Sister Sadie Are
At Their Strongest, Together

The last time BGS spoke at length with Sister Sadie, in December 2020, they were two-time IBMA winners, GRAMMY nominees, and clearly on their trailblazing way with two albums to their credit. Fast-forward five years and the group, now in its thirteenth year, is back as BGS Artist of the Month with their new and fourth album, All Will Be Well, following last year’s No Fear.

Sister Sadie 2025 includes founding members Gena Britt (banjo, vocals) and Deanie Richardson (fiddle) with Jaelee Roberts (guitar, lead vocals), Dani Flowers (guitar, vocals), Rainy Miatke (mandolin, vocals), and Katie Blomarz-Kimball (bass, vocals). Along the way to solidifying this lineup, the band notched a few more personal and professional milestones. Since becoming the first all-female band to win IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 2020 they’ve won three Vocal Group of the Year awards from the trade organization as well; performed at The Grand Ole Opry numerous times, fulfilled what they describe as “our ongoing bucket list” of goal festivals and other dates they hoped to play; charted several Number One singles; and were among the artists requested to perform at Patty Loveless’s Country Music Hall of Fame induction.

All Will Be Well is the band’s second project for the Mountain Home Music Company label. It was tracked at Crossroads Recording Studios in Arden, North Carolina, with Clay Miller engineering and Richardson producing. While the band did not set out to write a concept album, All Will Be Well is in many ways just that in its explorations of life lessons, experiences gained, and finding closure – the latter powerfully represented in “Let The Circle Be Broken,” a revealing take on ending the cycle of generational trauma.

Sister Sadie gathered together from various points to speak with BGS. Their six-member Artist of the Month interview, following, has been edited for space and clarity.

How have your many accomplishments to date brought the band to this point?

Deanie Richardson: We never intended to be a full-time band. We were friends who played a one-off at the Station Inn. That went so well that we decided to do another one. Gena started getting phone calls from promoters and we thought, “That might be fun. Let’s do it.” From there, we got a call from a record label and it grew organically, doing everything ourselves, because we weren’t looking to do it a hundred percent.

With every person that’s come into Sister Sadie, the whole band has shifted. The energy changes every time you bring in a new vocalist, a new player. You have to just let this thing guide itself. With each personnel change comes a new sound and you have to rebuild and regroup. I feel like that has happened since the last time we spoke with you guys. With Katie and Rainy here now, the energy feels perfect.

We finally have this team around us – booking agents, management, publicists – helping now and we get to focus more on the music and the amazing women in this band. So, for me, it feels like every step led to where we are right now, and it feels so right.

Gena Britt: With these personnel changes we’ve gained some wonderful songwriters, and they bring this creativity to the band. Like Deanie said, we’ve evolved into what we are today and that has a lot to do with being together, being creative together, growing as a band, and Deanie and I growing as businesswomen. It’s incredible to think of where we were when we first started and had no intention of doing this. And here we are. We have an incredible team behind us and it’s working. All the ingredients are here.

Let’s talk about the theme of All Will Be Well and sequencing the songs to tell that story.

Dani Flowers: When we went in to make the record, we definitely did not go, “This is [the title], this is the theme, and this is what it’s going to be about.” But it almost feels like we did.

We all write songs and send them to each other in Dropbox, an Apple Music playlist, and listen to them over and over. We put our opinions in as to what we might want to sing, what we hear other people singing, what songs we think are a good fit for the band, and it comes together into this thing that we almost never could have planned.

I do feel there is an overarching production style, even a theme, throughout the sequencing. But it wasn’t planned, which is the crazy thing. Deanie did the sequencing, and even outside of the band we’ve had so many folks comment on how it’s such a journey. I think the sequencing on this record is really something.

DR: The title No Fear was about Gena and I facing fears of losing some powerful personnel and deciding, “Do we want to quit? Do we want to keep going?” We decided we wanted to be all in, no fear, let’s get a team around us and do this thing. When Dani brought “All Will Be Well,” the Gabe Dixon song, I thought instantly that would be a great title, coming from No Fear: “We’re going all in on this thing, and whatever happens, all will be well.”

