Tag: Country

Wilma Lee Cooper: A Mountain Music Star Shining Through the Decades

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Wilma Lee Cooper, who died in 2011 at age 90, is being inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame this month. Many of her fans, friends and followers say it’s about time.

A snapshot of Wilma Lee. Wilma Leigh (later changed to “Lee”) Leary, was born in West Virginia in 1921. Her first performances were as a young girl in the family band. Her last performance as a band leader was in 2001 at the age of 80, when she had a stroke while singing at the Grand Ole Opry. Determined to finish the song, she was helped off stage to a standing ovation.

Between these times, this tiny woman dressed in home-made ruffled dresses and high heels impressed everyone she encountered in the music world.

She had a powerful voice and was an equally powerful guitar player. With her inherent smarts (she skipped several grades) and business degree, she successfully navigated the music industry and kept all the band’s books, first with her husband, Dale Troy “Stoney” Cooper, and then on her own after Stoney’s death.

She traveled with a sewing machine and a coffee maker. After every tour, she would wash all her stage clothes and spend 45 minutes ironing each dress.

She also drove the band bus and fixed her family’s television sets. She was a kind and generous boss, a nurturing mother, an ethical and caring woman and a force of nature on stage.

(Above, read an article on Wilma Lee Cooper published in 1977 in Sing Out! written by Alice Gerrard)

From church socials to radio. Reviewing Wilma Lee Cooper’s musical life is an immersion course in the evolution of country and bluegrass music. The Leary Family Band – Wilma Lee’s parents, plus Wilma Lee, her two sisters, and a fiddle-playing uncle – started as a local gospel group. The girls later incorporated secular music sets.

Their prize for winning a statewide contest was the chance to perform at the National Folk Festival in Washington, D.C. A stop at WSVA in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on the way home brought a job offer – and big changes. In one day, the Leary Family went from a local ensemble to professionals with a show of their own. And, when their fiddling uncle returned to his teaching job, the family recruited a young fiddler then called “Smiley” Cooper. (Radio listeners voted for the new name, “Stoney,” to avoid a conflict with a state yodeling champion called Smiley).

Soon, the beautiful oldest daughter and the movie-star handsome fiddler were singing duets with the band. They married in 1941.

Foregoing music to raise their daughter, Carol Lee, in one place was short-lived. Wilma Lee is quoted in Bear Family liner notes as saying, “I was goin’ nuts at home… Stoney wasn’t happy… and it was awful hard to settle down that way.”

On to the Grand Ole Opry. Plunging back into performing, Stoney and Wilma Lee followed the common path of moving from radio station to radio station. They hired back-up players, eventually settling on the band name, “Clinch Mountain Clan.”
In a 2023 Bluegrass Unlimited article, Jack Bernhardt referred to “Stoney’s old-time/bluegrass fiddle and Wilma Lee’s propulsive rhythm guitar and soul-stirring vocals.” Stoney also sang harmonies.

Their 1947 move to Wheeling, West Virginia, and the WWVA Jamboree, broadcast on a 50,000 watt station, propelled the Coopers into the national spotlight. By the mid-1950s, they were charting high on Billboard. Within a year of their 1956 hit record, “Cheated Too,” they joined the Grand Ole Opry. They had seven hit records by 1961, with some of Nashville’s top writers, like Don Gibson and Boudleaux Bryant, writing for them – as well as songs written by Wilma and Stoney, themselves. While the recording business was moving away from what had been called “hillbilly music,” the Grand Ole Opry continued to welcome the eclectic range of country music, from Grandpa Jones and Bill Monroe to “Nashville Sound” crooners.

Dan Rogers, Vice President and Executive Producer of the Grand Ole Opry, said, “It was this cavalcade of great artists, all doing something similar, but also all doing something with their own stamps and styles. It didn’t need characterization. It was just, ‘This is Wilma Lee and Stoney.’ It might have been one of those songs that took them to the Top 10 of the country charts, or it may have been an instrumental or a gospel piece.”

Over time, the Coopers found themselves in conflict with the Nashville labels. Wilma Lee said a producer denied her request to record “I Dreamed of a Hillbilly Heaven,” claiming no one would buy it. It later became a huge hit for Tex Ritter. And they wanted her to record songs she would never perform.

The welcoming bluegrass world. While country radio was pushing away mountain music, new audiences were inviting the Coopers in. Folk and bluegrass fans loved their traditional sounds, as well as their stellar musicianship.

The Clinch Mountain Clan attracted top sidemen. To name a few, Butch Robins, Vic Jordan and Tater Tate went on to play for Bill Monroe, and Jimmy D. Brock later joined the Osborne’s. Dobro master Gene Wooten was in Wilma Lee’s band, as was Woody Paul, shortly before forming Riders In the Sky, and Terry Smith, now of the Grascals.

Marty Lanham (musician, luthier and a founder of the Station Inn) had just moved to Nashville, where he was befriended by Wilma Lee’s sisters, Jeraldine (Jerry) Jonson and Peggy Gayle. They told him the Coopers were looking for a bass player. So, he borrowed a bass, took some lessons – and become part of the Clinch Mountain Clan three weeks later.

The Coopers always gave their audiences what they expected. Lanham said, “Bill Carter would play Dobro and electric guitar, and Mike Lattimore would play either banjo or drums. At a bluegrass festival, they would use the bluegrass instrumentation and then switch over to electric guitar and drums,” at a country booking.

In 1974, the Smithsonian Institution dubbed Wilma Lee, “The First Lady of Bluegrass.” In 1976, Rounder Records – dedicated to promoting roots music – invited Stoney and Wilma Lee to record. Marian Leighton Levy, a Rounder co-founder, remembered Stoney as “tall, dark and handsome,” with an Errol Flynn aura, while Wilma Lee “was outgoing and friendly, in a low-key and down home way. She looked and played the part of a real professional, and yet at the same time she was warm and made you feel welcome.” Wilma Lee also worked with Rounder to select material, and she seemed to be “the business person in the group and in the family,” Levy remembers.

Wilma Lee takes the lead. Wilma Lee was 56 when Stoney died in 1977. She wasn’t ready to sit back and put her feet up. She reassembled a band, which after some initial shuffling included Gene Wooten; Stan (Stanjo) Brown, who later played with Bill Monroe; Gary Bailey; and Woody Paul. (Wilma Lee continued her preference for an electric bass, even after getting pushback from bluegrass critics who hated it on recordings.)

