A year ago today, on April 7, 2024, the American Legion Post 82 in East Nashville was packed to the gills with rabid flatpicking fans, geared up for a special appearance by two of the greats: Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton. Far from their first show together or their first collaboration, it was still one of the hottest tickets in Nashville and fans lined up down the sidewalk and up the drive of the humble Legion for their chance to witness bluegrass guitar history in the making.
To the delight of the many hundreds of thousands who would have but couldn’t also squeeze into the cinder block building known for two-stepping, honky-tonkin’, and bluegrass jams, today Strings and Sutton surprise released a live-recorded album of that evening’s show, Live at the Legion. Available digitally – with CDs and vinyl on the way August 1, and physical pre-order open now – it’s a two-disc, 20-song collection of traditional tunes, medleys, covers, and two of the most personality-rich and unique improvisational voices on the instrument.
Strings makes it no secret that, like many younger guitar pickers in bluegrass and adjacent styles, Bryan Sutton is a hero. The two have collaborated often in the past, formally and informally, getting together for jams and lessons, Strings appearing at and attending Sutton’s Blue Ridge Guitar Camp, performing as a duo at the Station Inn, Sutton guesting on stage with Strings and band, and more.
These are two generational talents, understood within and outside of bluegrass to be standard-setters for the instrument and for flatpicking at large. Together, their musical dialogues are entrancing, exciting, and as charming as they are downright unpredictable. Billy’s power and aggression on the six-string ease, while each player listens ardently and responds to the other with comfortability, or a wink, or a tasteful counterpoint, or an outburst-inducing surprise. Sutton is endlessly lyrical, drawing out such responses from Strings. For their level of chops, the collection rarely strays into self-involved jamming or ego-driven ideas.
Later this year, in September, Strings and Sutton will perform a short series of intimate duo shows to celebrate Live at the Legion – and give any who couldn’t be there in East Nashville in 2024 for the taping of the album another chance to catch the magic. The pair will appear at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky; at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium; in Chattanooga, Tennessee; and in Boone, North Carolina with accompaniment by Strings’ bassist, Royal Masat. Due to anticipated demand, tickets for any/all of the shows must be requested by April 21, 2025, after which lottery winners will be notified. Sign up to request tickets here.
Bluegrass boasts many an iconic duo album, especially focused on the guitar. In the future, will we group Live at the Legion alongside other such definitive recordings as Blake & Rice? It seems almost inevitable. From Blake & Rice to Skaggs & Whitley, Watson & Monroe, and Grisman & Garcia – or even the just-released Carter & Cleveland – it seems immediately clear Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton’s Live at the Legion will be going down in bluegrass history. Tuck into this double album delight to see and hear why for yourself.
Now, our premiere roundup is pretty stellar each and every week – if we do say so ourselves – but this week feels especially excellent!
Below, you’ll find a slew of bluegrass song and video premieres. First, check out “Paris” by Aaron Burdett (a longtime rootsy singer-songwriter and recent addition to the Steep Canyon Rangers), who took an offhand comment about one of the world’s most-visited cities and turned it into a song. Greensboro, North Carolina, string duo Chatham Rabbits bring a track from their brand new album, Be Real With Me, which released today; it’s called “One Little Orange.”
Multi-instrumentalist and singer Jesse Smathers – who you may know from the Lonesome River Band – releases his solo debut today, as well. It’s his version of “Sleepy Eyed John” that draws inspiration from his friend, banjo player Gene Parker. Plus, Grammy Award winner and in-demand bluegrass bassist Shelby Means is also stepping into the spotlight with her first-ever solo music, “Streets of Boulder,” a burning heartbreak track which features her Golden Highway bandmates Molly Tuttle, Kyle Tuttle, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and even more names you’ll recognize.
In a similar sonic space, Cristina Vane previews the title track for her upcoming album, Hear My Call, with an official video for the song. It’s an old-timey number built around clawhammer banjo with a tinge of blues and a dash of Americana – and it also features the inimitable Molly Tuttle. Folk duo Edie Carey & Sarah Sample can be found below as well, returning to their late 2024 release, Lantern in the Dark: Songs of Comfort and Lullabies, with a new video for its title track, “Lantern.”
To round us out, just in time for Valentine’s Day Hudson Mueller shines on his new track, “Love Is Love,” which celebrates love in all its forms and no matter who may be its recipient or subject. And Jeremy Dion has a bit of adoring tunnel vision on “All I See Is You,” a song with a video that celebrates all of the love and loved ones in his life.
It’s a full slate of impeccable roots songs and videos! You know what we think… You Gotta Hear This.
