubilee’ as both a signal of celebration and of forgiveness.” – Kate Prascher

Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light, “Yodelay”

Artist: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Yodelay”
Album: Yodelay
Release Date: June 5, 2026 (single); June 19, 2026 (EP)
Label: Bridge & Key

In Their Words:  “‘Yodelay’ is about having such a good night out that you decide to dwell in that feeling a little longer. Instead of jumping right back into work or the next thing on the calendar, it’s about lingering in the glow of a great evening, sleeping in, and appreciating life, love, and light. Dinty Child (Session Americana) and I wrote the song together after the chorus came to me before a show we were playing. We ended up finishing it from separate songwriting retreats, sending ideas back and forth over text. The song felt playful from the beginning and I loved the way the title seemed to carry more than one meaning. I’ve always been drawn to songs that let sound and language blur together a little bit.

“After Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light won the Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest last year, part of our prize was studio time at eTown in Boulder, Colorado. We decided to use it to record a cowboy EP featuring a mix of old songs and new originals. ‘Yodelay’ became the title track because it captures the spirit of the record so well – inviting and fun on the surface, with a little more waiting for the listener underneath.” – Rachel Sumner

Track Credits:
Rachel Sumner – Guitar, vocals, songwriter
Kat Wallace – Fiddle, vocals
Mike Siegel – Upright bass, vocals
Dinty Child – Songwriter

Video Credits: Video by Dylan Ladds.
Title artwork by Dan Blakeslee.

Photo Credit: Wyatt Flores by Matt Paskert; Larry Keel courtesy of the artist.

Watch Ron Stewart and Michael Cleveland Perform “Roanoke”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Industrial Strength Bluegrass has a great thing going – in Southwestern Ohio and on social media, too. Awarded Event of the Year by IBMA in 2022 and 2024, the Xenia and Wilmington, Ohio-based festival – run by Joe Mullins, and his family and staff at Real Roots Radio – have amassed tens of thousands of followers on TikTok. Clips from their Summer Fest, indoor festivals, and the radio station have racked up millions of views on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. And rightly so, their events and airwaves always boast the absolute best in bluegrass.

BGS has partnered with Industrial Strength Bluegrass over the years and this time we’re excited to bring you full-length videos of ISB’s most popular and veritably viral performances. First up, it’s a performance from Industrial Strength Bluegrass’s March 2024 edition indoors in Wilmington, Ohio at the Roberts Centre. In a rare duo appearance, fiddling phenomenons Michael Cleveland and Ron Stewart wowed the ISB crowd. In this video, the pair perform a rip-roaring rendition of “Roanoke” with Joe Mullins himself joining in on banjo, as well as IBMA Award winner Vickie Vaughn on bass, and members of High Fidelity including Jeremy Stephens, Corrina Logston Stephens, and Daniel Amick.

It’s easy to tell why this video was so popular in its shortened, vertical format! Stewart and Cleveland are two of the best, both having won IBMA’s Fiddle Player of the Year (Cleveland an unprecedented 12 times) and both beloved by legions of bluegrass fans, from jamgrass to mash and back again. For an impromptu sort of jam session on stage, it’s a magnetic and impressive performance of a classic fiddle tune. Since 2024, many snippets and clips from Cleveland and Stewart’s 3o-minute performance together at Industrial Strength Bluegrass have taken off on social media. We know we aren’t the only ones who appreciate ISB bringing bluegrass to the masses with their festival content.

Follow Industrial Strength Bluegrass on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Make plans to attend their Summer Fest held July 16-18, 2026 in Xenia, Ohio, and future indoor festivals, too. More information can be found here.

 

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Full Cord, the Arcadian Wild, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s another excellent lineup for our weekly collection of premieres and just-released music! You Gotta Hear This…

Earlier this week, the Arcadian Wild announced their upcoming album, Make It Out Alive (set for release in August), with a brand new single “Cool To Know You.” Poppy and lush, its deep and vibey production style brings in varied roots influences reminding of Nickel Creek and indie-pop all at the same time, held together with a bluegrassy mandolin chop. Plus, watch a video from geologist-musician-songwriter Benny Bleu, who’s shared “March of the Mollusk” with us today. Old-time with plenty of modern twists, it’s an entrancing instrumental number inspired by the ceaseless march of time, the steady drip of existence spending or being spent. The melody – and rhythms – have that delicious “neverending song” feel, where each subsequent section of the tune has you craving to return back to the start and do it again.

Benson, husband-and-wife bluegrass and string duo Wayne and Kristin Benson, release their brand new album today, Double Dose. We’ve shared a few tracks from the project over the weeks and months in the run up to today; to celebrate release day, we’re shining a spotlight on “Banjo Radio Bounce,” a swingin’ bluegrass instrumental with a title paying tribute to bluegrass radio and streaming service BanjoRadio. Also in bluegrass, long-running Michigan band Full Cord release a new track today featuring their friend, peer, and fellow Michigander Billy Strings. The band tell us a bit about the inspirations behind “Hubris Comes to Town” below. Strings and the stalwart MI band sound great.

Jesse Smathers, who you may know from the Lonesome River Band, has more excellent solo music to share today. A new single, “Gambler’s Last Game,” is another truly timeless number from the young artist and picker. Smathers, born and raised in the old-time and bluegrass rich territory of Southwest Virginia, is one of the most compelling up-and-coming creators who can collapse time with his songs. And he can effortlessly code switch between bluegrass, old-time, string band, and more styles from the primordial ooze that birthed this genre. Not many can.

You’ll also want to watch and enjoy a new animated music video featuring a song by artist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Elena Moon Park and animation by Xuan. “Nothing Is Ordinary” is a song celebrating just how extraordinary every single little detail of life really is. It’s built on a prominent sense of gratitude wrapped with a bouncy, charming vibe – and paired with a music video that perfectly encapsulates its message. It’s beautiful and certainly captures “the grand and the mundane,” both of which are extraordinary in their ways.

We hope you enjoy these songs and videos. You Gotta Hear This!