Their first year, the band traveled 110,000 miles, playing about 140 gigs. On one 3,600 mile week-long trip, Wilma Lee drove about one-third of the time.

Brown remembers that Wilma Lee embraced the bluegrass world as it was embracing her. “She was doing the same material (as when Stoney was alive), but it was approached a whole different way. Her guitar really drove the rhythm and the energy in the band. And her voice… it set the timing… it was so precise. I had never played with anybody up to that point who had that much energy and drive.”

And she always connected at an emotional level. She would be sobbing by the end of the song “A Daisy a Day,” about a man who leaves flowers on his wife’s grave. “It was really sincere. There was nothing theatrical about her,” Brown said.

She told Alice Gerrard for Sing Out!, “…I see the story a-happening while I’m singing the song… I guess I’m one that likes what you call your heart and story songs. They tell a story – you’ve got to believe it.”

Rogers of the Opry said, “I always think of her music as pure, and I think that her heart was the same. I don’t think she could have been any other way if she’d tried.”

Wilma Lee continued to record, as well as perform, until her stroke in 2001. In 2010, she appeared on stage once more at the Opry to thank her fans for their years of support.

Wilma Lee and the world of bluegrass. Stoney and Wilma Lee were stars, no matter what genre they were playing. Their partnership was one of a kind. And Wilma – as a singer, as a guitar player, as a fireball on stage and a huge heart off stage – has left a powerful legacy.

In 1994, the International Bluegrass Music Association presented Wilma Lee with its Award of Merit. This year, she will receive its highest honor, induction into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

Rounder’s Levy said, “There are very few women of her generation in the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.” (In fact,
only eight of the current 70 inductees are women or have women members.) And Levy believes Wilma Lee clearly belongs there.

“In terms of being on the Grand Ole Opry, making lots of records, having a substantial career… the uniqueness of her vocal style, playing guitar when most women in bands weren’t playing guitars or instruments… She was a bandleader and a featured voice, face and name, right up there in her own right,” Levy said.

Ken Irwin, another Rounder co-founder, said, “She was an energy source that people didn’t see very often… She would put it all out there. She brought not only the tunes, but the sensibility, of the old-time music that she grew up with, and that she didn’t change.”

Gerrard said the popular female folk revival singers at the time, like Joan Baez and Judy Collins, sounded high and sweet. But Wilma Lee’s voice – like Molly O’Day’s and Ola Belle Reed’s – had grit and strength. “They weren’t holding back. They were letting go – putting their voices out there.” That’s what Gerrard was striving for and what made her duets with Hazel Dickens so compelling.

Andrea Roberts, principal of the Andrea Roberts Agency, was an adolescent when she first saw Wilma Lee perform. “She carried herself so professionally, looked like a star – and backed it up with talent and business leadership. She was a dynamic vocalist – a big, booming voice – and she played the guitar like she meant it! She was not timid… and that left an indelible mark on me even when I didn’t realize it was happening.

“Not until I started my own band as a 21-year-old woman did I realize the significance of Wilma Lee’s role as band leader and front person. At that point in my own career, Wilma Lee’s accomplishments became very important to me, and I looked to her as a role model for persevering in a male-dominated business.”

A daughter’s thoughts. Carol Lee Cooper, Stoney and Wilma Lee’s daughter, who first sang on stage with her parents at age two, has carried on the family musical tradition. As an adult, she joined her parents’ show at the Opry. Eventually, she became a Nashville legend as the long-time leader of the Carol Lee Singers, the back-up vocalists at the Grand Ole Opry. A great vocalist, she was Conway Twitty’s favorite harmony partner.

Carol Lee is proud that her parents’ work is recorded in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. Of her mother’s induction into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, Carol Lee said, “She would be so honored to know that.”

Author’s Note: Many excellent accounts of Wilma Lee’s life and career have been written. A great starting place for anything you want to know about women in bluegrass is Murphy Hicks Henry’s Pretty Good for a Girl. Some other good sources, in addition to the Gerrard interview mentioned above, are Bluegrass Unlimited and liner notes from a Bear Family compilation.

Editor’s Note: “You Can’t Talk About Women in Country Music Without Talking About… Wilma Lee Cooper” by Alice Gerrard (SING OUT! Volume 26 Issue 2, 1977) appears with permission; courtesy of Mark Moss and SING OUT!

Photo Credit: David Gahr, from SING OUT! Volume 26 Issue 2, 1977

Out Now: Chris Housman

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Being part of the queer community, a small community at that, means that I meet many folks, especially queer artists, at Nashville’s lesbian bar, The Lipstick Lounge. This is true not only for Laura Valk of Skout, who was featured on the column in July, but also for Chris Housman. Chris’s friend, Nell Maynard (who co-wrote their song “Blueneck”), was playing at Lipstick Lounge in 2021. This was my first view into Chris’ music. “Blueneck” was blowing up, gaining nearly three million views on TikTok and charting #1 on the iTunes Country chart. Chris has since collaborated with other LGBTQ+ artists in Nashville, including Mercy Bell, and Cali Willson, who was featured in Out Now last month. 

We are excited to share this conversation about Chris’ writing process, insights into his life, and his experiences as a queer musician. AND we can’t wait for Chris Housman’s live performance at our Queerfest/BGS special event at AmericanaFest at SoHo House this Saturday, September 23, from 3-6 p.m. The event is RSVP only. You can do so here.

What’s your ideal vision for your future?

Chris Housman: My ideal vision for my future is to not have a vision for my future. I promise I don’t mean this to be a copout answer, but I’ve been thinking a whole lot about how much “the future” and planning for it is instilled in us from a young age and how much anxiety and disappointment that’s probably caused us. I wrote a very country song about this recently with the hook, “We’re so busy dreaming ’bout tomorrow that we’re sleeping on today.” Of course, we all have to think about the future to some extent and plan things – it would be irresponsible not to. But if I can get to a point where I’m just in a whole bunch of constant “now’s” – how liberating. That’s the ideal vision for my future.

What is your greatest fear?

