Tag: Jon Weisberger

When Harmonies Run Deep: An Essential Roots Music Tradition

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Since Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent began singing together as Dailey & Vincent in 2007, they have awed fans in many ways: through their musicality, their sincerity, and their professionalism. But most of all, it’s about their duet singing.

It’s the way their voices blend and weave, so closely it can be hard to distinguish one from another. It’s the way their so-tight harmonies set up a vibration that makes the world tilt a little bit when they reach the high notes. It’s the way we sigh after they stop singing, because all’s right with the world.

Although they aren’t related, Dailey & Vincent do the bluegrass phenomenon of a “brother duet” like nobody’s business. They capture the familial force that Grammy-winning bluegrass artist Laurie Lewis describes as delightfully “making the hair on our arms and legs stand up.”

With Dailey & Vincent as our Artist of the Month, we thought we would peek into the history and tradition of brother duets and other harmony-driven duos that led to this great contemporary partnership.

Two Brothers and Two Instruments

For bluegrass journalist, songwriter, performer, and teacher Jon Weisberger, the term “brother duet” refers to something very specific: “A brother duet is basically a guitar and a mandolin and two guys, and they could be brothers, like the Monroe Brothers or the Blue Sky Boys [Bill and Earl Bolick] or even the Delmore Brothers.”

But many of the early duos later added more musicians. “They became something else, in this sort of organic process … because they wanted to have a fuller sound and they wanted to be competitive on the radio…”

“This brother duet thing existed before bluegrass,” Weisberger continues, “and then it became part of bluegrass. Such that modern folks like Michael Daves and Chris Thile … are doing a lot of the original-style singing, with just two instruments. It says something about the vitality and the attractiveness of that style.”

Weisberger notes that Dailey & Vincent recorded Gillian Welch’s “By the Mark” with just their voices, a guitar, and a mandolin. There are many other similar examples in country, old-time, and other folk formats, but the style is still beloved – and common, thankfully! – in bluegrass today.

Brothers in Tone and Timing

For many, a brother duet has to do with the spine-tingling effect of very tight harmonies, in which every note matches up in every way. Laurie Lewis, who has taught harmony singing extensively and is known for her many duet recordings and performances, talks about it this way.

“It’s easy for brother duets or sisters to blend, because they grew up pronouncing all their words the same way, because they’re from the same place and the same family,” Lewis explains. “So, they’ve got a big leg up that way.

“The shape of a vowel is the most important thing to get right when you’re trying to blend with somebody. And consonants, you know, when you start or end the note. It’s placement, as well – where you place the tone: is it forward in your face? Is it back in your throat, or somewhere in between?”

Members of family bands and sibling duets often have the same vocal timbre – “high and lonesome,” in some cases, or deeper and more mellow in others. But, Lewis said, the brother effect can work even with singers whose voices have different qualities.

“Take Carter and Ralph Stanley, who sang so beautifully together and had really different voices. Carter’s was smooth,” she points out, while Ralph always had that rougher mountain quality.

Insights From Singing Brothers

Eric Gibson remembers when he and his brother Leigh first got the harmony buzz as teenagers. “We were working in the calf barn and I’d been listening to Jim & Jesse sing ‘Are You Missing Me?’ … I started singing it, and Leigh was maybe 10 or 15 feet away from me, when he hits the tenor. And I looked at him, and I just felt it, like, ‘What did we just do?’”

The Gibson Brothers have won national awards for vocal recordings, for songwriting, and for gospel albums. They both love using a horse racing analogy to achieve the brother duet sound. Leigh notes that in many duets and other harmony forms, the lead singer is out front, in volume and style. In contrast, Eric quotes Tim Austin as saying, “Your brother duet is like two racehorses. There’s not a lead horse out there with the harmony back here. They’re both fighting for position.”

Like horse racing, it takes discipline, and keeping the harmonies tight. “You have to stay on the straight and narrow.” The tenor singer has to follow the lead singer, and neither can add too much individual style.