The Arcadian Wild, “Cool To Know You”

Artist: The Arcadian Wild
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Cool To Know You”
Album: Make It Out Alive
Release Date: May 27, 2026 (single); August 14, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “I have known my best friend Carly since I was 3 months old. She is truly a sister that was gifted to me. She is the coolest girl I know, and she makes me cool just by knowing her. We live very far away from each other now and we have to work really hard to stay in touch and spend time together, but it is always worth the effort. This song came out of me after she was having a tough time and I couldn’t physically be there for her, so I wanted her to know that she is seen, she is loved, and I’m a better and cooler person for knowing her.” – Bailey Warren

“We’ve typically just captured intimate acoustic performances in our past work and it was fun to remove some limitations in the studio and really give it a full send approach. It felt like we gave ourselves permission to build an actual pop song from the ground up. Drums?! Electric guitar?! Mandolin overdubs?! What?! It was a delightful process of playful discovery, and we had a blast with our producer, Micah Tawlks, putting it all together.” – Lincoln Mick

Benson, “Banjo Radio Bounce”

Artist: Benson
Hometown: Boiling Springs, South Carolina
Song: “Banjo Radio Bounce”
Album: Double Dose
Release Date: May 29, 2026
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: Kristin: “‘Banjo Radio Bounce’ from our album, Double Dose, honors our good buddy Kyle Cantrell, who launched BanjoRadio around the time we recorded it. Obviously, if this is the title of the station, you know I’m gonna be a fan!” – Kristin Scott Benson

“‘Banjo Radio Bounce’ is a tune I wrote originally on electric mandolin. When Kristin heard the demo, she thought it would work well for banjo – and it did!” – Wayne Benson

Track Credits:
Wayne Benson – Mandolin
Kristin Scott Benson – Banjo
Jon Stickley – Acoustic guitar
Samantha Snyder – Fiddle
Jon Weisberger – Bass

Benny Bleu, “March of the Mollusk”

Artist: Benny Bleu
Hometown: Hemlock, New York
Song: “March of the Mollusk”
Album: When I Am a Fossil
Release Date: May 29, 2026 (video); June 5, 2026 (album)
Label: Circus Tent Records

In Their Words: “Even when I released this song as a solo banjo piece I had this drum groove in the back of my head. We all march forward whether we like it or not. Who sets our cadence? Climate change will march on whether we believe in it or not. Future generations on this planet will live simpler lives. With less stuff. They’ll live more local lives. Now that’s not necessarily all bad. To me, that sounds like the kinda place where folk and acoustic music will fit right in.” – Benny Bleu

Track Credits:
Benny Bleu – Banjo
Huck Tritsch – Drums
Eric Heveron-Smith – Bass
Gus Tritsch – Fiddle

Video Credits: Filmed at Ironwood Studio, Springwater, New York.
Filmed by Mike Martinez. Audio by Benny Bleu.

Full Cord, “Hubris Came to Town” Featuring Billy Strings

Artist: Full Cord
Hometown: Grand Haven, Michigan
Song: “Hubris Came to Town” (featuring Billy Strings)
Release Date: May 29, 2026

In Their Words: “‘Hubris Came to Town’ is a song that has many inspirations. Its structure and harmonic interest are similar to a song I wrote 11 years ago called ‘Downtown.’ The chorus has the vocal harmonies, chords, and darkness from the likeness of System of a Down, while the jam section is lightly inspired by Béla Fleck’s “Charm School.” Rhythmically inspired by the second movement of Shostakovich’s 10th string quartet. The lyric content could be construed as age-old rhetoric about anyone in your life that has these certain qualities. This is the kind of music I like to write for bluegrass, in an effort to put my own stamp on the genre with (primarily) harmonic interest and edgy lyrics. With Billy Strings and the band absolutely ripping throughout the entire song, it now has the aggressive demeanor I intended. All the guys in Full Cord made this version of the song what it is and I am very pleased with the track.” – Brian Oberlin

Track Credits:
Brian Oberlin – Mandolin, lead vocals, songwriter
Chase Potter – Fiddle, harmony vocals
Todd Kirchner – Bass
Eric Langejans – Guitar, harmony vocals
Max Allard – Banjo
Billy Strings – Guitar

Elena Moon Park, “Nothing Is Ordinary”


Artist: Elena Moon Park
Hometown: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Song: “Nothing Is Ordinary”
Album: Nothing Is Ordinary
Release Date: May 29, 2026
Label: Adhyâropa Records

In Their Words: “This song, the title track of my new album, celebrates the idea that everything around us is magical, while also being oh-so common. We wake up and hear a bird song; in the evening stars appear in the sky. Nothing is ordinary, yet everything is ordinary. Or perhaps, everything is extraordinary. When I embrace this thought, I remember that my greatest joy is in noticing both the grand and the mundane, and listening to the stories around me. Inspired by a piece of art made by my friend Kristiana Pärn and accompanied by a truly magical video by Xuan, the song features an eclectic group of musical friends who encourage us to find our own stories and sing them out loud.” – Elena Moon Park

Track Credits:
Elena Moon Park – Vocals, jarana, Omnichord
Brett Parnell – Guitar, pedal steel
Nathan Koci – Horns, trumpet
Colin Brooks – Drums
Yoshi Waki – Bass
Michael Bellar – Synths
John Foti – Vocals
Sonia De Los Santos – Vocals
Devin Greenwood – Sounds
Chorus: Philippa, Roger and Marianna Thompson, Lyla, Ezra and Sruly Lazaros, Shai Fuller, Jay and Tearin Kim

Video Credits: Written, directed, and animated by Xuan.

Jesse Smathers, “Gambler’s Last Game”

Artist: Jesse Smathers
Hometown: Floyd, Virginia
Song: “Gambler’s Last Game”
Release Date: May 29, 2026
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “‘Gambler’s Last Game’ was written by my talented pal Mason Via and myself. The modern-day ballad tells of a traveling gambler whose true love won’t settle down with him, so he heartbreakingly stays on the go. This tune was stripped down to the instrumental accompaniment of only Hunter Berry’s fiddle and Corbin Hayslett’s banjo. They did a tremendous job, weaving in and out of each other’s waltzing rhythm with their note selections. Ballad singing and fiddle and banjo interplay is such an important part of string band music tradition. Though this is a new song, its story, form, and melody was approached the same way I tackle learning songs that are 200 years old. It truly transports me to another time. I hope everyone is similarly transported hearing ‘Gambler’s Last Game.'” – Jesse Smathers

Track Credits:
Jesse Smathers – Vocal
Hunter Berry – Fiddle
Corbin Hayslett – Low-tuned banjo

Photo Credit: Full Cord by Karuna Photo; the Arcadian Wild by Shelby Mick.