The strongest fear I’ve encountered so far in life is the fear of not being liked/accepted. I think the best way to get over fears and monsters is to sit with them, not run away from them. I’ve been sitting with that fear a lot in the last few years and I truly believe that my writing and music has also helped me work toward overcoming that.

Why do you create music? What’s more satisfying to you, the process or the outcome?

I create music because I truly can’t imagine doing anything else. Even in the brief time I wasn’t focusing on music, I was still creating it in some way or another. 

Maybe a hot take here, but I think the outcome of creating music is more satisfying than the process. If I’m being honest, the process is often messy, muddy, rough, stressful, beautiful and sometimes… incomplete. I love the process more. But the outcome of having finished creating something that started with a thought in your head and resulted in some sounds that you’re extremely proud of? That’s probably about as satisfying as it gets.

Do you create music primarily for yourself or for others?

The way I see it, if you create music for yourself, it can be for others. If you create music for others, it can’t be for yourself.

Who are your favorite LGBTQ+ artists and bands?

Gah, there are so many I couldn’t possibly get them all in – but right now I’m absolutely obsessed, on a fan and friend level, with new releases from Brooke Eden, Adam Mac, Kentucky Gentlemen, and Adeem the Artist. Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally are some of my biggest songwriting influences. Cali Wilson, Jett Holden and Mercy Bell are some of my favorite voices and humans. And I’ve probably listened to Amythyst Kiah’s album Wary + Strange more than anything in the last two years.

What does it mean to you to be an LGBTQ+ musician? What are your release and touring plans for the next year? 

Being an LGBTQ+ musician automatically means resilience, to me. It means someone that’s willing to vulnerably and artistically share all of the beautiful parts of themselves despite being told in some capacity they shouldn’t. 

As of now, I’m planning on releasing my next single this fall, followed by my debut full-length album toward the top of 2024! That record really represents my life’s work up to this point and I am so ridiculously excited to finish and share it. I have a few random shows and Pride events lined up for next year, but am also just putting it out there that I think it would be so lovely to land a cheeky tour opening slot or something. 😉

What was the process of writing, recording and promoting “Blueneck?” What was it like for you to see it take off like it did? 

Wow, it was WILD! To be completely honest, the idea to write a song about being a liberal redneck called “Blueneck” came to me while on a mushroom trip toward the end of 2020. I then moved it to my ongoing note of ideas where it sat for a few months, until I was in a Zoom co-writing session with (fellow queer songwriter) Nell Maynard and Tommy Kratzert. Tommy played a track idea he had that sounded SO commercial country, like something Florida Georgia Line would do. Hearing that track and knowing I was writing with like-minded friends I trusted and felt comfortable with, I said something along the lines of, “Hey guys, I have this crazy idea – hear me out.”

We wrote just the chorus that day and I posted it to all of my 72 followers on TikTok at the time. It started blowing up, we finished writing it a couple days later, recorded it a few days after that, somehow managed to release it less than a month after starting to write the song, and with the help of over 4 million collective views of the song on TikTok, it debuted as the #1 song on the iTunes Country chart, #4 iTunes all-genre, and the #16 on the Billboard Digital Country Sales chart. This still doesn’t even seem real as I say this, haha!

To have ANY song take off like “Blueneck” did is obviously incredible, validating of all the work I’ve put in thus far, exciting, mind-blowing, inspiring. But for it to be not just any song, but “Blueneck” that is essentially just a telling of my life and my values as a queer person that grew up on a farm and wants everybody to feel seen and worthy of a seat at the table – that’s like life mission accomplished stuff right there. It’s like oh yeah this is so much bigger than just chasing a dream because I love music. And as awesome as it is that so many folks felt seen by the song, I also felt tremendously seen by the audience; I found my people!

You’ve done a lot of collaborating with other LGBTQ+ artists – including Cali Wilson, Mercy Bell and Nell Maynard. Could you tell us about your experiences working with other queer artists and growing your careers together? 

I absolutely looooove working with other queer artists/songwriters/creatives! Even just entering the writing room (or other creative space) with fellow queers, there is a secret understood alliance of sorts. You’ve gone through similar struggles just to get into that space together, so there’s no need to be unauthentic and put more obstacles in your own way – which leads to REAL songs. Another one of my favorite parts about creating with other LGBTQ+ and other marginalized artists is that the feeling of competition completely goes out the window. We’re on the same team, so why would I view someone on my team succeeding as a bad thing? It brings us all up. And then we win!

Photo Credit: Ford Fairchild

This Music Festival’s Goal Is Healing Appalachia, From the Inside Out (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

This weekend, September 21, 22, and 23, at the West Virginia State Fairgrounds in Lewisburg, West Virginia, ascendant, down home country star Tyler Childers and his cohort will gather for an event begun in 2018 called Healing Appalachia. The benefit festival, put on by West Virginia based non-profit Hope in the Hills, will include performances by some of the biggest and buzziest names in American roots music: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Trey Anastasio Band, Marcus King, Umphrey’s McGee, Amythyst Kiah and many more.

Healing Appalachia is just one of many such community-led, collective efforts born from within the region in recent years that is working towards effecting positive change while offering local, ground-up solutions to big, systemic problems. Their social media and website put it elegantly and succinctly: Their vision is a prosperous Appalachia, free from addiction. The opioid crisis has hit Appalachia, especially West Virginia and Childers’ home state of Kentucky, incredibly hard. When 26 people overdosed on one day in Huntington, West Virginia, in 2016, the mission for Hope in the Hills and Healing Appalachia was born.

At the time, Childers and his hardscrabble team were still climbing the music-industry ladder, building connections and community that would eventually grow and blossom into the multi-day event Healing Appalachia has become today. Childers’ friend and manager, Ian Thornton – who founded WhizzbangBAM, the booking and management company that represents Childers – together with festival program director Charlie Hatcher, Hope in the Hills board president Dave Lavender, and others took that tragic day in Huntington and turned it into an accretion point, around which they gathered and took action. Now, the festival has a local, annual economic impact approaching $3 million while raising thousands of dollars to be distributed to local, on-the-ground organizations and non-profits that specialize in addiction programs, recovery, support and healing for this long-oppressed region of the world.