Once we finished the record, I started listening to the tunes. I would go on walks around the neighborhood, listen to the record over and over, and it felt like a journey. It felt like you’re taking a trip or a drive, starting with “Winnebago.” Jaelee’s singing is so powerful – that had to be the first song. You step in this Winnebago, you’re going through your drive, and then “I Wish It Would Rain” just felt like the next thing.

I imagined this person going through … call it a trip or just life in general and that being the case with this sequencing. It’s telling a big story. There’s a lot of personal connections in the writing and the song choices, from “Let The Circle Be Broken” to “First Time Liar” to all of it. This record is a representation of the deepest parts of all of us.

DF: Sister Sadie members had a hand in nine out of these thirteen songs. So there’s a lot of originals here, there’s a lot of our personal stories, our personal feelings and experiences, and it’s not perfect. I love that the record is called All Will Be Well. It’s not “all is well at this very moment.” It’s that even when we make mistakes, when we are in good moods, in bad moods, we have this overall feeling that we are going to get where we want to go. It might not be butterflies and daisies right now, but we know we’re going to get there.

Jaelee Roberts: The sequencing really is quite something, because these songs means so much to all of us individually. Even though I didn’t have a hand in writing them, at the time that I was in my life, some of these songs meant so much to me. The fact that I got to sing some of them, that they trust me to sing their songs, is so cool. I was excited when Deanie sent the sequencing to listen to our final mixes in that order, because it really is like going on a journey. The sequencing is absolutely perfect.

Can you select one track and walk us through the recording process?

DR: We all play acoustic instruments, so from sitting in my kitchen with our instruments, working out arrangements, that’s how we walk into the sessions. We recorded at Crossroads and we trust Clay Miller a lot. He’s great. He sets up the mics, we walk in and record. There’s not a lot of discussion as far as gear and mics.

The song lets you know what it needs. It will arrange itself and produce itself. “Winnebago,” for instance, has dissonant chords. I heard right away a B-3 organ accenting that. So on that song there’s electric guitar, steel guitar, the B-3, some piano. We brought things in that add an incredible amount of texture to our bluegrass instrumentation, our acoustic instruments.

GB: When we got to the studio, I had just acquired a baritone banjo that I hadn’t had an opportunity to play very much. It really lent itself to the sound of “Winnebago” and “Do What You Want.” I don’t know how to explain the feel of that song, but it just fit so well. So I played baritone banjo on a couple of tunes, which was great.

How do your playing styles and backgrounds come together to create the band’s sound?

DF: We are all such music fans, and through our upbringings and our own exploration of music, we’ve all been exposed to the best songs. We have pretty high standards when it comes to writing our lyrics and what we want to sing. We love a good lyric. We love creative harmonies. We have great instrumentalists in this band, so we especially love a melody with a really cool hook.
You can find that in any genre. Onstage we quite often cover rock and roll songs, pop songs, old and new country songs. Katie comes from a jazz background. Rainy comes more from West Coast bluegrass. Gena and Jaelee and Deanie all come from traditional bluegrass. I come strictly from a country background. You can find a good song, good lyrics, good melodies, in any genre.

Katie Blomarz-Kimball: My background is in jazz. I didn’t really grow up with country or bluegrass music. Since I’ve lived in Nashville for about ten years now, I’ve definitely dipped my toe into the genres, but it’s hard when you’re playing with some of the best bluegrass musicians on the scene to come in and not be like, “Am I good enough for this? Can I do this?”

One of the very first things Deanie said to me at the rehearsal two hours before the first show I ever played with them was, “I want you to play like you would play it.” That was important to me, because there is a really interesting perspective that can happen when people from different backgrounds come together in one group. And I think it can change, depending on what naturally migrates as a group. Adding some of my quirky bass playing can influence one way or another for things to have a different feel or vibrancy behind it that maybe shifts the music slightly. It’s definitely a fun part of this experience for me.

DR: We all come from different genres of music that we love, but we have country and bluegrass as a deep-rooted passion. That’s basically why we’re here. Because we are so creatively different, I think that’s a plus. Each of us brings something to the situation that changes it, adds to it, and you have to figure out ways to highlight or bring to the table everyone’s strengths. Once you do that, the sound starts coming together.