Aaron Burdett, “Paris”
Artist:Aaron Burdett Hometown: Saluda, North Carolina Song: “Paris” Release Date: February 14, 2025 Label: Organic Records
In Their Words: “I like shiny things, new things. I always think that new thing is going to make something different. It does, but just for a few moments, and then I’m the same and everything around me is the same. There wasn’t any real change, I only distracted myself briefly. ‘Paris’ is a song about yearning, looking outside of oneself, and hoping there’s more out there in some exotic place. It might be the next town down the road or the big city two states over, or maybe even somewhere across the mountains and an ocean. I hear a longing in this song now, but I also hear hope. My bandmate Barrett said ‘I’ve got a feeling about Paris’ a couple years ago during a soundcheck at the Bijou Theater in Knoxville, and when I heard that, I did what I do and I wrote it down. That line grew into this tune.” – Aaron Burdett
Artist:Edie Carey & Sarah Sample Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado (Edie) and Sheridan, Wyoming (Sarah) Song: “Lantern” Album:Lantern in the Dark: Songs of Comfort and Lullabies Release Date: October 18, 2024 (album); February 14, 2025 (video) Label: Groundloop Records
In Their Words: “Written by our friends and Nashville songwriters Dustin Christensen and Jill Andrews, ‘Lantern’ was a song that Sarah brought to the table. Sarah and Dustin are longtime friends from the Salt Lake music scene and he played a major role as a musician and harmony arranger on our first album in 2014. We both fell in love with the melody, the message, and the harmony possibilities for this tune. It’s a song that says, ‘I’ve got you, no matter what.’ The ascending bridge sounds like someone stepping out of wreckage after a disaster, blinking their way back into the light: ‘Shadows falling / Sirens calling / I’ll be holding on to you.’ We didn’t originally intend for the album title to come from this song, but it was the perfect symbol for what we wanted this record to be: a light in the dark for when you’re feeling lost; a beacon to guide you back to the familiar and remind you that you’re never alone along the way.” – Edie Carey & Sarah Sample
Artist:Chatham Rabbits Hometown: Greensboro, North Carolina Song: “One Little Orange” Album:Be Real With Me Release Date: February 14, 2025
In Their Words: “My maternal grandfather Ronald holds a mythic place in my mind. He died from years of drug and alcohol abuse when I was just a kid. I only have one memory of him and it’s what I wrote the song about. I think it’s only natural to want to know more about your blood relatives as you get older. My genetics and personality are tied to those that came before me and I want to know as much about them as possible. My grandfather is no different. This is a song about trusting the limited memory you have, accepting that you’ll have to live from stories instead of the real thing, and recognizing that people can be both troubled and full of life.” – Sarah McCombie
Jeremy Dion, “All I See Is You”
Artist:Jeremy Dion Hometown: Boulder, Colorado Song: “All I See Is You” Album:Bend in the Middle Release Date: October 18, 2024 (album); February 14, 2025 (video)
In Their Words: “This is my favorite video to make so far and it welcomes the viewer all the way into my personal life. Since ‘All I See is You’ is a love song, I wanted to provide an unvarnished view of my own current experiences of love. Viewers will see some beautiful shots of nature juxtaposed with recently captured images of my home, my daughter, my husband, my dog, and some of my closest friends. It gives me warm fuzzies every time I see it and I hope it has the same effect on everyone.” – Jeremy Dion
Track Credits: Jeremy Dion – Guitar, lead vocals Kate Farmer – Backing vocals Christian Teele – Percussion Bradley Morse – Bass Kyle Donovan – Guitars John McVey – Guitars Enion Pelta-Tiller – Fiddle
Video Credits: Shot and produced by Daniel Herman, Mineral Sound.
Shelby Means, “Streets of Boulder” (Featuring Molly Tuttle, Kyle Tuttle)
Artist:Shelby Means Hometown: Folly Beach, South Carolina Song: “Streets of Boulder” (Featuring Molly Tuttle, Kyle Tuttle) Release Date: February 14, 2025
In Their Words: “I wrote this song in college. It was my first attempt to write a heartbreak song and it became the first original song I performed in a band. In 2008, I was asked by my professor of world music to assemble a bluegrass band to represent the United States at an International Folk Music contest in Nitra, Slovakia. I formed High Altitude Bluegrass band and taught them ‘Streets of Boulder.’ Courtney Hartman, Sterling Masat, Reid Buckley, and my brother, Jacob Means, played in that band and helped create the instrumental line that is repeated throughout the song.
“I really wanted Jacob to play mandolin on this recording and he did a great job in the studio with Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Ron Block, and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. I invited Molly Tuttle and Kyle Tuttle to sing harmonies with me and we spent one afternoon in a hotel room with Ethan Standard, our front-of-house engineer, recording the harmony vocals. That room sounded pretty darn good! After a few years of touring together we have developed a unique vocal blend and I think it suits this song perfectly. ‘Streets of Boulder’ has been performed live a handful of times with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway over the 2024 Down the Rabbit Hole tour.” – Shelby Means
Track Credits: Shelby Means – Lead vocal, bass, songwriter Bryan Sutton – Guitar Jacob Means – Mandolin Ron Block – Banjo Bronwyn Keith-Hynes – Fiddle Jerry Douglas – Dobro Molly Tuttle – Harmony vocals Kyle Tuttle – Harmony vocals
Hudson Mueller, “Love is Love”
Artist:Hudson Mueller Hometown: Houston, Texas Song: “Love is Love” Album:Welcome to Earth Release Date: February 14, 2025 (single); March 28, 2025 (album)
In Their Words: “This is a love song – but not just about the romantic kind we typically celebrate on Valentine’s Day. It’s about radical inclusivity. We each get to define love for ourselves and decide who it applies to. Love can extend to neighbors, friends, and even those who may not look, think, or believe as we do. This song was inspired by my friends Bird and Carsten. We were lucky enough to attend two of their three wedding celebrations (parties) in New York and Germany. Each was a beautiful tribute to the bond between two incredible souls who just happened to share the same gender. Initially, the song leaned more into its LGBTQ+ theme, with a verse about Carl and Steve, Joan and Janet. But in the end, that felt a little too on the nose. Still, the sentiment remains: ‘Find the place where your love ends and then extend love just a little bit more.'” – Hudson Mueller
Jesse Smathers, “Sleepy Eyed John”
Artist:Jesse Smathers Hometown: Floyd, Virginia Song: “Sleepy Eyed John” Release Date: February 14, 2025 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “My friend Gene Parker, the legendary banjo player of Lost & Found legacy, inspired my version of ‘Sleepy Eyed John.’ Originally written by Kentucky fiddler Tex Atchison and made a hit by country singer Johnny Horton, I wanted to give this fun, bouncy number a suitable mountainous string band flavor. I hope you enjoy listening to it, as much as I did picking and singing it!” – Jesse Smathers
Track Credits: Jesse Smathers – Guitar, lead vocal Hunter Berry – Fiddle Corbin Hayslett – Banjo Nick Goad – Mandolin, harmony vocal Joe Hannabach – Upright bass Patrick Robertson – Harmony vocal Dale Perry – Harmony vocal
Cristina Vane, “Hear My Call”
Artist:Cristina Vane Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Hear My Call” Album:Hear My Call Release Date: February 21, 2025
In Their Words: “‘Hear My Call’ was written on tour and is the title of my album as well, because I feel that it reflects this refocused sense of purpose and intention I was channeling both in my life and in the writing of this record. It’s an assertion, a shift from my constant role of observer to someone with something to say herself. Molly Tuttle sings and plays guitar on the track and she lends such a stunning flair to it, I’m so grateful for her mastery!” – Cristina Vane
Photo Credit: Cristina Vane by Stacie Huckeba; Shelby Means by Hunter McRae;
(Editor’s Note: Today, award winning fiddlers Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland announce their upcoming debut duo album, Carter & Cleveland, out March 14. To celebrate the announcement and the project’s lead single, we’re premiering a special live performance of the track, “With A Vamp In The Middle,” from the fabled stage of the Grand Ole Opry.)