We spoke to Ian Thornton and Dave Lavender for a two-part interview preview of Healing Appalachia, that dives into the work of Hope in the Hills and explores this grassroots music event’s community-first mission, that hopes to heal these music-steeped, underestimated communities in Appalachia from the inside out. Read our conversation with Ian Thornton below, read our conversation with Dave Lavender here.

Unable to attend the festival this weekend? You can donate to support the cause here.

Could you tell me a little bit about the background, the impetus, or the inspiration when you all were putting your heads together to make an event called Healing Appalachia. What was that like?

Ian Thornton: I’m very close friends with a fellow named Charlie Hatcher, who’s actually the festival producer for the event. The idea came to him first – you know, he tells the story better than I do – but he was on a fishing trip and got a call that yet another one of his friends had passed away from an opioid overdose. You know, we’ve all lost countless friends who we grew up with, went to school with, and I guess you’d say this one was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Charlie just kind of wanted to do something about it. He reached out to me and we got our heads working.

We’re not a recovery organization ourselves, right? But what we’re good at is the music side of things, producing events, working with musicians, playing music, inspiring people, bringing people together. That’s kind of how it was born. I talked to Charlie, who is friends with Tyler [Childers], too, and obviously this is something Tyler is very passionate about.

Tyler is also from Appalachia and he’s lost friends and family members, himself. The idea kind of spawned from thinking, “What if we do essentially a Farm Aid type of event?” The thought process was to have Tyler be the face of it and have all the efforts go towards recovery and the battle against the opioid epidemic here in Appalachia.

What I love about a cause like this is that the music itself is generative and restorative, and isn’t just a tool to generate interest or awareness. How do music and the arts play a role in a mission like this, in healing Appalachia, where the music can do the work as well as spotlighting the work? Do you agree or disagree?

IT: I certainly agree, and I think music is one of those things that ties everyone together, right? On a base level.

This one I think is in particular, it’s special because substance use and music are pretty closely tied together. A lot of musicians suffer from [substance abuse], and it’s part of the lifestyle, right? It’s part of what you see as “the rock and roll lifestyle” or whatever you call it. They kind of go hand in hand. We’re all more aware of it now, too, and we all know folks who have taken things to the extreme, then they’ve had to kind of pull back and get sober after feeling like they lost their way. We wanna show that sobriety and rock and roll – or whatever you want to call it – can live together harmoniously, just as easy as the party side of things.

A very good friend of mine, who’s no longer with us, Tom Morgan, he battled with sobriety for a long time. He was one of the guys that taught me my first chords on a guitar, right? And it got to the point, for him, where he couldn’t even go to shows locally, because they’re always at bars, right? Venues and bars are so closely associated that it can be difficult for someone who is in recovery.

I think that’s why the music side of Healing Appalachia, using music to bring awareness to this epidemic, really goes hand-in-hand. Even some of our performers – Trey Anastasio is performing this year and I think he’s over 15 years sober, now. Obviously with Phish, which is, you know, the jam band, you would assume, drug culture and everything else is associated with that. But, Trey’s only gotten greater in what he’s done with his musicianship. And, you know, Tyler even comments too that his artistry has improved and he’s been able to focus more on it since becoming sober and quitting drinking.

What is the importance of community and mutual aid to this mission, and how important is it that you all are not just people coming in from the outside, that you all have a stake in this – regionally and locally. Do you think that building community as you’re doing this is just as important as doing the work as well?

IT: Yeah. And, you know, to be honest, I think that’s where it has to start. You can look at things on these big levels and you can just get overcome or overwhelmed with how large the changes you’re trying to make are. At that point you get discouraged and you’re not going to do it.

Living inside Appalachia, we have heard all of the stereotypes. That we’re, you know, “Shoeless, toothless, drug-addled, fat…” We’ve dealt with these things and we’ve dealt with the oppression of the coal industry, of big money, of big pharma. All of this built on the backs of Appalachians.

I’ve always been someone who believes that you have to start locally. You have to have something that’s attainable. Something you can put your hands on and something that’s meaningful – it’s more meaningful to us because we’re in the fucking thick of it, right? I mean, Huntington, West Virginia, was almost the nucleus of the opioid crisis, and that’s the city I was born and raised in. We watched [everything] happen, the day there were 26 overdoses in one day due to a bad batch of heroin coming in. If you create something locally and have local people that are invested, what that does is it will not only grow the mission in and of itself, to help people become more aware. But one of my ultimate goals was always for someone else to see what we’re doing and it inspires them to do something in their region. Sometimes that’s all people need. They just need to be pushed over the hump to get the inspiration.

Do you have an idea of the scale of the economic impact of the festival, not only for your mission, but also for the area in general?

Yeah, so I’m going to refer to my fact sheet here. [Laughs] We’ve estimated $2.4 million in local economy spending in southern West Virginia and the Lewisburg area. That’s like hotels, gas stations, shops, restaurants, everything. On top of that, we donate money directly, too, and we pull a lot of volunteers from the region.

Like, the local high school basketball team will come and clean up trash. We’ve given more than $50,000 to local youth organizations in Greenbrier County alone. I think we had over 30 states and 6 countries represented last year in concertgoers.
It does make the point for you: You can have all of the apparatus and all the infrastructure, but if you don’t have the community, how do you take those numbers and turn them into something that means something to the people who are on the ground there in West Virginia? And involving them, too, right? Everything from the car lots to catering to cooking burgers out back.

To date, we have donated over $400,000 to recovery wellness organizations. That goes to over two dozen different organizations. We’re not a recovery organization ourselves, right? We’re facilitators. What we’re trying to do is give people that want to do that side of the work the means to do it. We don’t have this crazy application process for grantees. You don’t have to have a degree in grant writing to come to us. Tell us what it is you’re doing, tell us what you need. It could be needle exchange programs or money going towards Jacob’s Ladder, which is an organization for children that were born addicted. We try to hit all sides of it that we can, relying on donations as well as funds raised from the concert itself.

What bands, acts, or artists are you particularly excited about this year when you look at the lineup? It’s a pretty stout lineup!

To be quite honest, I’m pretty excited about the whole thing! When this started it was a small, one day event. I think we only had around 7,500 people show up to it. Last year, we had 16,000+ plus.