Deanie, you produced All Will Be Well. What does the term “producer” mean to you? Is it a democratic process?

DR: It is democratic up to pushing the red button. Everybody has input, but there comes a time when you have to call it, when you have to say, “That’s brilliant. I’m sure you think you could do it better, but I don’t need better. I need feel; I need it to feel a certain way.” This is a killer band, and they don’t need me to tell them how to play or sing. But there has to be some person that says, “You just wrecked me, you just turned me into a puddle on the floor, and I’m not going let you do it again because of that.” That’s what a producer is for me.

We all arrange these songs, pick these songs, write these songs, and at the end of the day, we’re making great records that I am so proud of. That’s not because of something I did. That’s because of something this band did. It’s a group effort. It is six very talented, capable women who I respect and value tremendously. It’s just that there has to be someone calling the shots, if you will.

Could we talk about writing “Let The Circle Be Broken” and presenting it to the band?

DR: We spend a lot of time in the car together, riding up and down the road, so we talk about everything. We know each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. We know the pain we’ve been through, the love we’ve been through, the relationships we’ve been in. We know everything about each other. I love being with a group of people you’re that connected to and that close with, and getting to be creative with them and make music together. That’s the ultimate thing for me. That’s honestly why I stay in tears all the time – because I love these women so much.

Dani, Erin Enderlin, and I got together right after my dad died. We were talking about all the shit I went through as a child growing up with him and all that Dani went through having an abusive mother. Each of the women in this band has experienced some form of generational trauma or abuse from someone in our lives. When we brought the song to the band, everyone knew my story and Dani’s, so it wasn’t a surprise.

Everyone was very supportive about telling the story and getting the song out, and it felt like the right time to do it. Once he passed away, I was ready to finally talk about it. It’s a very personal story, but it doesn’t say anything specific about what I went through. The song hopefully relates to anyone who’s experienced any sort of abuse.

We didn’t write it to make a statement. We wrote it because that’s where we all were, having that conversation that day. The more we talked, the more the song came to life. It was a beautiful thing and very therapeutic to write. I am extremely proud of how it came out, what each girl brought to this tune, and how they supported and loved me through it.

How do you protect yourself, mentally and emotionally, when performing the song live?

DR: Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I cry, sometimes I get upset. I just want to feel the song as I feel it every night. Some nights it’s just a song for me, some nights I just want to get through it, some nights I feel so much peace with it, and some nights I feel like he’s there. We played in Ogden, Utah, recently, and I could feel his presence and I got very upset.

One night in a theater I looked over at the girls while we were playing the song and I thought about each of them individually and how I know all these things about them. I know the struggles they’ve been through, the people who’ve hurt them, all the things they’ve felt, and struggled with, and beat, and have experienced in their lives.

At that moment, the song was theirs too. It was their experience as well. That night, walking across the stage as I’m playing that play-out at the end, I looked at each of them and told them I loved them as I walked by them. I’ve been doing that every night since, because I don’t feel like it’s just my song. I feel like it represents each of us. These are strong, amazing, talented women, and I’m so grateful to be in their presence every day.

DF: For me, this song is about the fact that we are in control now. We have the ability to stop the cycle that’s happened through our families and could very well carry on to our own children, if we didn’t take accountability, stand up, and say, “This goes no further.” So, for me, there’s not really a need for protection. It’s more letting it all out. Watching the crowd’s reaction every time we perform it is so therapeutic because you can tell there’s always somebody that really needed to hear what we had to say.

You both used the word “therapeutic.” What part does music play in your healing, in your mental health?

DR: It’s the only reason I’m still alive.

DF: To put it in perspective, imagine going through one of the worst things a person could go through, then to live your life and get to a place where … like, for Deanie, her dad passing away … to be able to sit down with two other women that are going, “I know almost exactly what you’re talking about. I have been through this as well. We are going to get it all out through the thing we all love the most.” And then to take that song you wrote that’s so honest and so vulnerable, play it for the people you’re in a band with, and have them all react with such compassion, saying, “Yeah, we have to do this.” And not only record the song, but there also was a conversation about how much we’re going to say about what the song is about, because some of us are really ready to talk about the things that happened to us, and we know that affects the entire band.