Roots Songs All About Mental Health

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, but for those with lived experience, every day is about mental health awareness. During the most difficult times, many creators and listeners turn to music. It’s where we connect through lyrics and melodies that express the things we so often cannot, will not, dare not say.

The intersection of music and mental health is nothing new. Long before memes and catchphrases about “break the stigma,” Hank Williams did just that with “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” Years later, Porter Wagoner exposed the ugly unspoken truth about “The Rubber Room.” 

Thankfully, through incremental steps, times have changed – although not enough – in terms of media portrayal and public discourse. With great courage, more and more artists are coming forward about their struggles. Dozens of artists and musicians have spoken openly with BGS and Good Country about how mental health challenges move them to create songs and albums that make us all feel a little bit less alone. (Scroll to find our playlist of roots songs all about mental health below.)

Artists and bands like Becky Buller, Courtney Marie Andrews, Sister Sadie, and Tenille Townes give us glimpses at how mental health and self-care inform their creative processes and how they craft their songs, albums, and sets. Groups like Southern Avenue and the Band Loula – who make music built on the sonic and storytelling traditions of the South – subvert regional expectations about what’s “allowed” to be spoken about in the light of day with their approaches to infusing mental health awareness into their songs. Still more conversations with artists like Fruit Bats, Cole Chaney, Emily Scott Robinson, and Chely Wright reinforce that mental health in roots music isn’t a fad or passing trend, it’s an intentional through line. Songwriting and roots music are perfect vehicles for this sort of vulnerability and these once forbidden topics.

The proliferation of YouTube and democratization of music videos in the 2000s and 2010s opened up new dimensions for artists, giving them more formats in which to express themselves, depict their work, and consider mental health. Additionally, of course, it offers live performances that go beyond anything a studio recording can capture.

“I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” – Randy Newman

Randy Newman’s masterpiece has been covered many times, and the internet is full of those recordings – as well as his. This performance, however, at his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, may very well surpass them all.

“God, Can You Hear Me?” – Dax

Dax is fearless in addressing the most difficult and “taboo” topics. “God, Can You Hear Me?” asks the unspoken question within the context of a subject that far too many people refuse to address: suicidal ideation. (Content warning: graphic.)

“Let the Circle Be Broken” – Sister Sadie

In genres predicated upon generational legacies and “handing down” tradition, Sister Sadie’s song of release, letting go, and stepping out from underneath the long shadow of generational traumas is more than powerful. By the same token, that it was written and is sung and performed by a band of all women makes it a truly transcendent message. Some circles are meant to remain unbroken, others must be demolished.

“Bench Seat” – Chase Rice

Chase Rice broke down walls and stereotypes and opened doors to discussions about suicide with this multiple-award-winning video. Country needed this. Country needs more of this. (Content warning: graphic.)

“Hurt” – Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash. Enough said.

“I’m Gonna Be the Wind” – Laurie Lewis

Bluegrass legend Laurie Lewis has penned many a fine song tackling issues of mental health, but this is the song for when you’re ready to stride out anew again. It’s a song of strength, resilience, of realizing that often one of the primary forces keeping us down is our own mindset. Tired of being a blade of grass, bent and bruised by the wind? Be the wind!

“Sunday Morning Coming Down” – The Highwaymen

Mickey Raphael described them as “like Mount Rushmore onstage” and called Kris Kristofferson “the Shakespeare of our time.” This is why.

“Will the Sun Ever Shine Again” – Bonnie Raitt

One of the best songs Bonnie Raitt has ever sung and released was recorded for the 2004 animated film Home on the Range. Devastating, endlessly relatable, but ultimately hopeful, the film cut of “Will the Sun Ever Shine Again” is hard to track down on streaming services and online, but it’s truly lovely. A gem of a soundtrack find from an often overlooked Disney children’s movie from the aughts.

“Alone Again (Naturally)” – Gilbert O’Sullivan

In 1971, Gilbert O’Sullivan bravely addressed loss, grief, heartbreak, loneliness, depression, suicidal thoughts, and questions of faith, wrapped them up in a lovely melody, set them to a catchy beat, and rode to the top of the charts with one of the most gutting, most accurate depictions of mental health challenges ever put to song. Decades and numerous cover versions later, stripped down to keyboard and guitar, his voice aged like fine wine, “Alone Again (Naturally)” remains poignantly accurate and relatable.

“Bad Mind” – Erin Rae

A song so perfect in its illustration of how we project and ascribe mental health, onto ourselves and others. We all may know, somewhere inside ourselves, that there is no such thing as a “Bad Mind,” but stigma and internalized expectations leave so many of us feeling broken and “incorrect.” Listening to Erin Rae sing this lovely, devastating song brings an immediate feeling of needing to reassure the singer that there really aren’t bad minds… and thereby the realization we should also apply that grace to ourselves.

Below, you’ll find our full playlist of nearly 8 hours of roots music created by the teams at BGS and Good Country that features some of the many excellent songs that address mental health. For Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond.

Photo Credit: (L to R) Cole Chaney by Anthony Simpkins; Sister Sadie courtesy of the artist; Dax by Annie Devine.

Additional curation and contributions by Shelby Williamson and Justin Hiltner.