I’m personally pretty excited about Trey Anastasio and Classic TAB. I’m such a Phish fan, obviously, and can’t believe we’re having Trey play right before Tyler. I’m just really stoked about that! Also excited for Gov’t Mule, Isbell, 49 Winchester, who are cruising right now. And then, you know, keeping some local folks involved, too, your Kelsey Waldon, Charles Wesley Godwin. And Mr. Tommy Prime, who is fantastic and obviously, his father was an inspiration to a lot of these folks.

It’s really special to see some of these folks actually coming to us now. At first, you know how it is, you have to go beg people, “Hey… I’m doing this charity thing… You want to go play for free? We’ll get you in the local paper…” The “exposure” gigs, right? And now the pitch writes itself! The work that’s been done speaks for itself and people get behind it.

It goes back to the tie with substance abuse and music. You know, they go hand in hand. … I drink, right? It’s nothing that I’m personally [abusing], thankfully. But substance abuse is a thing that can get out of hand in the music industry.

Tommy Prine performs at Healing Appalachia 2022.

Let’s close with two questions and they feel very big, but don’t be alarmed: What does a healed Appalachia look like to you, personally? And what’s one thing that you’d like people to know about Appalachia?

IT: I mean in healing Appalachia, we just have to make it so that folks don’t feel trapped or alone. And to let them know, if it’s a battle they’re going up against, they’re not the first one to do it, even if it’s not an easy battle. It’s not going to be a mound to climb, it’s a goddamn mountain, right? So, having the availability and the resources in place so that when someone is ready to take this on, whether it be the first time or the 10th time, that they don’t feel ashamed or guilty about it. That they feel loved and like a human being.

Question 2, I think wherever you come from, rural, urban, or whatever, it’s the stigmas, right? I want people to know how those stigmas make an impact. The stereotypes of, “They’re fat, uneducated. They live in hills and don’t wear shoes, right?” The whole reason I do what I do, with Whizzbang in particular, I only work with acts from our region. And I do that specifically. When I started getting into all this, even before Tyler, just seeing the music that’s created here. We are not just one thing, right? Nobody is just one thing. You cannot judge a whole people by the bit of the iceberg that floats on top.

The stuff on top that’s the most visual, but you can’t judge a whole people by that. Appalachia is the most beautiful place in the country. Granted, I’m biased. I grew up there.

(Editor’s Note: Read part two, our conversation with Hope in the Hills board president Dave Lavender, here.)

Photos by Hunter Way / Impact Media

LISTEN: Veronique Medrano, “Dear Dorothy”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Veronique Medrano
Hometown: Brownsville, Texas
Song: “Dear Dorothy”
Album: MexiAmericana
Release Date: September 22, 2023

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Dear Dorothy’ as a playful way to address my luck – or lack thereof – when it came to love in my 20s, and to address the stories that we women tell to and hear from our best friends during a break up. Also acknowledging the hilarity in how life can take the wildest turns, especially when we least expect it. I wrote this song as an homage to my best friend, Dorothy, who passed away, with the hope that the essence of our friendship and humor would shine through. Dating in your 20s is full of wild and crazy stories, and so my thought is… what if after the break up everything went better? This song, along with the many others that I wrote or selected for my album, were to acknowledge and celebrate the seasons of love, heartbreak, independence and self discovery that brought me to the place I am now.” – Veronique Medrano

Track Credits: Written by Veronique Michelle Medrano

Producer: Mariano Herrera, Veronique Medrano
Engineer: Mariano Herrera
Mixing & Mastering: Mariano Herrera, Veronique Medrano
Executive Producer: Mario Davila
Recording Supervisor: Javi G
Recorded at Produce Sound Studios

Photo courtesy of Marushka Media

33 Must-See Roots Artists at This Year’s Bourbon & Beyond

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Since 2017, Bourbon & Beyond has become one of the BGS Team’s favorite annual events. The music, spirits and food festival held at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky, always boasts a roots-forward lineup – on and off the BGS Stage.

In anticipation of Bourbon & Beyond kicking off Thursday, September 14, and running through Sunday, September 17, let’s preview all of the artists gracing our stage throughout the weekend – and we’ll throw in a few we’re excited to catch on the main stages as well. 

Limited tickets are still available! Join us this weekend at Bourbon & Beyond in Kentucky. Scroll to see the full schedule for the BGS Stage. 

The Arcadian Wild – BGS Stage

We’ve been a fan of this bluegrass-infused Nashville string/Americana band for more than a few years now. In 2021 we invited the Arcadian Wild to perform a Yamaha Artist Session, for which they performed two songs, “Hey Runner” and “Finch In the Pantry.” They hit the BGS Stage at B&B on Sunday.

Armchair Boogie – BGS Stage

We recently caught this jammy Wisconsin outfit, Armchair Boogie, at Earl Scruggs Music Festival, where they burnt down their late-night set. You have two opportunities to see them on the BGS Stage, as they’ll kick us off both Friday and Saturday.

The Avett Brothers – Main Stage

These Saturday headliners need no introduction to our BGS readers and followers, as the Avett Brothers have been a staple of our community for nearly our entire lifespan. Looking at the Bourbon & Beyond lineup poster, it’s hard to believe we didn’t book this entire event! 

Jon Batiste – Main Stage

Fresh off the release of a brand new album, World Music Radio, in August, don’t miss Americana renaissance man Jon Batiste when he hits the B&B main stage on Sunday. We can certainly appreciate this Louisianan’s love for blurring genre lines – a perfect fit for Bourbon & Beyond.

Brandi Carlile – Main Stage

Let’s return to MerleFest 2019, the last time we had a stage at a festival Brandi Carlile headlined – and she brought her pals the Avetts out to sing “Murder In the City.” A BGS classic! We’ll be running from the BGS Stage to see Brandi on Thursday evening for sure.

Brandy Clark – Main Stage

Appropriate that Brandi and Brandy would end up as list neighbors and both on the Bourbon & Beyond main stage lineup, as the former produced the latter’s stunning new self-titled album. Clark has been a Music Row mainstay as an artist and songwriter for decades, but with her new record and her hit Broadway show, Shucked (penned with Shane McAnally), she’s finally getting her well-deserved flowers. 

Clay Street Unit – BGS Stage

We crossed paths with Denver, Colorado, country-folk-grass group Clay Street Unit earlier this year at WinterWonderGrass, so we’re more than pleased to have them on the BGS Stage on Thursday afternoon. 