To have everybody embrace that, and then to get onstage and perform that with those people every night, to look at these women and tell them you love them — I can’t think of anything more therapeutic than to be able to say, “This happened to me,” and have so many people — the people that you wrote the song with, the people in the band with you, the people who made the record with you, and the people in the crowd listening and buying the record and all the comments we get on this song … I cannot think of anything more therapeutic for a person who has gone through something so traumatic. Other than actual therapy — I’m an advocate for actual therapy!

Rainy Miatke: Music plays such a huge role in my mental health and my healing journey. At times in my life when I’m not playing as much music, I can really feel the difference. Since I was a little kid, I’ve used music, writing melodies, writing songs, playing, and singing as a way to process the emotions I was going through. Now, being part of a band that is on a similar journey and path as I am, in my life and musically, and playing these powerful songs that the band has written about very personal subjects, it feels like we’re all in this together and here for each other, and it feels so healing.

When Deanie’s up there playing that part at the end of “Circle,” I sometimes find myself feeling really emotional and having to almost compartmentalize it, but also sometimes just letting it happen and processing some of the things that I’ve been through, too. I’ve found these people that I can do that with, and that I can process that stuff with through music, so it feels really special.


Read more on our Artist of the Month, Sister Sadie, here.

Photos courtesy of the artist.

Artist of the Month: Sister Sadie

Sister Sadie, one of the most electrifying, interesting, and resonant bands in bluegrass today, have just released their latest album, All Will Be Well, via Mountain Home Music Company. The award-amassing collective of impeccably talented women have once again raised the bar for themselves, offering an LP with limitless star power, heart, and unapologetic grit – musically and otherwise.

Over the years since their origin – a one-off supergroup-style show in 2012 at the World Famous Station Inn in Nashville – Sister Sadie have undergone quite a few metamorphoses. As is the case for many bluegrass groups, where band names may be retained as lineups constantly change, members leaving, returning, and swapping out, the ensemble has seen many a superlative woman picker join or leave their ranks over the last decade plus. Somehow, over these many transitions, the group has emerged with a cogent, cohesive sound – and a brand and sense of identity that remain indelible, whomever they may boast among their members at any given time.

It’s remarkable that this musical identity and their mission statement can be so clear, but is no surprise with stalwarts fiddler Deanie Richardson and banjoist Gena Britt as the sole remaining original members of the group. It’s even more remarkable that this new project, All Will Be Well, truly feels like the most true and one-for-one representation of the band recorded and released to date. No matter what changes may come for this assemblage of women, their perspective – as a band, as songwriters, as collaborators and peers, as first-rate bluegrass pickers – comes more and more into focus. As a result, All Will Be Well shines, tackling generational and familial trauma, highlighting class and social stratifications, uplifting women, femme folks, and the narratives that touch on their lives, all while welcoming and engaging all of their fans, no matter who they are or how they came to love this music.

Most of all, though, this album is pure fun. Redemptive and forward-looking? Yes. Intricate, detail-oriented, and technically on point? For sure. Cerebral, heartfelt, and emotive? That, too. But is it also down-to-earth, danceable, and rowdy? Oh, of course!

Sister Sadie are a bluegrass band, but they’re so much more. The mantle they take up with their music, recordings, and live performances was perhaps lifted in portions from the shoulders of the Chicks, and Alison Krauss, and Lynn Morris, and Ashley McBryde. These songs would feel equally at home on mainstream country radio or your local, once-a-week bluegrass radio show. As driving and barn-burning as they can be, there are as many moments of tenderness, embodied love, tearful compassion, and boundless empathy – for ourselves and for each other. For every sort of “Goodbye Earl” winking moment there are equal touches of “When You Say Nothing At All” and “I Never Wanted To Be That Girl” and “Wrong Road Again.” Whether soaring, blazing, or slowly smoldering, this band moves in and out of each texture with ease.