Basic Folk: Matt Smith (Club Passim)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Matt Smith is a living legend with his unbelievable 30-year run at Club Passim, the historic folk venue nestled in a Harvard Square basement. Currently in the role of Managing Director at Passim, Matt is the most passionate music lover I know. He has used his platform at the club to help establish artists like Lori McKenna, Anaïs Mitchell, Lake Street Dive, and so many more. I met Matt while working as a student at WERS 88.9FM, where he brought fantastic shows to a listening room filled with people who were clamoring for honest music in an intimate space. He’s been a very good friend and mentor to myself and thousands of musicians since he began his tenure at the club in 1995.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

In honor of Matt’s 30th anniversary at Passim, we brought two longtime friends on the pod to talk to him about his role in the Passim community – and beyond. Musicians Edie Carey and Dinty Child join us in conversation with Matt; he shares advice he would give his younger self, we chat about what a vacation without music would look like, and his incredible memory. That memory is tested in our lightning round where he answers Passim trivia (almost 100% correctly). There’s also a discussion about what Matt is most proud of in all his years at the club: the campfire. festival, which takes place every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends featuring sets in-the-round of mostly unknown new acts. I would imagine if you’re listening to this episode of Basic Folk, you either know Matt or Club Passim. Hello to all our friends and I hope you enjoy this window into one of the best people we’ve ever known: Matt Smith!

Photo Credit: Barry Schneier

12 Mandolinists We Know You’ll Love

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

The mandolin’s role in music has changed a lot over time and with its steady pace of change comes a constant flow of new players. Nobody plays or interprets music in the same way as anyone else, bringing plenty of new ideas and explorations.

There have been many different eras of mandolin playing in bluegrass. Ranging from the classic Bill Monroe style to David Grisman to Chris Thile – and, lately, a more string band sound is being popularized by players like Andrew Marlin. And of course, there are countless other mandolin eras beyond and in between.

The mandolin has also been used in many other genres besides bluegrass; it lends itself to genres such as Choro, jazz, classical, and pop. The mandolin even fills major arenas. There have been a lot of folks making incredible music on the instrument and though this is just a starting point, here are 12 mandolinists who you might not be familiar with, but we know you’ll love!

Jean-Baptiste “JB” Cardineau

Franco-American mandolin virtuoso Jean-Baptiste “JB” Cardineau is currently Boston-based, having graduated from Berklee College of Music. JB’s mandolin playing delves into many genres such as bluegrass, classical, old-time, and some traditional French music, too. His style is quite adventurous; he dives deep into the old-school Monroe ways, looking towards Frank Wakefield for much inspiration. JB has spent a lot of time touring with different bands, such as the Ruta Beggars, as well as his own project, JB and Cardineau Sin. As well as being an incredible instrumentalist, JB is also a gifted songwriter. Above is one of JB’s original tunes, “Si Tu Vois Ma Mandoline.” This tune blends the more traditional French style with bluegrass influences.

Ian Coury

Raised in Brazil’s capital, Brasília, Ian Coury is a masterful, well-respected 10-string mandolinist currently based in Boston. Growing up playing Choro, Ian pushes the boundaries of the genre, writing original music that has won him “Best Instrumentalist” awards from the National FM Radio Festival (2020) and second place in Brazil’s eFestival (2021). He has shared the stage with renowned musicians such as Hamilton de Holanda and Armandinho. In 2019, Coury enrolled at Berklee College of Music and later earned his master’s degree from the program. Here is Ian playing an original composition entitled “Solando no Limbo” for Mandolin Mondays.

Maddie Witler

Originally from and based in California, Maddie Witler is a phenomenal musician. Primarily known for her mandolin playing, Maddie is also an incredible guitarist and banjoist. Having also attended Berklee College of Music, Maddie was a founding member of the Boston-based bluegrass group the Lonely Heartstring Band. Maddie also used to tour with powerhouse GRAMMY-nominated band Della Mae. In 2022, Maddie released her debut solo album, Astronaut, a truly incredible compilation of all original songs and tunes from Maddie. In this video, Maddie is joined by Jacob Jolliff at Mandolin Camp North shredding on a classic bluegrass tune by Frank Wakefield, “New Camptown Races.”

Jesse Appelman

Jesse Appelman is both a gifted mandolinist and tune writer. Based in California, Jesse frequently tours with the Sam Grisman Project, as well as his own group, Jesse Appelman’s West Coast Stringband Project. His debut album, Where We Go, which was released in February, is a collection of original tunes and select cover songs and was produced by John Mailander. His tunes are mellow yet groovy, capturing anyone listening. This clip is Jesse’s rendition of “The Hills of Isle Au Haut” joined by Eli West and Patrick M’Gonigle.

Ethan Setiawan

An Indiana native who now makes his home in Maine, Ethan Setiawan is an incredible mandolinist and tunesmith. Ethan was the 2014 National Mandolin Champion, and in 2017 was the first place winner of the Rockygrass mandolin contest. He is also a graduate from Berklee College of Music, and has also done some teaching there, too. Ethan has toured with bands like the Acoustic Nomads, Corner House, and currently tours with both his duo Hildaland and his own group, Ethan Setiawan and Fine Ground. He has released a few albums of his instrumental music, Flux (2018), Gambit (2023), and Encyclopedia Mandolinnica (2025). Bringing in elements of bluegrass, classical, jazz, and Scottish music, Ethan makes his own sound and brings his listeners along for the story. Enjoy a recording of Ethan playing his original tune, “Uncrossed.”

Korey Brodsky

Originally from Connecticut and now based in Asheville, North Carolina, Korey Brodsky is both a talented mandolinist and guitarist. Yet another of our mandolinist picks who studied at Berklee College of Music, Korey has toured all over. In 2021, he joined Boston bluegrass band Mile 12 and he’s traveled and recorded with artists such as Jody Stecher, the Tray Wellington Band, Nefesh Mountain, the April Verch Band, and more. Above, Korey plays a beautiful take of a Karl Suessdorf and John Blackburn tune, “Moonlight in Vermont.”

Megan Cody

Originally from Colorado and now living in New York City, Megan Cody is a killer mandolinist as well as an incredible guitarist and singer. Fronting the band the Cody Sisters alongside her younger sister Maddie, Megan’s mandolin approach is playful and thoughtful. Megan tours year round with the Cody Sisters and frequently plays all over New York City. Here is a recording of the Cody Sisters playing a medley of a few songs and tunes.

Casey Campbell

A rare Nashville native, Casey Campbell is a fourth-generation bluegrass musician. An extraordinary mandolinist, Casey has performed with musicians like Bryan Sutton, Chris Stapleton, Vickie Vaughn, Becky Buller – and the list goes on! Casey was the 2017 winner of the IBMA’s Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the Year. He has a duo mandolin album that was released back in 2017, Mandolin Duets: Volume One, which features Casey playing with various masters of the mandolin. In the video above, Casey is joined by Sam Bush as the two play a Jethro Burns tune in honor of Sam called “Sam’s Bush.”