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper – BGS Stage

Fiddlin’ phenom Michael Cleveland has performed for BGS at Bourbon & Beyond before, but with his new critically-acclaimed album, Lovin’ of the Game, and his recent selection as our March 2023 Artist of the Month, it’s the perfect time to get him back to Louisville. It’s basically home turf for Cleveland, and his set Thursday evening is not to be missed.

The Cleverlys – BGS Stage

Bluegrass’s preeminent song-interpreters – or song skewer-ers, depending on how you look at it – are a humorous hoot, bolstered by fantastic picking and on-stage personas pulled straight out of a caricature book. If you’ve never seen the Cleverlys live and in person, now’s your chance to catch covers like this waltz version of Radiohead’s “Creep” like you’ve never heard them before. 

Della Mae – BGS Stage

Our old pals Della Mae brought an outsized energy and charisma with them to their sets at Earl Scruggs Music Festival a couple of weeks ago, wowing the crowds in North Carolina. Now the groundbreaking bluegrass foursome set their sites on the BGS Stage at Bourbon & Beyond. There’s a reason why this group of all women remains a stalwart in bluegrass, old-time and Americana.

Myron Elkins – BGS Stage

If you’re not familiar with guitarist and Americana alt-rocker Myron Elkins, you’re about to be! His debut album, Factories, Farms & Amphetamines, was produced by superstar musician-engineer-producer Dave Cobb and released on Elektra. Catch him as he ascends on the BGS Stage on Thursday, kicking off the entire weekend for us at 12:30 p.m.

Fantastic Negrito – Main Stage

Fantastic Negrito is a one-of-a-kind performer. An expert in blues – and a purveyor of post-blues, neo-blues, and the tastiest of fringe Americana – Fantastic Negrito occupies a stage like no other. He’s a Bourbon & Beyond veteran as well, and his past performances are seared into our memories of this amazing event. Do not miss!

First Aid Kit – Main Stage

Indie folk duo First Aid Kit, made up of Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, are a favorite of BGS readers – the kind of readers who equally love Bill Monroe, Nickel Creek and boygenius. Get a taste at their Saturday main stage set or check out our 2018 feature on the group.

Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors – Main Stage

Don’t you just wish Drew and Ellie Holcomb and the Neighbors were your neighbors? (Sigh…) It just seems like it would be lovely. At any rate, you can catch up with these fine folks from next door on the main stage at B&B on Thursday. 

Brittany Howard – Main Stage

A god of rock and roll incarnate, Brittany Howard’s particular brand of roots rock is enormous and will fill the Bourbon & Beyond main stage and then some. If you haven’t caught the Alabama Shakes front person recently, now is your chance. Howard hits the main stage on Friday.

The Lil’ Smokies – BGS Stage

Formed in Montana, the Lil’ Smokies combine so many contemporary bluegrass influences into a Western-influenced, jam-forward sound. We enjoy every chance we have to cross paths with this group – if you miss their set at Bourbon & Beyond, catch the Lil’ Smokies at AmericanaFest in Nashville very soon.

Lindsay Lou – BGS Stage

Roots singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou is entering yet another new era of her career, with her signing to Kill Rock Stars and upcoming album, Queen of Time, due out later this month. At Bourbon & Beyond you’ll have two chances to hear current and past sounds from Lindsay Lou – on both Saturday and Sunday on the BGS Stage.

The Lone Bellow – Main Stage

One of our all-time favorite rootsy, folky, string band trios. It’s been too long since we’ve reconnected with our friends The Lone Bellow and we’re grateful B&B will give us that opportunity when they play the main stage on Thursday.

Lola Kirke – BGS Stage

Lola Kirke, who you can see on Friday on the BGS Stage at B&B, is an accomplished actress whose dream is to be a country singer – dream, achieved! She makes joyous, lyrical, story-rich music that pulls as much from country’s grit as its glitz. (And an appearance from lineup-mates First Aid Kit on “All My Exes Live in L.A.” is the cherry on top.)

Joy Oladokun – Main Stage

Intricate and involved indie folk is Joy Oladokun’s medium, her songs dripping with pop sensibilities and led by an agnostic approach to genre that builds on work by predecessors like Aimee Mann, Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman, k.d. lang, and many more. Oladokun continues to rise through the music-industry ranks, her latest album Proof of Life building more momentum off the ex-evangelical’s heart-forward, earnest, stoner indie pop.

Old Crow Medicine Show – Main Stage

Old Crow Medicine Show bring the Jubilee to Bourbon & Beyond! Don’t miss the party as the world’s most renowned and rollicking string band celebrates their just-released album on the B&B main stage on Saturday. And keep an eye out for a BGS feature on the new record coming soon to the site.

Pixie & The Partygrass Boys – BGS Stage

Another of our WinterWonderGrass pals headed to Bourbon & Beyond! Catch Pixie & the Partygrass Boys on the BGS Stage kicking off our final day of music on Sunday. You’ll certainly enjoy the party – unless you’re a fascist, in which case, avoid our stage altogether or you might get eaten by some chickens.

Darrell Scott Band – Main Stage

Darrell Scott is a musical shapeshifter, effortlessly moving from Music Row country to dyed-in-the-wool bluegrass to rocking and rolling. At his Bourbon & Beyond main stage set on Friday, you’re sure to hear new tracks from his recent album, Old Cane Back Rocker, made with the Darrell Scott String Band, as well as original hits like “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive” and some tasty covers, too. We never get enough of Darrell Scott! (Watch for an interview with Scott coming to BGS soon.)

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen – BGS Stage

If this is the kitchen dirty, let’s never clean it up! Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen are a shredding bluegrass jam band certainly worth sticking around for on Sunday evening. You’ll hear music from their most recent Compass Records album, Hold On, which recently turned one year old, and plenty of mind-(and string-)bending solos.

Mavis Staples – Main Stage

Put the legendary Mavis Staples’ main stage set (Friday, 3:50 p.m., Oak Stage) on your calendar and circle it. And underline it. And set a push notification. We are grateful every single time we get to occupy the same space and air as Mavis, and this time will be no different. It’s a privilege to walk the earth at the same time as this civil rights leader and musical oracle! 