As for any/all of the all-women groups that have been born of bluegrass, Sister Sadie could have at any point across their lifespan rested on the perceived “novelty” of being a band comprised of all women pickers, singers, and songwriters. Instead, they know firsthand that the reality for women in roots music is one that requires superlative skills, ardent commitment, and a polish and care often not mandatory for the cis, straight, male bands occupying similar niches. Sister Sadie are diamonds forged by such pressure, though, not just rising up to industry expectations, but exceeding them – while finding self expression, originality, and insight in their work. A novelty group this is not. A “mere” supergroup? Not that, either. This is a band, not just a collection of last names and ampersands.

It’s an obvious, forest-for-the-trees sort of statement, but these women are certainly greater than the sum of their parts. With mandolinist Rainy Miatke, guitarists and singer-songwriters Dani Flowers and Jaelee Roberts, who often split frontwoman and lead singer duties, and bassist Katie Blomarz-Kimball currently filling out the band, Richardson and Britt demonstrate time and time again that there are always more women to call who are qualified and interesting and engaging enough to join the ranks of Sister Sadie. And they clearly haven’t even begun to exhaust those resources.

The central messages of All Will Be Well are incredibly apt and well-timed for this particular social and political moment, as well. It’s striking to find these women, as on “Let the Circle Be Broken,” offering and accepting redemption from themselves and each other, instead of any external force or power. Perhaps, in that truth is where they also find their greatest strengths within the music industry, too.

From their GRAMMY nominations to their many (individual and collective) IBMA Awards, this jaw-dropping band truly does not need any external factor to validate their music, their mission, or their existence. It’s how they started, too, a simple pick-up gig at the Station isn’t a particularly ambitious origin story, it’s even passé. Usual. But, from the outset then, the foundation of Sister Sadie hasn’t been one of ladder climbing, belt notching, or industry achievement. It’s been about expressing themselves, making great music, and having a whole hell of a lot of fun.

It’s no wonder, then, that with an album like All Will Be Well, they continue following in the exact trail they’ve blazed for themselves, being, becoming, or striving to arrive at the best version of Sister Sadie possible in each and every present moment, with whomever they find among their ranks. And, above all else, doing it for their own edification and joy before any other purpose. That’s what makes this band a true supergroup. Sister Sadie knows that All Will Be Well, because they are determined to make that reality so.

We are so proud to have Sister Sadie return for their second stint as Artist of the Month. Enjoy our Essential Sister Sadie Playlist below and read an all-skate interview feature with the entire band here. Plus, we’ll be dipping back into the BGS archives for all of the many times we’ve covered and collaborated with this incredible group. So follow along right here on BGS and on social media as we celebrate Sister Sadie for the entire month of July.


Photo courtesy of the artist.

With a New Album, ‘No Fear,’ Sister Sadie Once Again Go “All In”

Last month, Sister Sadie took the stage at Nashville’s Station Inn to showcase and celebrate their latest album, No Fear. And although the title itself could be an ode to the group’s unrelenting urge to hop genre fences – from bluegrass to country to pop and back again – it’s also a nod to the resiliency of the band itself.

With No Fear, Sister Sadie showcase three-part, songbird harmonies backed by a keen musical aptitude that’s equally distributed throughout the quintet. The 13-song LP combines the “high, lonesome sound” of bluegrass with a blend of country and pop sensibilities a la The Chicks, Little Big Town, or Pistol Annies.

“There’s a space for bluegrass meets Americana meets country meets pop — that’s what I’m manifesting,” says fiddler and de facto band leader, Deanie Richardson.

To note, the Station Inn appearance was a full-circle sort of thing for the ensemble. First coming together at the storied venue by pure happenstance in December 2012, Richardson, banjoist Gena Britt, and former members guitarist Dale Ann Bradley, bassist Beth Lawrence, and mandolinist Tina Adair were simply a collection of pickers and singers from different circles in Music City.

That initial gig went extremely well, so much so that more shows were booked and things started to unfold into a full-fledged band – albeit one where the members still held day jobs and were raising families. But, the music felt right and so did the performances, so why not tempt fate and see where this ride may go?

Well, what a ride it has been thus far. Appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. Three IBMA awards for Vocal Group of the Year (2019, 2020, 2021) and one for Entertainer of the Year (2020), with Richardson taking home Fiddle Player of the Year in 2020. And a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album for the 2018 release, Sister Sadie II.