Artist:Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee and Charlestown, Indiana Song: “With A Vamp In The Middle” Album:Carter & Cleveland Release Date: February 5, 2025 (single); March 14, 2025 (album) Label: Fiddle Man Records
In Their Words: “This song has always felt like a national anthem for fiddle players and it’s our tribute to the legendary John Hartford and Vassar Clements. It’s long been a favorite for Michael and me to jam on – perfect for twin fiddles and a blast to improvise and trade licks on. Having Darrell Scott’s harmony vocals on [the studio version of] this track was an absolute honor, and his contribution took it to another level. I hope y’all enjoy it!” – Jason Carter
Credits: Jason Carter – Fiddle, vocals Michael Cleveland – Fiddle Alan Bartram – Bass, harmony vocals Cory Walker – Banjo Bryan Sutton – Guitar Harry Clark – Mandolin
Whether or not you realize it, the majority of people reading this have been listening to Mike Post’s music for a very long time. Like, a lot of it.
Post is the guy behind the theme songs to Magnum P.I., Hill Street Blues, Quantum Leap, The Greatest American Hero, and countless others. He even invented the famous Law & Order “DUN-DUN.”
But that’s only part of the story. Post began his 60+ year career as a member of the mythologized Wrecking Crew, becoming a Grammy-winning record producer who has worked with the likes of Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, and Van Halen whilst finding his niche in the television world with frequent collaborators Dick Wolf and Steven Bochco.
Now, Mike Post adds another chapter to his biographical tome, having released Message from the Mountains / Echoes of the Delta – an ambitious double album that blends his love of bluegrass and blues with his orchestral pedigree.
BGS co-founder Amy Reitnouer Jacobs sat down with Mike for an in-depth conversation, covering everything from Aaron Copeland to Earl Scruggs to Eddie Van Halen.
Amy Reitnouer Jacobs: Mike, what was your introduction to roots music? Because there is a long history, I think, of bluegrass and folk in Los Angeles that a lot of people don’t expect or understand. How did you get into bluegrass and Delta blues specifically?
Mike Post: I think I was first attracted to the harmonies and the melodies that are common to Irish music, to bluegrass, to the blues. There’s this modal sort of a thing that all those genres share, right?
Maybe even as far back as lullabies… My mom used to sing me this Irish lullaby, “Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral,” and I still remember it. And then I recall the first time I heard The New World Symphony and Grand Canyon Suite, things my parents were playing when I was 4 years old.
But, like every other white middle class kid from the Valley, when [Flatt & Scruggs’] Foggy Mountain Banjo album came out, it was like somebody handing you the Bible or the encyclopedia or something. I had to understand everything about it.
It wasn’t like [just] one thing that happened. It was a mishmash of The Kings: B.B., Albert, and Freddie. Flatt & Scruggs led me back to Monroe, which led me to Jim & Jesse and the Osbornes, and then I just drowned in this stuff.
This is not just a roots music album though, and I think you’ve kind of just touched on this in saying about how many different things you were pulling from. This is a record that has a really epic scale, often only saved for symphonic pieces and movie scores. It evoked Aaron Copeland the second I heard it. But it also has some of the most legit roots music players in Los Angeles on there, like Gabe Witcher, Herb Petersen, and Patrick Sauber. How did you get connected to those folks for the project? Did you already know them?
I met Herb when I was 18. You know, he just moved down from Berkeley. He’s about six months older than me, but we actually met at Hootenanny Night at the Troubadour. He was in a band called the Pine Valley Boys from Northern California, I had this five piece folk group; we were sort of like an expanded Peter, Paul and Mary. I had a Gibson 12-string and I’m a finger picker.
I heard [Herb] before I met him and I went, “Who was that?” And through Herb, I’ve known Gabe since he was a little boy.
Actually, I hadn’t worked with [Gabe Witcher’s brother], Mike Witcher before. And I’ve heard and worked with the best guys. So when I heard Mike, it was shattering to me because he is so soulful. You know, he’s not the flashiest, overplayer in the world. There’s a lot of them out there that have brought it to a place of technicality and speed that phenomenal. But Mike’s got the thing that Josh [Graves] had, which is the way he vibrates.
You can’t find much more authentic, better bluegrass players than the guys that are on this record. And the reason both the blues piece and the bluegrass piece are weird is because I’m weird.
You know, I’m a rock and roller folky that learned how to read, write, and orchestrate. So the idea for this was an odd idea. It only happened because my TV shows were on the beach, because of COVID. So I’m sitting there with nothing to do and I’m driving down to the desert to play golf. And I go down this Spotify bluegrass rabbit hole. I heard a couple of things I hadn’t heard before. And it just struck me.
I said, “You haven’t done anything scared you in a long time.” Not that I’ve been coasting – I’ve been writing music for television shows and producing some records all this time. But as a composer, you know, I’m the guy that at 23 years of age did this record, Classical Gas, which was supposed to be kind of off-the-beaten-path. I thought, well, why can’t you combine the orchestra and a bluegrass rhythm section? Not just a single fiddle player or a dobro player or a banjo player or a guitar player. Why don’t you put the five guys in front and have a conversation?