Michael Prewitt

Originally from Kentucky, Michael Prewitt spent many years touring with the iconic bluegrass band Special Consensus. In 2024, he released his debut album, The Peerless Mountain Sessions, and then followed that up later that year with an incredible album of all original music, Something He Can Handle. Michael currently tours around the country with his own band, Michael Prewitt & CrunchGrass Supreme. The video above features one of Michael’s original songs, “Winnipeg” played by Prewitt with CrunchGrass Supreme.

Thomas Cassell

From Southwest Virginia, Thomas Cassell now resides in Nashville. A a founding member of the band Circus No. 9, he currently tours with the Wood Box Heroes and performs as a sideman with many other groups. Thomas has won many awards – he was the 2021 National Mandolin Champion and in 2020 he won the IBMA’s Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year Award. Thomas fronts his own band as well and has a few of his own albums out, Voyager (2018), What You Need to Prove (2022), The Never-Ending Years (2024), and he has a forthcoming album soon to be released! The video above is of Thomas’ new single, “Ramblin’ Heart,” featuring Tim Stafford. This is the first single off his upcoming album, so stay tuned.

Lauren Price Napier

Based out of Owensboro, Kentucky, Lauren Price Napier is a talented mandolinist and singer who digs deep into Monroe-style mandolin playing. Fronting the traditional bluegrass band the Price Sisters with her twin sister Leanna, Lauren has been nominated for multiple awards from the IBMA, such as Momentum Vocalist and Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Lauren brings her own spin to playing traditional Monroe-style mandolin while also sticking to the roots of the genre. Above is a video of Lauren playing one of her original tunes entitled, “Tuel’s Landing.”

Tristan Scroggins

Tristan Scroggins is a GRAMMY-nominated mandolinist who also won the IBMA’s Momentum Instrumentalist Award in 2017. He spent years touring with his dad’s band, Jeff Scroggins and Colorado, but he also has a duo with violinist Alisa Rose called Scroggins & Rose and recently toured full time with Missy Raines & Allegheny. In 2019, he released an all-instrumental EP featuring his style of mandolin crosspicking called Fancy Boy. Tristan also has an ongoing, multi-volume project with fiddler George Jackson recording 100 of the most popular old-time tunes called Old Time 100. Tristan currently tours with Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. Here, Tristan is joined by fiddler Ellie Hakanson playing a bluegrass tune, “Ashland Breakdown.”

Photo Credit: Lead image (L to R), Jesse Appelman by Giant Eye Photography; Lauren Napier Price by Jay Strausser; Thomas Cassell by Scott Simontacchi.

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Danny Roberts, Midnight South, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Here’s your weekly dose of new roots music! You Gotta Hear This…

A perfect kick-off to the weekend comes from Dominique and the Diamonds, who are previewing their next single, “Cocaine,” ahead of its release next week. Perhaps frontwoman, singer-songwriter (and Honky Tonk Queen) Dominique Gomez, isn’t the “crazy party girl” she once was, but she channels fun rockin’ and rollin’ party energy in full force on the country-folk number.

Next up, Matt Jones and the Bobs share a video for “The Weight of the World,” out today. No matter the burdens we all carry, the song offers a message of hope and resilience. As Jones puts it in talking about the song with BGS, “The song looks at struggle not as defeat, but as a universal weight we all carry and the beauty of having someone there to help lighten the load.” It’s certainly a timely message.

For a little rockabilly-steeped Americana, Arkansas-based country group Midnight South give us an exclusive preview of their upcoming single, “Curves in a Square Body,” set for release next week. Dripping with nostalgia and built around a solid country hook, it’s a twang-ful number perfect for putting the pedal to the metal – even if you don’t happen to be lucky enough to be driving around in a square body. Add this one to the list of actually good country songs about trucks.

Capping off our roundup today is bluegrass mandolinist Danny Roberts, whom you may recognize from The Grascals. Roberts’ brand-new album The Winding Road Leads Home is out today, so we’re celebrating by sharing a lovely and sweet instrumental number – with a funny title, “Tologna Bologna.” (That’s pronounced “Tony Baloney,” per Danny.) If you’re more familiar with the mandolin as a barn-burning instrument, Roberts often shows the depth and breadth of the instrument, as he does on this track.

We’ll let you go so you can get to listening! You Gotta Hear This.

Dominique and the Diamonds, “Cocaine”

Artist: Dominique and the Diamonds
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Cocaine”
Album: Honky Tonk Queen
Release Date: May 29, 2026 (single); June 26, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Cocaine’ is loosely based on a true story. I was a broke and debaucherous 20-year-old in San Francisco with a dealer who incessantly kept asking me out. I started to imagine how my life would have turned out if I did end up going on those dates with him. The song basically wrote itself from there. I’m nowhere near the crazy party girl I once was! But I wanted this song to be the perfect blend of country and rock ‘n’ roll as an ode to that era of my life. ‘Party girl Dom’ was a mess, but I don’t regret a single thing about her.” – Dominique Gomez

Matt Jones and the Bobs, “The Weight of the World”

Artist: Matt Jones and the Bobs
Hometown: Salem, Virginia
Song: “The Weight Of The World”
Release Date: May 22, 2026

In Their Words: “‘The Weight of the World’ reflects on life’s burdens and the quiet strength it takes to face them, while honoring the friends who help shoulder what we can’t. The song looks at struggle not as defeat, but as a universal weight we all carry and the beauty of having someone there to help lighten the load. It is a song about struggle, resilience, and the quiet beauty of friendship, sitting at the emotional center of everything the band has worked toward since their return. For the listeners who have been with them since college and those discovering them now, the message is the same: your story matters, even the hard parts. We have lived that truth, and we are finally ready to tell it in full.” – Matt Jones

Track Credits:
Matt Jones – Vocals, acoustic guitar
Pat Keefe – Electric guitar
Jonthan Crandall – Piano
Trevor Creany – Drums
Andrew Carper – Bass guitar

Video Credits: Matt Jones, Jonathan Crandall, Kevin McNeill

Midnight South, “Curves in a Square Body”

Artist: Midnight South
Hometown: Little Rock, Arkansas
Song: “Curves in a Square Body”
Release Date: May 29, 2026
Label: Rock Ridge Music

In Their Words: “We started with this simple idea of contrast – curves set against a square body – and it just sparked something that felt bigger than the visual. Like a lot of our songs, it naturally drifted into something nostalgic and before we knew it, we were writing about that first truck and all the memories tied up in it.