But, in recent years, three of those founding members — Bradley, Lawrence, and Adair — left to pursue other projects, which, in turn, posed one lingering question to Richardson and Britt — where to from here?

“When we started 12 years ago, when we hit that first note at the Station Inn, we felt this magical chemistry in the band,” Richardson says. “Somehow, every time we reinvent this [band], I still feel that magical chemistry when we play music.”

Instead of throwing in the towel and saying it was good while it lasted, Richardson and Britt forged ahead, come hell or high water. They regrouped and reemerged into this next, unknown chapter. Soon, Jaelee Roberts and Dani Flowers came into the fold, both bringing songwriting prowess as well as providing guitar and vocal harmonies to ideally complement Britt. Then, in 2023, bassist Maddie Dalton hopped onboard.

“It’s an eclectic group of ladies and of musical tastes,” Richardson says. “Our home, our hearts and our souls are in bluegrass music. That’s what we love, that’s our passion, but there’s a lot of room for growth there.”

The new album, it’s not bluegrass. It’s not country. It’s just good music. In my opinion, it would be a shame to pigeonhole your music.

Deanie Richardson: Well, that would be our dream, Garret, for someone to not try to put some sort of label or pigeonhole it into somewhere. But, unfortunately, it happens. We went in there with great tunes and just let them arrange themselves, let them work themselves out in the studio. And this is what we got. So, I didn’t go in with bluegrass in mind. I didn’t go in with country in mind. I just went in with all my pals, people I love — great players and great songs.

Is that more by design or just how things have evolved?

DR: I think that’s how it’s evolved. That was not the original [Sister] Sadie. That’s this combination of girls right here. When you have personnel changes like we’ve have along the way, the energy changes — everything shifts.

Gena Britt: You have to reinvent yourself.

DR: You’ve got to figure out where you land when Jaelee Roberts comes in and changes everything. And then you’ve got to figure out where you land when Dani Flowers comes in. And Maddie Dalton. We’ve had three new members. That changes the energy. It changes the vibe. It changes the feel. It changes the vocals. It changes everything. This whole band has grown organically over the last 12 years. This is just where it is right now. We’re about to go in and record a new one and, shoot, it may sound like ZZ Top. I don’t know — you never know.

And I have a lot of solidarity with that, the attitude of just go in and see what happens, see what sticks and see what works.

Dani Flowers: Every single person in this band is a big fan of good writing and good songs. Just trying to serve the song and make sure it had what it needed rather than trying to put any one certain song in a box that it might not fit in.

How does that play into personal goals with the band’s expectations? There’s a lot of a crossover factor in the music. I hear just as much country as I do bluegrass in there.

GB: We’re just going for what we feel. We want to be excited about the song as we want everybody that’s listening to be excited. When we’re in the studio, these songs were brought to life in such a great way.

With the new members, what was kind of the intent coming into the group?

Jaelee Roberts: When I was asked to audition, I was kind of flabbergasted, because I looked up to Sister Sadie. These are all my heroes playing together in a band. And I had grown up around them. It was such a surreal feeling to get to audition. I get to not only learn more from them than I was already learning from them, but I get to part of that and grow with them, bring my spin on stuff.

DF: It was definitely a no-brainer for me when it came to joining the band. I’ve known Deanie since I was 16 or 17, Gena since I was 19 or 20. I’ve always admired them both. They’re incredible at what they do. It was really great for me. I was in the music industry for a while. I had a record deal. I wrote for a publishing company. And then, I had a kid and kind of stopped doing it all for a while. So, to join a band full of women that I already love was a great way to get back into playing music.

And with founding members of a band leaving, there’s this creative vacuum that can occur, where maybe there are more opportunities for other people to step up.

DR: Oh, that’s so great, because it’s true. With the personnel changes we’ve had, there’s been more opportunities for different styles, different vocalists, different everything. It’s crazy how that energy shift just redirects everything. You find a new tunnel or rabbit hole to go down or a new vision. It’s super fun to hear those potential songs and figure out whose voice is going to work. If you listen to a song, it actually tells you where it wants to go.