To have those things feed off of each other is really the formality of an orchestra and the improvisation that comes with bluegrass. It works really beautifully.
Thank you. I didn’t even know whether this was going to work. But I did it the old way… I got my drafting board out and my papers and pencils and score paper and did it by hand.
The we went into the Sony scoring stage in Culver City and had 80 players, genius orchestral players come in and it was thrilling.
Because orchestral recording, at least for television scoring, is more rare these days, has this inspired you to want to do more? To not just compose for picture?
It certainly was a different kind of rewarding. You know, working with pictures is fun because it’s so collaborative. They bring me their art and I put my art with it. Hopefully the whole thing’s more artful, right? But the truth is, I’m so satiated. I’ve been a member of the union since I was 16. I’ll be 80 in a few months. I’m still working. I was in here this morning working on the last episode of the season of SVU and still enjoying it!
One thing that I have noticed throughout your career is you consistently surround yourself with great collaborators that also seem like friends. First there’s your time starting with the Wrecking Crew and producing Kenny Rogers & the First Edition. Then there’s your ongoing projects with Steven Bochco, Stephen Cannell, Dick Wolf. Can you talk about those friendships and returning to work with people that you love and trust over and over again?
You’re never going to find anybody more fortunate than me. I am – it’s a corny word cause everybody overuses it – but I am blessed. It’s supposed to be a treacherous business, right? Supposed to be a business of people elbowing each other out of the way and climbing over bodies and litigation and getting screwed by the man and by the club owner and the record company. That never happened to me, none of it. I’ve been treated great. So why not give that back in double?
You know, I’ve been so fortunate to meet Steve Cannell before he’d ever sold a script. To be musical partners with a guy like Pete Carpenter… we worked together for 17 years. We wrote 1700 hours of music together for TV and never had an unkind word. So, you know, that’s the way my life has gone. Cannell led me to Bochco, Bochco led me to Dick Wolf. Cannell, Bellisario, Bochco, Dick Wolf. We did all kinds of stuff together, musically and film-wise and fun-wise and business-wise.
I just have never embraced the competitiveness. I’ve either made dear friends with the people I work with, or hired my friends, or the guys that hired me were already my friends. Wow, who gets to do that?
I moved out here to LA to work in film and then kind of stumbled into my musical life. But the whole time, I only wanted to surround myself with good people. It’s not about the competition. And it always surprised me, I guess, how revolutionary that seems to some people.
Speaking of working with your friends, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about your work with Eddie Van Halen. Eddie is such a consistently referenced and venerated artist by some of the biggest bluegrassers today, like Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton. I read that you and Ed were friends before you produced Van Halen III. What was it about your musical sensibilities that attracted you to work together?
Let’s be honest. Eddie Van Halen is not the first martian that landed on the face of the planet, okay? Look at Mozart! Fast forward… how did Earl Scruggs sit there and go… [imitates the banjo]. Every once in a while, a genius shows up and changes everything.
After becoming friends, Eddie turned to me and he said, “Hey, will you help me with something?” I said, “Sure. What?” And he said, “I’d like to do one sober.”
I’ve never done any drugs. And Eddie knew that. So he said, you know, you can help me do this without any substance. And I went, am I producing an album or am I the sergeant at arms at the door? Am I your sponsor? And he goes, man, I don’t know, both? And I went, all right, fuck it. Let’s go.
Basically all I did was get out of the way. It’s not a very good album. It’s nobody’s fault. It was an experiment. Unfortunately, [Alex Van Halen] was going through a terrible time in his life. So Al didn’t play on that. Eddie played everything. It just didn’t have magic. That’s all.
Ed was right on that trail of genius martians that look at music a different way. And no one else is ever going to do it like that. That’s just once. When you study Mozart, you look at it on paper and you go, “How in the world did that happen? Look at that.”
It doesn’t make sense, actually. That’s the beauty of it.
Exactly. It doesn’t make sense.
The last thing I wanted to say is what a fan I am and to let you know how grateful I am for taking the time today. I was going through your catalog last night and realizing how many of the songs you have written have been true soundtracks of my life. I kid you not when I tell you that “Hill Street Blues” is still my ringtone on my phone. So, uh, I just need you to know that I still love that song.
That really makes me feel really happy! Sometimes [I look back at my career and] I don’t know that I actually believe that emotionally; I believe it intellectually. I go, “Oh yeah, that’s me up on the TV.” Like, did this really happen to me?
To close the month of May, we have an absolutely stacked round up of premieres this week!
It’s lovely any time natural and organic themes twist their way through our batches of premiere. This week, it certainly seems like cutting-edge bluegrass is front and center, with new tracks and videos from John Cowan, Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland, and husband-and-wife duo, Benson.
Plus, we have a trio of songs about touring, coming and going, leaving and returning – Rob Baird asking his listeners to “Hold Tight” ’til his return, Evan Boyer longs for home and hearth in a song for his wife, “Home to You,” and Rose Gerber pays tribute to a vagabond period in her own life with “Off to See America.”
Finally, don’t miss a danceable rockabilly number, “If I Didn’t Have You,” from Matt Hillyer and roots duo Native Harrow bring us a new music video for “Borrowing Time.” It’s a packed premiere round up this week and You Gotta Hear This!