Billy Strings – Main Stage

Not so long ago our old friend Billy Strings would have been playing our BGS Stage, but not anymore, this flatpickin’ global sensation has decidedly hit the big time! We’ve so enjoyed watching Billy move up and up and up in the world and we can’t wait to see his main stage set at Bourbon & Beyond Thursday night. With such a stacked lineup, the special guest opportunities are exciting and limitless. 

Town Mountain – BGS Stage 

Western North Carolina string band Town Mountain have built up their sound over the past few years to where they feel and sound something like Ricky Skaggs in his country days — bluegrass bones, but fleshed out country. Their songs still go by you like a rousing honky tonk dance band, bluegrass or no, but with spit and polish and thousands of miles under their belts. Worth an add to your B&B to-do list!

Twisted Pine – BGS Stage

Another group that blew us away at Earl Scruggs Music Festival, Twisted Pine turns the jamgrass model on its ear, building their vibey, virtuosic songs and tunes with as much jazz interwoven as bluegrass, old-time, and country. They’re like Lake Street Dive and Crooked Still, mashed up together and lingering a bit longer in string band traditions – from across the Americana continuum – before taking off. Plus, bluegrass just needs more flute, right? See them Friday on the BGS Stage.

Two Runner – BGS Stage

We’re glad to be bringing some California sounds to Kentucky with Two Runner, old-time and Americana duo of Paige Anderson and Emilie Rose coming to B&B. They bring to mind duos like Hazel & Alice and Anna & Elizabeth, combining country harmonies and old-time instrumentation – all dragged through the coastal evergreen woods of Northern California. Hear them Thursday on the BGS Stage.

Dan Tyminski – BGS Stage

Dan Tyminski headlining a BGS Stage is simply a dream come true! This multi-hyphenate, lifelong bluegrasser has been a member of so many seminal and groundbreaking bluegrass groups and projects. He’s had a full career within and outside of bluegrass, but lately has returned to the genre that made him with a new band, a new album, God Fearing Heathen, excellent songs, and that voice – fit for George Clooney. 

Kelsey Waldon – BGS Stage

Kelsey Waldon on her home turf! Though she hails from West Kentucky, the entire state is certainly this country singer-songwriter’s domain. We’ve collaborated quite a bit with Waldon across her career, and are looking forward to her headline set closing out our first day of Bourbon & Beyond on the BGS Stage. She may be country, but her bluegrass roots run deep – and will be on full display at B&B for sure. 

Sunny War – BGS Stage

 One of our favorite guitarists of the last several years has released one of our favorite albums of 2023, Anarchist Gospel. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, you won’t want to miss Sunny War perform on the BGS Stage on Saturday. Her right hand is confounding and inspiring, an often textural and tone-setting device in her bigger sounding recent songs that combine punk, blues, indie and more. Not to be missed! 

Hailey Whitters – Main Stage

It’s no secret BGS loves some good country. Hailey Whitters is certainly some of the best to come out of Music Row in recent memory, releasing radio-ready bops that are fun and exuberant, yes, but also have a rich and subversive well of influences, content and production styles. That Whitters is connected with all the best pickers and singers in Nashville and has a penchant for bluegrass are nice little details to remember about this TikTok phenom. Worth a mosey to the main stage on Sunday, certainly!

 

The Bluegrass Situation Stage – Daily Schedule

Thursday, September 14

5:45 p.m. – Kelsey Waldon
4:15 p.m. – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
3 p.m. – Two Runner
1:45 p.m. – Clay Street Unit
12:30 p.m. – Myron Elkins

Friday, September 15

5:45 p.m. – The Lil’ Smokies
4:15 p.m. – The Cleverlys
3 p.m. – Twisted Pine
1:45 p.m. – Lola Kirke
12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie

Saturday, September 16

5:45 p.m. – Town Mountain
4:15 p.m. – Della Mae
3 p.m. – Lindsay Lou
1:45 p.m. – Sunny War
12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie

Sunday, September 17

5:45 p.m. – Dan Tyminski
4:15 p.m. – Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
3 p.m. – The Arcadian Wild
1:45 p.m.- Lindsay Lou
12:30 p.m. – Pixie & The Partygrass Boys

Purchase your Bourbon & Beyond tickets here.

 

WATCH: Rosanne Cash, “The Wheel” Live at Austin City Limits in 1993

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Rosanne Cash
Hometown: Born in Memphis, TN; Now lives in New York City
Song: “The Wheel” (Remaster) & “The Wheel” Live at Austin City Limits (1993)
Album: The Wheel 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Release Date: November 17, 2023
Label: RumbleStrip Records

In Their Words: “The Wheel was a seminal record for both me and John [Leventhal]. I seldom like looking back, or indulging in nostalgia, as present and future work is still so exciting for both of us, but this record was — and is now, in its re-mastered version, with the new photos, new liner notes, and added live performance disc — a cherished moment in our careers, and our personal lives. We have been partners in life and work since we created it. Every step along the way, we’ve reinvented The Wheel, and with this re-release, we’re proud to say, ‘This record opened a new road. Our lives changed because of this album. This is a moment to remember.'” – Rosanne Cash

Photo Credit: Pamela Springsteen

LISTEN: Ross Cooper, “Love Like The Old Days”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Ross Cooper
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Love Like The Old Days”
Album: Lightning Heart
Release Date: September 29, 2023

In Their Own Words: “Aaron Raitiere and I were both on the same flight coming back to Nashville and sat together, opened up our journals, and wrote this song in a couple of hours. We’d been struggling to get a date on the books to write, so that plane ride was kind of a ‘stars-aligning moment.’ I wanted to write a song about my wife and the type of relationship that our folks have. The type of marriage worth writing about. This song fell out. I knew it was going to be a special song from the moment we finished it. And the cherry on top of all of it was I got my wife, O’Neal (who swears up and down that she ‘can’t sing’), to sing harmony on the track, and she sounds beautiful. Now it’s all full circle, and we have a song we get to share together. Some songs are easy to write… like they were waiting to get written. ‘Love Like The Old Days’ feels like that song for me.” – Ross Cooper

Photo Credit: Sam Wiseman

BGS, Queerfest Announce AmericanaFest Event at Soho House Nashville

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

BGS is proud to announce a special AmericanaFest event in partnership with Queerfest, the Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree, to be held at Soho House Nashville on Saturday, September 23, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. during the 23rd annual Americana Music Festival & Conference. Featuring curated performances by a world-class selection of queer country artists, the Soho House event will only be open to members of the private club and hotel as well as AmericanaFest conference passholders. Space is limited; RSVP here. It’s a rare opportunity for non-member attendees of AmericanaFest to access the gorgeous, exclusive facilities of Soho House Nashville in the burgeoning Wedgewood Houston neighborhood.