GB: This band is kind of a melting pot. We all bring such different things to the band. And then, when you put it all together and mix it all together, it’s this great recipe for things that are magical. It’s just heartwarming, too. We actually hangout together when we’re not playing on the road — not a lot of bands do that.

With the band shakeup and everything that’s happened to Sister Sadie in recent years — winning the IBMA for Entertainer of the Year, switching record labels to Mountain Home — what made you decide to keep it going? Was there a moment of maybe shutting it down and doing something else?

DR: One hundred percent. You’re on it. With the last personnel change, Gena and I were on the phone like, “We’re 10 years into this thing. Is it time to call it? Maybe it’s just time.” This band happened by just a group of friends getting together and playing the Station Inn. Then, “Hey, that went really well. Let’s playing the Station Inn again.” Then, Gena starts getting calls from promoters. Do a few shows. Then, Pinecastle says, “Hey, let’s do a record.” We do a record. We do another record. We get nominated for a Grammy.

But, we’ve never really gone in 100 percent. It’s just been organic. I’ve got a ton of things going on. I’ve got a seven-year-old. Gena’s got a job and two kids. It’s never like, “Let’s form a band and let’s go do this.” It was always sort of The Seldom Scene thing — we’ll play when it makes sense. And then, I was like, “What if we give this thing everything we’ve got? What if we put in one 110 percent? What if we got a team? What if we got a manager? What if we got a new record label? What if we got a booking agent? Let’s devote one year to this 110 percent and see what happens” — that’s where we are.

I’m 52 years old. I’ve been doing this and on the road since I was 15. This is the best record we’ve ever done. Going all in was the best choice that we could’ve made.


Photo Credit: Eric Ahlgrim

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Sister Sadie, John Leventhal, and More

This week, BGS readers enjoyed a track premiere from California-based string band Moonsville Collective, as well as our very first Rootsy Summer Session featuring an exclusive performance by Israel Nash on the streets of Falkenberg, Sweden. Also, in this week’s edition of Out Now, we highlighted a brand new single from Mary Bragg, too.

Featured in today’s premiere round-up, You Gotta Hear This, is new music from bluegrass supergroup Sister Sadie with their illustrious friend, Ashley McBryde, plus producer, guitarist, musician extraordinaire John Leventhal, Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road, the Grackles featuring Kat Edmonson, and North Carolina bluegrass/Americana outfit Unspoken Tradition.

We hope you enjoy a week’s worth of new music and videos; ’cause You Gotta Hear This!

Sister Sadie, “Ode to the Ozarks” (featuring Ashley McBryde)

Artist: Sister Sadie
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Ode To The Ozarks” (featuring Ashley McBryde)
Album: No Fear
Release Date: January 26, 2024
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “This song was originally sent to me by a great songwriter from Nashville that we’re all big fans of, Marcus Hummon. When I heard the demo, I could hear us doing it immediately in my head and sent it around to the band. I thought it would be a great fit for us and had some awesome vocal harmony possibilities. The song was co-written by Ashley McBryde and Kat Higgins, who we’re also big fans of. In the meantime, Dani Flowers had joined Sister Sadie and is very close friends with Ashley. So of course she was an advocate for doing the song as well, and asked Ashley if she would consider singing on it with us in the studio. She graciously agreed and we were so honored to have her join us! We’re grateful to Marcus, Ashley, and Kat for entrusting us to give it the right treatment. It has a very ‘swampy’ feel and is such a FUN song to perform live. We got to perform this song on the Grand Ole Opry with Ashley and that was such a special memory for us all! Hope you love it as much as we do.” – Gena Britt, banjo

“I am so happy with the way ‘Ode To The Ozarks’ turned out. It ended up so funky and dirty with the stellar musicianship of Seth Taylor, Tristan Scroggins, and Tony Creasman added to the Sadie girls. We are so honored that Ashley McBryde agreed to sing on this one with us. The icing on the cake!” – Deanie Richardson, fiddle


John Leventhal, “That’s All I Know About Arkansas” (featuring Rosanne Cash)

Artist: John Leventhal
Hometown: New York, New York
Song: “That’s All I Know About Arkansas” (featuring Rosanne Cash)
Album: Rumble Strip
Release Date: January 26, 2024
Label: RumbleStrip Records