John Cowan, “Fiction”
Artist:John Cowan Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Fiction” Album:Fiction Release Date: June 7, 2024 (single); Fall 2024 (album) Label:True Lonesome Records
In Their Words: “The genesis of the song is that Eddie [Sanders] and I had sat down to write a song for this new recording that eventually was titled ‘Fiction.’ I have been a voracious reader my whole adult life. I was discussing with Eddie the problem of living in a world at this time, which is confounding, scary, and frustrating. My expansive bookcase is loaded with non-fiction books. I had just said to him that I can hardly stand to pick up these two new books I’d bought, ’cause I didn’t feel like I needed any more affirmation about the state of our country and the world. What I needed was an escape to a place of commonality with the people I’ve encountered and my loved ones. I think we did a good job on it and that’s all I know for now except, I always believe in hope and grace.” – John Cowan
Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland, “Give It Away”
Artist:Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland Hometown: Floyd, Kentucky, now living in Hendersonville, Tennessee (Jason); Charlestown, Indiana (Michael) Song: “Give It Away” Release Date: May 8, 2024 Label: Fiddle Man Records
In Their Words: “I feel that the world we live in is a beautiful place, but it takes all of us to make that world. Every time I hear this song it brings a smile to my face, thinking of the day we recorded it. The room was filled with friends making music and the joy that was shared between us really comes through in the recording. This song was written by two of my favorite fiddlers, Tim O’Brien and Matt Combs, and that was another thing that made me feel like it was right for Michael and I to record it.
“Every time I’ve been around Sam Bush, I feel the love he puts out into the world and I thought he’d be the perfect person to sing this song with. I feel the same way about Michael, it’s always such a joyful experience to get to play or even hang out with him. With that said, ‘Give It Away’ sets the tone for the entire record, I hope you enjoy it.” – Jason Carter
“‘Give It Away’ is a hard driving bluegrass song in the key of B, except this time nobody leaves or dies. Instead, it reinforces the valuable lesson that if you want to ever find love, you have to learn to give it away. I would like to thank Bryan Sutton, Cory Walker, Alan Bartram, and Sam Bush for creating one of the most grooving tracks I’ve ever been a part of, they really made this song come to life. This song was a natural for twin fiddles, and Jason and Sam’s vocals are absolutely incredible.” – Michael Cleveland
Rob Baird, “Hold Tight”
Artist:Rob Baird Hometown: Austin, Texas Song: “Hold Tight” Album:Burning In the Stars Release Date: June 21, 2024 Label: Hard Luck Recording Company
In Their Words: “Early on in my career, I spent a lot of time in a van, touring all over God’s green earth. This song, ‘Hold Tight,’ is a reflection of those times. It’s about the chaotic feeling of driving through the night to get back home to one who’s been waiting for you. I wanted that feeling of desperation and determination to build every second of this song. Hold tight and hold on for just a few more hours.” – Rob Baird
Track Credits: Produced by Brian Douglass Phillips. Jacob Hildebrand – Electric guitar, slide guitar Z Lynch – Bass guitar Brian Douglas Phillips – Pedal steel, background vocals Fred Mandujano – Drums, percussion Sean Giddings – Organ
Benson, “Donner Pass”
Artist:Benson Hometown: Boiling Springs, South Carolina Song: “Donner Pass” Release Date: May 31, 2024 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words:“‘Donner Pass’ is a tune I wrote while traveling with IIIrd Tyme Out. We were heading back east after a west coast string of gigs and, with a little time to kill, decided to stop in Reno, Nevada. We parked in the same general area where the Donner Party had been trapped over the winter, so this felt like a great song title for a minor-key melody. I had been working on the tune itself for a few days as we played out our gigs in California, but the original cell phone demo was recorded at Donner Pass where we parked overnight before driving into town.” – Wayne Benson
“This is one of my favorite tunes that Wayne has written. It feels dark, which is appropriate considering the title and location that it’s written about. The track moves a lot dynamically and I always enjoy that — I love taking a fairly simple melody and working with it to create different moods.” – Kristin Scott Benson
Track Credits: Wayne Benson – Mandolin Kristin Scott Benson – Banjo Cody Kilby – Acoustic Guitar Tony Creasman – Drums Kevin McKinnon – Bass
Evan Boyer, “Home to You”
Artist:Evan Boyer Hometown: Somers, Connecticut originally; Dallas, Texas since 2010 Song: “Home to You” Album:The Devil in Me Release Date: June 7, 2024 (album) Label: Medicine for Mary Records
In Their Words: “‘Home to You’ is a special song to me for a few reasons. First, the writing – it was the first song I really wrote for my wife. I’ve had others kind of about us or about our relationship, but I had never written one that focused on the fact that she’s my rock. Another is the production and the players I have on this track. Jenee on fiddle absolutely blew me away. Tim wrote that solo on the floor and then was able to perfectly replicate it two other times so that we could layer it three times. It’s stuff like that that’ll keep me making records for as long as I can.” – Evan Boyer
Track Credits: Lyrics and music by Evan Boyer. Produced by Bradley Prakope. Recorded at The Panhandle House, Denton, Texas. Evan Boyer – Vocals, acoustic guitar Timothy Allen – Electric Guitar Nate Coon – Drums Bob Parr – Bass Jenee Fleenor – Fiddle Drew Harakal – B3 organ
Native Harrow, “Borrowing Time”
Artist:Native Harrow Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Song: “Borrowing Time” Album:Divided Kind Release Date: September 13, 2024 Label: Different Time Records
In Their Words: “This is one of those songs that was written in a few minutes, recorded in an afternoon, and came together like it was always a song. The rhythm signifies a lazy, hazy walk through the fields, lost in thoughts and daydreams. It is loose and meanders its way with pedal steel swirls (Joe Harvey-Whyte) and a single snare drum played with brushes while the bass thumps its way along the dusty trail. I go on daily walks to clear my head and to be in nature. I never want them to end and am always a little melancholy when they do and I have to return to my to-do list. I feel things very deeply and in trying times it often feels like life is a giant wheel rolling down a road and I am either being plowed over by it or chasing to keep up and it doesn’t pay any mind to my own struggles. In writing this song I realized that maybe being lost is better than having it all figured out and we’re all just borrowing time.” – Devin Tuel
“We recorded ‘Borrowing Time’ on a hot, dry day last summer (2023), setting up in the living room, with the windows wide open to take in the little bit of breeze that snuck in over the hills that afternoon. We started with Devin’s vocal and guitar and my Hofner Beatles bass (no click track, of course), sitting a foot away from each other. So close in fact, that you can hear the faint clack of my pick on the flat-wound bass strings bleeding into the vocal track. Next, we added a simple snare drum with brushes (myself) and shaker (Devin), again around the same mic. Finally, we added the electric guitar overdub, my black Gretsch hollowbody guitar through our old Fender amp, with its drippy reverb and dense tremolo, before sending the track up to our buddy Joe Harvey-Whyte in London where he added his cosmic outer space pedal steel. Sometimes we like to spend weeks working on a track, adding as many layers as it needs, and sometimes a finished song (as in the case of ‘Borrowing Time’) comes together in a single afternoon. Either way, we’ll take them as they come.” – Stephen Harms
Video Credits: Photography by Rosie Lord. Edited by Devin Tuel & Stephen Harms.