Leigh adds, “You have to give some of yourself. If I wanted to throw our vocal thing into chaos, I’d start singing for myself rather than for the two of us.”

“It’s about really listening and even watching your duet partner,” he says, “how they’re shaping words, how they’re closing off a vocal sound, if it’s happening quickly or it’s a slow close off of that vowel sound.

“Listen and pay attention. I think that’s the best advice I could give anybody.”

Brothers by Birth

For a beautiful collection of brother duets drawn from some of the best and least-known brothers, visit the Gibsons Brothers’ 2015 album, Brotherhood. The liner notes are an engaging mini-history of brother harmonies.

Here are just a few of the other brothers who set the stage for the duets we hear today – and popularized or debuted many of the songs we still sing and love.

The Monroe Brothers

Let’s start with the Monroe Brothers. Bill, the father of bluegrass, began performing with his brothers Birch and Charlie (the uncles of bluegrass?) in the 1920s. Birch left the group when the other two accepted an offer to host their own radio show. The very popular partnership of Charlie on guitar and Bill on mandolin only lasted four years, because they both wanted to be the boss. Charlie continued assembling bands with musicians like Lester Flatt, Ira Louvin, and Curly Seckler. As for Bill, he launched a new genre of music that bears the name of his home state and his band, the Blue Grass Boys.

The Delmore Brothers

Alton and Rabon, the Delmore Brothers, grew up in a tenant farming family in Alabama. Grounded in church music, the Delmores distinguished themselves with their versatile songwriting, leading to membership in the Grand Ole Opry in 1933, extensive touring with Arthur Fiddlin’ Smith, and later with Grandpa Jones and Merle Travis. They are acknowledged as pioneers across country, bluegrass, and rockabilly circles. Songs like “Blues, Stay Away From Me” and “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar” remain standard bluegrass fare. Alton’s autobiography, Truth is Stranger Than Publicity, is a hoot and a half.

Blue Sky Boys

Bill and Earl Bolick first appeared on radio in 1935, when still in their early 20s. They later chose the name the Blue Sky Boys after Western North Carolina, Land of the Blue Skies. Steeped in gospel, their first recording, “Sunny Side of Life”/”Where the Soul Never Dies,” was such a big hit they earned the name “the New Hillbilly Kings.” They recorded 100 songs, both religious and secular, before joining the service. After the war they found they disliked newer music trends and they stopped playing entirely for a time when their label asked them to add electric guitar. The brothers played on and off, particularly at folk venues, until the late ’60s. Rounder Records pulled them out of retirement in 1975 for a bluegrass and folk tour.

The Lilly Brothers

Bea and Everett Lilly, the Lilly Brothers, performed on mandolin and guitar, influenced by the mountain music they heard in their home state of West Virginia. Their first local radio appearance was in 1938, and they later earned a spot on the venerated WWVA Jamboree. With Tex Logan and Don Stover – a configuration that would last 18 years – they moved to Boston, where they were welcomed in the folk scene. They are credited with bringing bluegrass to the Northeast, influencing musicians like Peter Rowan and Bill Keith. In Country Music: The Rough Guide, author Kurt Wolff quoted Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductee Joe Val as saying, “Those guys hit on like a bombshell. Nobody’d ever heard anything like that before.”

The Louvin Brothers

For many, the Louvin Brothers set the standard for brother duets. They began their duet career in the 1940s, continuing until 1963, when Charlie broke off from Ira for a solo career. Their harmonies were stunning, influenced by the shape note singing they grew up with, and their prolific writing and recordings left us with so many of the songs commonly heard in today’s bluegrass world. Their old-time religion permeated their work, as well as the life of the tormented Ira, who professed devotion while battling his demons. Emmylou Harris said, “There was something scary and washed in the blood about the sound of the Louvin Brothers.” The cover of their album Satan is Real is an apt visual representation of that thought. It is also the name of Charlie’s autobiography. Another great source is the Cocaine & Rhinestones episode on the Louvins.