In Their Words: “Rosanne had these lyrics. I wasn’t sure what they were actually about, but I loved them and they seemed to fit with a weird West African-bluegrass riff I had. There are two distinct guitar solos, each a tip of the hat to two musicians to whom I owe a debt: Ry Cooder and Clarence White.” – John Leventhal


Grackles, “Top Of The World” (featuring Kat Edmonson)

Artist: Grackles
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “Top Of The World” featuring Kat Edmonson
Album: Grackles
Release Date: February 24, 2024 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Top Of The World’ was a beautiful chord structure Jason [Mozersky] had, that we all sat and strummed together on acoustic guitars live in the studio with upright bass and brushes on the drums. It instantly felt so warm and welcoming. I knew I wanted to sing it way lower than normal, so got Kat Edmonson to sing the melody with me. Sort of a Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra vibe. Lyrically, it’s pretty straight forward. It’s such a short, honest piece, I really tried hard not to let the words get in the way. I’m happily married and with a beautiful daughter and find my own life to be pretty damn great. Meanwhile the world around me crumbles. We bounce from one shit storm to the next, and try desperately to keep it together.” – Noah Lit


Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road, “Homesick For Virginia”

Artist: Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road
Hometown: Deep Gap, North Carolina
Song: “Homesick For Virginia”
Album: Yellow Line
Release Date: January 26, 2024
Label: Pinecastle Records

In Their Words:“This song (penned by Colton Kerchner) is a story of misadventure and longing for home. Though the song is straightforward and wrapped in a 3/4 bluegrass power waltz, I felt like a lot of folks could relate to the message behind it. Being young, 20-something musicians out there on the road, home is always on our minds along with our friends and family, who we frequently miss. This is one of the more traditional tunes on the album, and I thought the guys really knocked it out of the park with the feel of that old Stanley-inspired sound.” – Liam Purcell


Unspoken Tradition, “Weary Town”

Artist: Unspoken Tradition
Hometown: Cherryville, North Carolina
Song: “Weary Town”
Release Date: January 26, 2024
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “Our hometown was a great place to grow up. It thrived for decades because of a trucking company founded by some of its citizens. Many locals found work there; it was almost analogous to a mining town. That trucking company was bought by a larger corporation that ultimately closed the terminal, and the town became a shell of its former self in a matter of a few years. It hurts in a way only bittersweet nostalgia can, to know that the town where I made so many memories exists in name only. When John Cloyd Miller sent us this one, it just ripped at my heart, because it makes the struggle and loss of a fading town so real. ‘What’s it gonna take for us to hold on?’ Iris Dement couldn’t have written a better love letter to a fading town!” – Audie McGinnis


Israel Nash, “Lost In America” (Rootsy Summer Sessions)

Last summer, in picturesque Falkenberg, Sweden, Rootsy Music held Summer Fest ’23, a gathering of twenty-some Americana, country, folk, and roots bands – many imported all the way from the United States. BGS video collaborators and contributors I Know We Should were there; they curated, directed, and shot a series of gorgeous live performances in and around the festival and scenic Falkenberg.

The first in the series features Israel Nash – a Rootsy artist, as well as a frequenter of Rootsy stages and festivals – performing an original song, “Lost in America.”

Read more here.


Moonsville Collective, “Helen Highway”

Artist: Moonsville Collective
Hometown: Whittier, California
Song: “Helen Highway”
Album: A Hundred Highways

In Their Words: “Friendships are often forged on some highway to nowhere. We left Pappy & Harriet’s, said goodbye to our wives, and drove across the country chasing the rookie leagues…” – Corey Adams

More here.


Mary Bragg, “Only So Much You Can Do”

Artist: Mary Bragg
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Only So Much You Can Do”
Release Date: January 23, 2024

In Their Words: ‘Only So Much You Can Do’ is about chasing joy in the company of another person. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about that New York Times article about the secret to happiness – and how relationships are the key to it. We are pack people; we need each other; we need other human beings around us in order to be our best, happiest selves. Friends plus community plus honesty equals joy…” – Mary Bragg

Read the full Out Now interview here.


Photo Credit: Sister Sadie by Eric Ahlgrim; John Leventhal by Wes Bender.