Matt Hillyer, “If I Didn’t Have You”
Artist:Matt Hillyer Hometown: Dallas, Texas Song: “If I Didn’t Have You” Album:Bright Skyline Release Date: June 7, 2024 (single); June 21, 2024 (album) Label: State Fair Records
In Their Words: “I got my start playing rockabilly music. I’ve enjoyed playing many different styles of roots music over the years, but I always seem to gravitate back to that rockabilly swing. It just feels good and puts a smile on my face. It’s even better being able to have some great players and even better friends on it: Heather Stalling on fiddle, Kevin Smith on bass, Lloyd Maines on steel guitar, and Arjuna Contreras on drums. The song itself is a love song, and in my opinion, you can’t have enough of those. I was thinking about my wife when I wrote it. I was imagining a way to tell her how lost I’d be if I didn’t have her in my life.” – Matt Hillyer
Rose Gerber, “Off to See America”
Artist:Rose Gerber Hometown: Portland Song: “Off to See America” Album:Untraveled Highway EP Release Date: July 5, 2024
In Their Words: “When I was 17, I set out on a road trip that had no planned end. I was a high school drop-out running from a broken home and thought the romance of the road would save me. You can’t run from life though and the road wears you down. After thumbing around, riding freight trains and some lean times, I finally threw in the towel; but can’t say I regret a minute of it. This song is a tribute to that time of my life.” – Rose Gerber
Video Credits: Starring Mary Krantz and Just Clark. Directed By Benjamin Olsen.
Photo Credit: John Cowan by Madison Thorne; Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland by Sam Wiseman.
January 6, 2024 would be the 100th birthday of Earl Scruggs, a musician and artist who helped create bluegrass music and who was and is perhaps the most prominent and well known banjo player to have ever lived. Scruggs passed away in 2012, but this posthumous celebration – to be held at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium – speaks to his undying musical legacy. The performance will benefit the Earl Scruggs Center, a museum in Shelby, North Carolina that’s dedicated to Scruggs, the local community, and its residents, and inhabits the former courthouse just up the highway from unincorporated Flint Hill, where he was raised.
The show, with musical director Jerry Douglas, will feature performances by bluegrass and roots music luminaries such as The Earls of Leicester, The Del McCoury Band, Gena Britt, Alison Brown, Sam Bush, Michael Cleveland, Stuart Duncan, Jimmie Fadden, Béla Fleck, Jeff Hanna, Sierra Hull, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Jim Mill, Justin Moses, Jerry Pentecost, Todd Phillips, Harry Stinson, Bryan Sutton, Tony Trischka, Abigail Washburn, Pete Wernick, and more. Limited tickets are still available and, for those who may not be able to attend in person, the entire show will be livestreamed via Veeps.com for $14.99.
It promises to be a quintessential Nashville evening, a star-studded lineup with endless appearances, special guests, and with certainly plenty of heartfelt remembrances and tributes in store. Livestream viewers will get a rare chance to be invited “flys on the wall” for a magical and one-of-a-kind concert.
Earl Scruggs’ legacy will certainly live on – for another hundred years and, we hope, beyond. BGS and many other roots music and bluegrass communities and organizations will continue to celebrate Scruggs’ centenary throughout the year, so keep an eye out for upcoming content that celebrates Earl Scruggs and his three-finger style.
Lead image courtesy of the Ryman Auditorium; inset graphic courtesy of Veeps.
With the September release of her album Queen of Time, Nashville artist Lindsay Lou takes listeners beyond a creative journey – it’s more like a long, strange, and satisfying trip, where her “radical truth” conquers all.
A former bluegrass songsmith with roots in groups like her former backing band, the Flatbellys, and Sweet Water Warblers, Lou’s Queen of Time marks the start of another new solo chapter and follows a rough time in her life filled with earthquakes of change. She both lost a grandmother who was pivotal to her development and experienced the end of a marriage – all while her career picked up steam. But, through those endings came a new beginning. One where she better understood her place in the universe, both spiritually and musically.
On Queen of Time, Lou welcomes herself to that new identity (and all who care to follow), doing so with a fresh sound and some old friends. Featuring Billy Strings and Jerry Douglas, 11 thought-provoking tracks infuse her bluegrass roots with atmospheric folk, back-porch psychedelia, and more, as lyrics and voice weave together into something like a sonic dreamcatcher – snatching ethereal truths from the cosmos and translating them in ways the mind can just begin to process.
Recently, Lou spoke with BGS about this heady transformation, working with her friends, and how her “teacher-turned-Rainbow-Gathering-healer” of a grandma helped shape her radical spirituality.
BGS: Tell me how you’re feeling about music making these days? I know this album comes after a lot of change in your life, personally and professionally. Has the way you feel about making music changed, too?
Lindsay Lou: It felt like the most freeing recording endeavor that I have ever set out on. Working with [producer] Dave O’Donnell was really great. He held a ton of space for me creatively and emotionally and just in all the ways. So it was really nice. I brought in all of my friends, and what drew me to music to begin with was jams that my family would have, so feeling among my chosen family, being able to bring in the people who I’ve been jamming with in living rooms and on stages for the last several years, was really, really sweet.