“From the beginning, the energy of the track pushed us to keep things lively and fun and that really carried through the entire process. Working with Ben Jackson took it to another level – he helped us shape the sound and brought a clarity and punch to the production and mix that really made the song come alive. It’s one of those tracks where everything just clicked in the studio and you can hear that excitement in the final version. We chose it as a single because it feels like a perfect snapshot of who we are right now – high energy, rooted in storytelling, and not afraid to lean into a little nostalgia. At its core, it’s about holding onto those early moments that define you and realizing how much they still ride with you today.” – Darin Davis

Track Credits:
Ben Jackson – Percussion, producer, engineer
Darin Davis – Drums
JL Jones – Acoustic guitar, background vocals
Billy Lowe III – Electric guitar, background vocals
David Tidwell – Bass
Steve Hinson – Pedal steel guitar
Wil Houchens – Keyboards, Hammond B3 organ
Matt Sammons – Lead vocals

Danny Roberts, “Tologna Bologna”

Artist: Danny Roberts
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Tologna Bologna”
Album: The Winding Road Leads Home
Release Date: May 22, 2026
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “When I wrote this tune, I had my great friend Tony Wray in mind. He’s played on all of my records and has helped me arrange much of my music, so I wanted to name it for him. If you listen closely to the melody, you might catch a little nod to the old Oscar Mayer bologna TV commercial – which is where the spelling ‘Tologna Bologna’ comes from. (I say it ‘Tony Baloney,’ though.) I hope you enjoy ‘Tologna Bologna,’ and make sure to check out my new album The Winding Road Leads Home that’s out today!” – Danny Roberts

Track Credits:
Andrea Roberts – Bass
Tony Wray – Acoustic guitar, banjo
Danny Roberts – Mandolin
Adam Haynes – Fiddle

Photo Credit: Danny Roberts courtesy of the artist; Midnight South by RK Barger Photography.

Jarrod Walker is Much More Than Just a Sideman

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

You know Jarrod Walker because for nearly 10 years he’s been Billy Strings’ mandolinist. But within the tight-knit bluegrass community, Walker has been a well-known and sought-after sideman for much longer. Before going on the road with Strings, he did stints touring with Claire Lynch, Missy Raines, Rebecca Frazier, and more, and he got his start in the rich bluegrass landscape of Florida, gigging with his brothers – including East Nash Grass banjoist Cory Walker – in a family band, the Walker Brothers.

Beloved for his taste, virtuosity, and a cleanliness to his picking unparalleled in modern bluegrass mandolin – except perhaps by his childhood friend and peer Sierra Hull – Walker enjoyed a reputation pre-Billy Strings that holds strong now, as he’s gone from being a humble bluegrass sideman and session player to having nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram and a niche fandom of his own within the greater Billy Strings Cinematic Universe. His song “Red Daisy,” recorded and performed by Strings and co-written with longtime friend and fiddler Christian Ward, has garnered more than 10 million streams and was awarded IBMA Song of the Year in 2022. (Though, shockingly, Walker has still never even been nominated for Mandolin Player of the Year by IBMA.)

Earlier this month, Walker took yet another step toward the limelight and away from the increasingly reductive “sideman” title. He released Nighthawk, his debut solo album, a fascinating and artful collection of bluegrass and string band-centered Americana that demonstrates the incredible depth and breadth of skills he has developed since his Lynch and Raines touring days. All but one of the 13 tracks are Walker originals – many co-written with Ward, who also plays fiddle on the project – and all but the two instrumental tracks are sung by Walker, as well. His vocals are thoughtful and intricate; he’s clearly put in plenty of time and energy into crafting an equal level of virtuosity with his voice as an instrument.

For a picker who’s remained booked, busy, blessed, and performing on stage hundreds of times a year on average for the greater part of two decades, it’s notable that Walker has launched Nighthawk and, with it, shown the remarkable level of growth and development he’s undertaken simultaneously, right under our noses. An impeccable sideman has blossomed into a fully-fledged, intentional, and multi-faceted artist. Even if, like me, you’ve been fortunate enough to call Walker your friend and a collaborator over those years, this is a revelatory, infinitely expressive body of work – surprising if not at all unexpected.

This isn’t an album meant to capitalize on Strings’ rabid audiences and pick up some extra spending money at the merch booth. This isn’t a vanity project or simply a mandolin record – or a hobby with which to spend time and keep him occupied when he’s not on the road with his main gig. No, it’s clear that with Nighthawk Jarrod Walker is telling the world exactly who he is, what he does, how he thinks, and what he sounds like. And it sounds damn good.

I wanted to start by talking about how you kick off the album with “Miles on My Shoes” and how the first single released was “Nighthawk,” the title track. Both of those tracks, to me, feel like straight-ahead, traditional bluegrass. I was curious about this being the audio “swatch” that fans and listeners first get of this album and about what you’re trying to communicate to them by the first track and the first single being pretty much straight-down-the-middle trad bluegrass.

Jarrod Walker: It took a long time to decide what to put forth as the first single, and same goes for the first track on the album. But I did feel like there was a certain expectation of me putting out a record and there being bluegrass elements to it. I wanted to reassure people that there would be some bluegrass elements. And, like you said, those two tracks are probably the most straight-ahead bluegrass tracks on the album. But the rest of the album is very different. The second single, [“Cordova Street Blues”] is very different from the first track or the first single. I think it was somewhat a conscious decision, but also just listening to people around me and seeing what they thought.

For no particular reason both of the singles that came out wound up being the two songs that Billy Strings sang background vocals on. It just worked out that way. We decided not to do the whole “featuring Billy Strings” route, because then that puts such an emphasis on [what’s] really just background vocals. But of course you could put “featuring Jake Stargel” or “featuring Christian Ward” [on it] by the same regard, ‘cause it’s not a true feature or whatnot.