In celebration of BGS’ expansion and creation of a new vertical, Good Country (coming in early 2024), our team has collaborated with QueerFest – winners of the Nashville Scene‘s Best New Music Festival recognition in 2022 – and Soho House Nashville. Together, we’ll bring you this exclusive gathering celebrating the very best LGBTQ+ talent in the Americana and country spheres, and the campaign launch of Good Country, an all-new country music-centered Substack and editorial channel coming from BGS in 2024.

During the three-hour showcase hear music from Black Opry member and big-voiced singer-songwriter Jett Holden. Plus, the writer and performer of viral leftist country track “Blueneck,” Chris Housman. BGS and Queerfest alumni, vibey bluegrass and Americana duo Amanda Fields & Megan McCormick will perform their Virginia- and Alaska-inspired music, and critically-acclaimed non-binary storyteller and song spinner, Adeem the Artist, will round out the slate of performers. Special guests and surprise appearances are in store, too – it’s AmericanaFest, after all!

The Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree is just one of many AmericanaFest events, official and grassroots, that will highlight the ongoing community crafting and momentum building of LGBTQ+ folks in Americana, country, folk and beyond. Do not miss this superlative AmericanaFest event, brought to you by Queerfest, Soho House Nashville, and BGS.

 

The Good Ol’ Queer Country Jamboree
featuring Adeem the Artist, Amanda Fields & Megan McCormick, Jett Holden, Chris Housman, and more.
Saturday, September 23, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Soho House Nashville
RSVP Here.

Artist photos courtesy of the artists.

WATCH: Gwen Levey and the Breakdown, “Barefoot and Pregnant”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Gwen Levey and the Breakdown
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Barefoot and Pregnant”
Album: Not the Girl Next Door EP
Release Date: November 3, 2023

In Their Words: “RIP Roe V Wade. That was such a dark day. It’s a very personal issue for me and most women. I was a child who was sexually assaulted. So, everything that’s been happening hit me really hard, especially here in Tennessee, which has the strictest abortion ban. That, even if you’re a child, you can’t get help for anything like that. The song has a serious social commentary, but I wanted it to still be fun so it’s more accessible. You have to be brave to sing that in the south.

“This song is for all the freedom-lovin’, democracy-lovin’, country music-lovin’ people out there who want to help women win back their Reproductive Rights!” – Gwen Levey

Photo Credit: Jonathan Freeland

Artist of the Month: Willie Nelson

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Earlier this year legendary musician, songwriter and recording artist Willie Nelson announced his 151st studio album would be a return to bluegrass, this time reimagining 12 of his own originals with a string band lineup. Available September 15 and simply titled Bluegrass, the Buddy Cannon-produced project reinforces the career-long relationship Nelson has had with bluegrass and bluegrass pickers, calling on old friends and collaborators like Barry Bales, Ron Block and Dan Tyminski, as well as band members and vocalists Aubrey Haynie, Rob Ickes, Josh Martin, Mickey Raphael, Seth Taylor, Bobby Terry, Wyatt Beard and Melonie Cannon.

Nelson is a revered song interpreter and cross-genre adventurer, covering and recording songs from all across the American roots music landscape, from the Great American Songbook to blues and soul, from jazz to Texas swing. No corner of Americana in any/all of its forms has been left untouched by this prolific music maker. But his relationship to bluegrass – similar to his peers like Dolly Parton or Lee Ann Womack, or his acolytes and emulators like Sturgill Simpson and Kacey Musgraves – speaks to the primordial relationship between country and bluegrass, more than just musical touristing or a genre-based gimmick. Nelson doesn’t put on “bluegrass” as a costume, he brings it forward from the earliest days of country music as a genre, before sub-genres like bluegrass had stratified and coalesced as identities somewhat separate from country as a whole. It’s part of what makes Bluegrass a compelling collection, tracks like “Still Is Still Moving to Me,” the album’s lead single, don’t feel like songs wearing bluegrass drag, but rather feel like country gone back to its roots.

Across a career that has touched so many other musicians, singers, and creators – from Waylon Jennings to Ray Charles to Snoop Dogg – it follows that Nelson has counted many bluegrass greats among his album guests, track features, and show bills. He’s toured extensively with Alison Krauss & Union Station over the past two decades; it’s no surprise to find a handful of Union Station alumni on Bluegrass. He’s recorded with Rhonda Vincent, Billy Strings and all the McCoury boys, Del, Rob and Ronnie – the latter two have toured with Willie, too. Country Music, a 2010 release from Nelson produced by Americana superstar T Bone Burnett, was also a bluegrass-centered album, pulling from the deep and broad repertoire of early country, old-time and bluegrass – when the three genres could be represented by a Venn diagram of one circle.

There are so many facets of Nelson’s music making that feel patently bluegrass: his love of borderless, boundless cover songs; his ability as a picker standing equal with his songwriting and one-of-a-kind vocal interpretations; his endless output of personal, meaningful music; his mutual admiration of his compatriots, adorers and mentees. The list could go on ad infinitum. It makes perfect sense that this year he’ll join the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

It’s rare that a multi-hyphenate musician and songwriter such as Willie Nelson can shift so effortlessly between contexts, gathering and maintaining a diverse following that understands great music can – and should – transcend not only genre, but all of the trappings of the music industry. It’s part of why Bluegrass feels grounded, honest and resonant. Willie Nelson isn’t playing pretend, he’s just being himself – and that might be the most bluegrass thing about him.

Watch for our Artist of the Month feature, an in-depth exploration of Willie Nelson’s relationship with bluegrass across his life and career coming later this month, and enjoy our Essential Willie Nelson Playlist, featuring many of his bluegrass forays among his popular recordings and our BGS favorites.

Photo Credit: James Minchin