Honestly, I’m feeling really inspired and just really happy about music. All of the tours have felt like they were in really good flow, and spiritually, it just feels very open and satisfying. I sort of blew up my life a few years ago, and the last three years or so I’ve been gestating and rebuilding my path. It was rebuilding on the foundation I had laid down with the Flatbellys and the Warblers, so it wasn’t out of nowhere, but it felt like there was a lot of unknown – and there were times where I felt there’s just some fear that goes into it. But now I’m on the cusp of watching all of this be born and come to life, and it feels so good. It’s like everything that I could have hoped for.
Seeing the record in the hands of people and hearing all the stories they send me about how it’s touched their lives has been very, very fulfilling. And I’m watching the album chart and watching different things on the horizon, different gigs and stuff – it’s just really inspiring, and I feel really excited to follow this new path that I’ve laid out for myself.
You don’t always get that payoff when your life blows up, so congrats! Tell me a little bit about the imagery behind the Queen of Time theme. You’re asking the listener if they know who they really are – did that come from an epiphany you had?
It definitely came from an epiphany and the ongoing question and journey of self-discovery, because it’s something you never achieve. It’s just a journey you’re always on. The imagery [for the song “Queen of Time”] was definitely from Absolem, the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. He challenges Alice, “Who are you?” And it was less about who she was and more about who she identified as, because we contain multitudes. So this is a broad and complex question, and as I’ve been playing it, the song has sort of come to life and revealed itself to me in new and unexpected ways. I always love that with songs.
You start the album off with this refrain saying, “I don’t need the world to hear me / I’m singing and nothing else matters.” What’s the significance of that to you?
I guess it’s just acknowledging the personal relationship. I always say that the voice is a window to the soul, but a lot of people have this horrible trauma that they carry with them – that they’re not a good singer and that they don’t have a good voice, and so they don’t ever sing. I feel so much grief thinking about people not even singing to themselves. In my darkest hour, the most soothing thing that I have found to do is to sing to myself. And it’s not because I think that I have the greatest voice, it’s because singing actually releases endorphins in your mind. It’s like a physiological truth that the experience of singing is medicinal and it’s a form of meditation.
The obvious interpretation of that is that as career musicians, you’re always wanting more people to hear you and wanting your fan base to expand. But at the end of the day, the reason that I sing and I think the reason anyone sings, is because it is a magical and medicinal way of expressing your soul, your spirit, your inner truth. So just remembering that value that I don’t need to be anywhere to let my voice ring and to connect with my own soul in that way, that’s really the most powerful thing.
I know your grandmother had a big part in influencing the record. But on top of everything else she was to you, did she also help you get into music?
I guess in a roundabout way, she did. Her greatest influence on me was spiritually. She was a preacher woman, and she lived her life the best that she could in the literal footstep of Jesus. So she took everyone in and she welcomed everyone. She was always preaching that [unless] you have not sinned, don’t cast the first stone and really strongly believed that no one will be left behind. Like if God said the greatest commandment was to love God and to love your brother, then she spent her whole life practicing that. Now, I call myself a praying atheist. I don’t necessarily connect with any institution of religion, but I do connect with the practice of spirituality and of love. Even Christianity says that God is love. So in my mind it’s like, “Well, then let’s just get right to the heart of the matter and call it love!” If we’re living in love and if we’re thinking critically and we’re following our radical truth, then we’re doing it right.
Was music a part of your childhood?
[My grandmother] had 12 children and she surrounded herself with hippies and counterculture. And her husband – the father of her 12 children – was a musician. He played the trumpet and he sang, so they always sang to their children, and the songs that she sang to them, they sang to their children. So I heard all the gospel songs that she sang to my mom, because my mom sang them to me, and there’s been various forms of family bands throughout the generations of all of her children. The older kids had a rock band, and they would get together and sing gospel songs in harmony and Beatles songs and folk songs, and the younger kids formed bands with the older cousins. There was just always music around, so I think she just held space for music.
She sounds like an amazing person. Is that her voice in the phone conversations you put on “Love Calls”?
Yeah. I played that song for a couple of my friends before she was in it. There was this long expansive jam and my girlfriends listening to it were like, “We want more Lou here.” I thought, “Well, what version of Lou makes sense to go there?” And it dawned on me that it was the version of Lou that interviewed grandma. I interviewed my grandma on the one hand to sort of preserve her radical life story for posterity. And on the other hand, as a way of knowing myself. I’ve collected about 27 hours of her telling me her life story and how she came to believe what she believes. It’s a little bit foggy now, but I had an idea of what story I wanted to put there, and once that conversation was in there, the song had the context that it was calling for.
What was the context?
The song is about someone being a guide of love for someone else. And the conversation is her telling me the story of meeting someone at a rainbow gathering who she had a conversation with, and later found out that that conversation talked them out of suicide. Many parts of this record came together in the context of me witnessing suicides in my music community, and addiction and mental health struggles. And pretty much all of my music goes back to that in some way, because of where I came from and the world that I see around me.
Other songs have that through line to it too, right? Like “Nothing’s Working”? I know you worked with Billy Strings on that one, how did it come together?
He and I get together every once in a while to write and we had gotten together and started that song. He had just been hanging out with Bryan Sutton and had this open B shape thing in his head that he started to play along with, and he was talking to me about Ionia – the town that he grew up in. He had just seen so many people get a job and try to make all the right decisions and try to always do the right thing, and just end up with nothing to show for it, because they’re stuck in a system that doesn’t support them and wasn’t built for them, or a scene that really wasn’t good for them.
We wrote the first verse, and kind of left it at that, and it sat in my voice memos for a couple years. Then I was on a plane on my way to the Jeff Austin tribute concert benefit [late member of Yonder Mountain String Band, who died in 2019], and I was just thinking about things. I think I finished it on my way home, but during that same week, I attended my cousin Emily’s funeral. She died in her 20s and was struggling with opiate addiction. I don’t mention either of them in the song necessarily, but it really got me into the headspace of thinking about people I know who are still alive, who are struggling with similar challenges. The song is about telling their story, and telling their story with compassion and honesty.