But yeah, Cordova Street is a street in St. Augustine, [Florida] where I’ve spent a lot of time. I have some family who still live down there and some deep family roots going back to a store in the main part of town, which is now the historic district, called Denmark Furniture. It was probably very misleading to people, because I don’t think they sold Danish furniture. [Laughs] I think it was just American furniture with my mom’s maiden name, which is Denmark – and it’s my middle name. I’ve spent a lot of time down there and it’s inevitable that some St. Augustine imagery would make it into one of these songs. “Cordova Street Blues” is more of a dreamscape, ethereal kind of track, which is entirely different than the first single, “Nighthawk,” which is more or less just a Stanley Brothers-style bluegrass song.

It’s funny that you say “dreamscape,” because I was already drawing parallels here between single one “Nighthawk” and single two “Cordova Street” and track one “Miles on My Shoes” and track two “Leaving Canaan’s Land.” What I wrote in my notes for “Leaving Canaan’s Land” is “it’s like an Americana dreamscape” – especially with that groove and its pacing. So I see this parallel with the singles and also with the sequence: “here’s what you’re expecting, here’s where we’re going eventually.” Bluegrass, then beyond. You’re immediately showing people the continuum on which you’re creating music, sonically.

The groove differences between “Nighthawk” and “Cordova” or “Miles on My Shoes” and “Leaving Canaan’s Land” are incredible, too. It’s the best kind of whiplash from barn-burning, leaning-forward bluegrass to this sort of languid, lazy river, chill, floating vibes. Can you talk a little bit about that?

I’ve always liked the contrast and the juxtaposition between something, like you said, very bluegrass and something that offsets that. It’s like sometimes I wear camouflage and then I wear a tie-dye T-shirt. “Who the hell is this person?” I like to do that musically sometimes, too.

There are a lot of songs on the record that I wrote with just a guitar. It was more of a folky kind of approach. But then I decided to get drums and percussion and pedal steel on nearly the entire record and that really shaped these songs into something that I hadn’t imagined before – in a very positive way. I think it’s turned out how I would’ve wanted it to, ultimately. But it wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision. I think I just have that mentality throughout a lot of aspects of my daily life.

The variety also makes the album listen by really quickly. You have so many different textures and so many different style points and references. But, when I listen through the whole thing, to me it still feels like a bluegrass album. It reminds me of Jim & Jesse when they had pedal steel and drums in the band. Or a lot of those bluegrass bands from that golden age of bluegrass where they still were calling themselves country – the Osborne Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, J.D. Crowe and the New South.

Oh, for sure. I feel like I have never been afraid to introduce some drums or exterior, non-traditional bluegrass instruments into the mix. Like you said, I think it just adds some texture. And I love the early bluegrass where they were still figuring out and shaping the sound. There’s so much snare drum in Jimmy Martin music. And like you said, the Osborne Brothers, Jim & Jesse – and listen to J.D. Crowe and the New South’s first record. There’s steel, there’s piano, there’s drums and percussion. By that definition a lot of people, on paper, would consider it not a bluegrass record. But of course it’s one of the classics that everybody thinks of.

I think it was the reason that I put drums on nearly everything. But I made the decision after things started shaping up and I heard the songs that were more folk-oriented coming together. They would’ve been incomplete without drums. I wanted to use drums as glue for the record and to offer some cohesion. The pedal steel served that same purpose, too. Spencer Cullum is a fantastic steel player. And Jamie Dick is playing drums on this. They’re both coming from a different musical background, so it kinda makes everybody else think on their toes. Everybody has to adjust a little bit in order to accommodate each other, and I think everybody being a little bit out of their element gives it a certain freshness that it might not have had otherwise.

I was struck by how your voice sounds so good and confident. You’ve always been a singer, but on this record I hear so much more personality in your voice and I hear more of your musical point of view – in your voice as an instrument, instead of your voice just being something you also do. How did you feel in the process of getting to the point where you’re singing on all but two of these tracks? Your voice sounds really dynamic, even when you’re shifting between trad bluegrass and those slower, grooving songs. It doesn’t sound like you’re intimidated by the space that’s left for your voice to inhabit. It really feels confident and self-possessed.

Oh, thank you. I think you’re right, most people see me playing on stage and think of me more or less as a sideman. That’s what I have done for years. But behind the scenes, I have been writing a lot of songs, and when I have written those songs oftentimes they are sung by Billy Strings. So the outlet was not necessarily available to me.

A lot of these were songs that I threw into the mix over the years with Billy and they wound up getting passed on for one reason or another. For some of them that’s the case, others I was holding onto for a record. But this was really just an opportunity to work that muscle. And myself, if I’m going to listen to a record, most of the time I prefer to listen to lyrical music in some shape or form. Having written all these songs, it was like, “I’m not gonna get somebody else to sing these songs.”

So, over the years it has been something that I’ve worked on, and I guess somewhat behind the scenes. This project was very informative. I might have died a thousand ego deaths in the vocal booth. [Laughs] … It’s been just like playing an instrument. You learn things about it over the years. Now I listen to some of the singing [on the record] and I’m like, “Oh, I wish I would’ve done this differently,” but that’s the name of the game. I think, ideally, I will not look back 20 years from now and be like, “This is the best thing I ever did.” ‘Cause hopefully I continue to improve, love it for what it is, and move on from it. …

We tried to leave everything as live as possible, which– emphasis on “live as possible.” Because sometimes you hear something and it’s so wrong you have to change it. There are some moments where I could have probably taken a better mandolin solo than what I left on the record. But you just start going down a very deep, dark rabbit hole when you start chasing the perfect solo. If I can live with what I played in the moment, it’s probably gonna come across as a more real representation anyway. There’s something that you lose when you try to perfect things.

I want to talk about the songwriting, because in a similar way to noticing the development of your vocals I think your songwriting is really great. It doesn’t feel “try-hard” or contrived. So many of these songs are about movement, traveling, covering ground, putting miles underneath your feet. That’s not entirely surprising, given the last eight to 10 years of your life being you doing exactly that. Can you talk a little bit about the songwriting process and the inspirations for the songs? And that sort of overarching theme of movement and traveling – and that sort of loneliness and longing that comes with that?

Most of the songs that I’ve written in the past 10 years have been with Christian Ward, who’s playing fiddle on the album. Early on we would just get together and spend the entire day trying to just come up with a verse. We would work on things maybe to a fault. Extensively. But through doing that I think we found a rhythm where we were able to get things done a little faster. He and I both like and hate many of the same things.

I don’t think it was a conscious decision to write songs that are involving movement, but like you said, it does make sense. That’s how they turned out. Oftentimes I’ll just see a pond and I’ll say, “Oh, I could make a chorus using the word pond.” And then, “What rhymes with pond?” That’s how it takes shape. Generally I don’t start with, “I wanna write a song about leaving home on the next train” and that’s what it turns into. Most of the time when I start writing something it turns into something vastly different than what I originally imagined.

For me at least, I’ve only written one song – as far as I remember – where I wrote the music before I wrote the lyrics. … Almost always it’s just an object or a singular thought that winds up turning into a song. That song that I wrote with Christian called “Red Daisy” was kinda the same way. It’s a very simple song, melodically and lyrically, but it more or less sprung from that.

So maybe you knew this question was coming, but we gotta talk about “Nighthawk,” not just from the perspective of it being a song about longing, existential dread in the middle of the night. But also, to me, nighthawks – as a group of birds – I always equate them with Florida. Florida’s one of the only places you see them during the day when they’re migrating; it’s where I’ve had some of my favorite experiences with whip-poor-wills or chuck-will’s-widows, out in the middle of the Everglades and you hear them booming their song in the middle of the night.

When I saw the lead single/title track come out I immediately drew a line from that song to Florida – I have a feeling I’m making that connection up, but I wanted to ask you about that song, the inspiration of it, and if there is any reference here to all the nightjars – nighthawks – in Florida. [Laughs]

When I lived in Florida, I didn’t know different bird species – other than maybe a Bald Eagle and a turkey. [Laughs] So unfortunately, I probably have seen a bunch of them and didn’t realize that I was looking at them. I probably wrote it off as something else. But the way that I found out about nighthawks was through this book called The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Little did I know these were made-up definitions [in the book]. When I first was thumbing through this book I was just like, “Oh, this could make a good bluegrass song.” Nighthawk – it sounds a little macabre, a little gothic. One of the pillars of my songwriting is that I can’t write a joyful song. So I was like, “This is perfect.”

When I first started writing that song, I was trying to make it more of a vibey song. Eventually, I was just like, “This works better just as a bluegrass song.” Sometimes I want to expand my horizons and try to do something entirely different, but ultimately, the world that I know the best is bluegrass and a lot of times it’s very difficult to write a good bluegrass song. It can be very challenging and there’s also such a precedent and such a box that you seemingly – at least from my experience – have to write within. You can’t talk about modern technology or you have to pretend a little bit. It’s a little bit of cosplay.

With those kinda songs, I try to make them as authentic as I possibly can. Which oftentimes is just being a little bit more ambiguous and not as direct in the songwriting. These lyrics – “nighthawk, just an old memory” – that’s very vague. But I come to find out the word nighthawk was associated more or less with that famous painting. I was writing with somebody one day and I was like, “I just wrote this song called ‘Nighthawk.’” He was like, “Oh yeah, like the painting.” I totally had seen the painting, but didn’t know the name of it. It’s called Nighthawks.

I probably should have done some research before completing the song. [Laughs] Truth be told, I thought it was just a hawk. Which is very logical of me to assume, right? But then I found out it’s its own species of bird. I had to make sure when I was having all the artwork drawn – I was like, “Hey guys, just want you to know a nighthawk is not a hawk. Don’t draw a hawk. Here is the silhouette of a nighthawk. Let’s do something like this.” ‘Cause I knew somebody like you would be out there and would catch it instantaneously!

Oh man, I would’ve been so happy to “Um, actually…” you. It would’ve been the first thing I said on this interview! [Laughs]

That’s what keeps me honest! [Laughs] I just downloaded the Merlin app [for identifying birds by song and call], which I had never heard of. It’s great! …

It’s so hard for me to try to write a song without including either a bird or a flower or trees. I want to get to a point where I can write about any given subject and just talk about that thing. But once you put birds or trees or flowers or mountains into a song, it’s like, “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.”

I think my favorite track on the album is “Cold Daylight.” I love the groove of it, I love the feel of it. I love the long, extended vocals. But the thing that jumped out at me is that this must really be a bluegrass record, because you reference a bluegrass song in one of the songs!

Which is against the rules. [Laughs]

Since when?! You sing about “True Life Blues” – again you’re talking about lonesomeness and that same sort of existential feeling, sitting around a fire, singing “True Life Blues.” Can you talk to me a little bit about that song and where it came from?

Jarrod Walker: That particular song was maybe the best example of a song that I just wrote in more or less typical, boom-chuck, medium tempo bluegrass, folky, singer-songwriter [style]. It bored me at first, just the way that the chords were, the way that they laid, didn’t resonate with me. I revisited the song and tried to imagine it with drums – this was a couple weeks before actually going into the studio – then I fell in love with that song again.

I think the idea for this was just another example of some word association. Like, daylight is generally warm, but what if you call it cold? That’s where that came from. It was a challenging one to get the groove of [right], but it wound up being one of my favorite tracks on the record, too. It was probably the toughest vocal to lay down.

It feels pretty exposed vocally.

Yeah, it is. Like I said, being in that vocal booth is no joke. Singing the line that’s, “Pass the bottle around the fire and sing those ‘True Life Blues,'” I was a little hesitant to reference another bluegrass song within a bluegrass song – to do the bluegrass inception thing. But I was like… “Gillian Welch does it. I gotta give myself a pass to do that.” It adds another dimension, another layer. If you just said “singing those blues” it wouldn’t have the same effect. And most people don’t even know what the song “True Life Blues” is. It also just works as a phrase. it doesn’t necessarily have to be a song, so it kinda works on a couple levels.

Photo Credit: Jesse Faatz