I noticed a lot of hard bluegrass influence on tracks like “Rules,” and along with Billy you have a collab with Jerry Douglas. Do you still feel like you can be creative in the bluegrass form these days? Or is it harder to do that as you grow as an artist?
Bluegrass gave me a lot of tools and a home. It gave me a place to belong and an opportunity to hone my craft, just in terms of tightening up rhythm and getting better at playing the guitar – and having an entire world of people I can get together with anytime, anywhere, and play any one of the many songs in the bluegrass canon and sing three-part harmony, like we’ve been a band our whole lives. It gave me so much, but I didn’t grow up in a family or a community that played bluegrass music. It was something I found in my early 20s. I’ve never been like people like Billy and Molly [Tuttle] – [bluegrass] is not just a part of their history, it’s like their earliest memories.
I grew up doing acoustic music, so there’s always going to be some element of that in my music. And I’m so grateful to have bluegrass now as a tool of expressing myself. But I don’t think I find it harder as I get older. I just find it easier to connect more authentically with my own voice, and bluegrass is a tool of doing that – but it’s not the only tool.
Artist:Bronwyn Keith-Hynes Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Can’t Live Without Love” (Featuring Molly Tuttle, Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, Jerry Douglas, and more) Release Date: October 13, 2023 (single); October 17, 2023 (video) Label: Sugar Petunia Records
In Their Words: “I’m so happy to share a behind the scenes studio video from the recording of my debut vocal single, ‘Can’t Live Without Love’ featuring Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush. This song is the first track I’ve released from my upcoming album, out in Spring 2024. We tracked it last fall in Nashville, at Brent Truitt’s studio, ‘The Cave,’ and it was actually the first song of the first day of recording the album, so it’s kind of fitting it should also be the first song to be released.
“I’m joined by some of my absolute favorite musicians: Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Dominick Leslie, Wesley Corbett and Jeff Picker. They all brought so much joy and magic to this track! And it was such an honor to get to sing with Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush, both of whom inspire me so much on a musical and personal level. This song by Jamie Hartford is a beautiful meditation on what we can and can’t live without in this life and how we can overcome challenges by focusing on what’s important.” – Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Track Credits: Written by Jamie Hartford
Co-produced by Brent Truitt and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes Recorded by Brent Truitt. The Cave, Nashville, TN Mastered by Alex McCollough. True East Mastering, Nashville, TN
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes – lead vocal, fiddle Molly Tuttle – harmony vocal Sam Bush – harmony vocal Jerry Douglas – Dobro Bryan Sutton – guitar Dominick Leslie – mandolin Wesley Corbett – banjo Jeff Picker – bass
Photo Credit: Alexa King Stone Video Credits: Shot at The Cave in Nashville, TN; produced by Steve Voss of Solar Cabin.
The bluegrass community is collectively grieving two major losses as both Jesse McReynolds and Bobby Osborne – two revered and iconic Bluegrass Hall of Fame-inducted mandolinists and Grand Ole Opry members who helmed first-generation bluegrass bands with their brothers – have passed on. McReynolds, who was 94, died on Friday, June 23 at his home in Nashville with his wife, Joy, at his side; Osborne’s death was announced on social media early Tuesday, June 27 – he was 91. Both pickers were two of the sole survivors of bluegrass’s first generation. They leave enormous musical legacies that will live on, surely into infinity.
In 2017, the Bluegrass Situation team had the incredible honor of inviting Bobby Osborne to join our super jam at the world-famous Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee. To our delight, he said yes.
BGS co-founder Ed Helms and Bobby Osborne
Over more than ten years of creating and holding space for roots music in our industry, there are so many moments of which we are so proud. But one of the most memorable and meaningful BGS achievements from the past decade was hearing 20,000+ audience members and fans, packed into That Tent, roar unfathomably loud for the iconoclastic voice that made a hit of “Rocky Top” – and so many others.
That day, Bobby seemed to bask in the limelight. He was kind, down-to-earth, approachable, and seemed genuinely tickled at the fanfare and excitement that orbited him and his sharp, technicolor suit and sparkly hat. After a storied career that landed him and his brother, Sonny, in so many widely variable musical contexts, from the obscure to the mainstream, Bobby was perfectly at home at Bonnaroo. His audience knew it, and they ate it up. We all did.
Bobby Osborne with Casey Campbell (background) and Mike Barnett (foreground)
In light of his passing, the entire BGS team is holding gratitude for his kindness, generosity, and, most of all, for his music. Rest in peace to one of the most important and impactful first generation bluegrass music makers, Bobby Osborne.
We hope you’ll enjoy these back stage and performance photos, shot by Elli Lauren Photography, from Bonnaroo 2017 and the BGS Super Jam at That Tent.
Bobby Osborne, Paul Hoffman, Ed Helms, and members of Greensky Bluegrass and Bryan Sutton’s house band.
Lillie Mae and Bobby Osborne share a laugh on stage prior to their duet.
Bobby OsborneEd Helms, Casey Campbell, Bobby Osborne, and others
Bobby Osborne and Casey Campbell (background)
Bobby Osborne closes his 2017 Bonnaroo appearance with a bow and a tip of his hat.
Artists:Dierks Bentley Featuring Billy Strings Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “High Note” Release Date: November 18, 2022 Label: Capitol Records Nashville
Editor’s Note: “High Note” will be on Bentley’s upcoming 10th album. The studio version of “High Note” ends with a super-jam featuring Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin, and Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton on guitar.
In Their Words: “Bryan Sutton first tipped me off to Billy Strings about seven years ago mentioning that the future of bluegrass was in good hands. I was totally blown away the first time I saw him. I’ve cut songs like these since my first record, and I knew I wanted to have him on this one, I’m such a huge fan. It was a lot of fun to have him, Jerry, Sam and Bryan all passing licks around — having them all on this record means a lot to me personally.” — Dierks Bentley
Photo Credit: Zach Belcher
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