Jim & Jesse

Jim & Jesse McReynolds from Colfax, Virginia are lauded as much for Jesse’s mandolin style as for their duet singing. Many of bluegrass’s most accomplished musicians passed through their band, the Virginia Boys, including Vassar Clements, Allen Shelton, Vic Jordon, Carl Jackson, and Glen Duncan. Their versions of songs like “Are You Missing Me” are mainstays of bluegrass jams, while they ventured into the folk rock world with “Paradise.” Jesse would later host a tribute to Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, too. Jim died in 2002 at age 75, ending what Wikipedia calls their 55 years performing together “the longest active professional brother duet in country music history.”

The Everly Brothers

Contemporary musicians from Graham Nash to Paul Simon have cited Don and Phil Everly’s duets as inspirational. Their harmonies were intricate, tight, and gorgeous. Coming from a country music background, they became hit pop stars, with “Bye Bye Love” in 1957. While many of their most popular songs were written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the brothers were also prolific songwriters. They have been widely recognized by the music industry, from membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to a #33 ranking in Rolling Stone’s list of 100 greatest artists of all time. For an excellent review of their often tumultuous careers and relationships, pick up Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story by Barry Mazor.

Sisters, Mothers and Daughters

Family bands featuring female singers have been popular for decades, even before the Carter Family blasted from radio stations in the 1930s. But sister duets have been less prominent than their brotherly counterparts. We can speculate that’s because, historically, women were less likely to venture out on their own, and because they were less welcome at the front and center of bluegrass and country.

But when these women stepped up, they truly shined.

The Whites

Sisters Sharon and Cheryl performed for decades with their father, Buck White, as the Whites. But it is their duet singing that ranks with the tightest and tingliest of any brother duo. Buck, a mandolinist and piano player, encouraged his daughters to take up music. The three recorded extensively beginning in 1972 and recorded “Keep on the Sunny Side” for the Grammy Award-winning O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. After Buck’s death in 2025, Sharon and Cheryl continue to perform, sometimes with Rosie, another sister, adding a high harmony. They have received highest honors in both the country and bluegrass fields, with more than 40 years as members of the Grand Ole Opry.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle

Kate and Anna McGarrigle were acclaimed Canadian folk singers and songwriters. Often passing the melody back and forth, it could be difficult to tell when one voice ended and the other began. Their harmonies were delicious. Linda Ronstadt had a big hit with the McGarrigles’ song “Heart Like a Wheel,” and Maria Muldaur, Emmylou Harris, and Judy Collins also covered their songs. Kate died in 2010.

The Judds

This mother/daughter duo certainly had the blood-harmony duet thing going big time with perfectly executed, soaring vocals. In a Cinderella-like story line, Naomi and her daughter Wynonna went from living on welfare to auditioning (in terror, as they described it) before a room full of recording executives – who signed them immediately. Within two years of the 1983 audition, they recorded the first of eight consecutive number one singles and received their first of five Grammys. Their family story is both fractious and inspiring.

More Essential Duets

Nowadays, it often seems the most common examples of high quality duet singing come from non-siblings, from chosen family, from lifelong musical partners. Turns out “blood harmony” is possible without the biological ties. (But of course it is.) Some of the best examples of the form are singers unrelated to each other.

Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard presented a side of duet singing that was at once sweet and gutsy. Although from very different geographic and social backgrounds, the pair came together through the Baltimore folk community in the 1970s. They sang with intense sincerity, performing older and traditional tunes and presenting Dickens’ heart-rending (and sometimes snarky) originals to the world. They were some of the first women to front a bluegrass act and are widely acknowledged as inspiring groundbreakers.

Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice

In 1980, Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice released what has become an iconic duet recording, Skaggs & Rice. Its content draws on traditional and pre-bluegrass tunes recorded by earlier brother duets. In fact, Weisberger points out, the album cover illustration, featuring the two men in uncomfortable-looking suits, is modeled after a Lilly Brothers photo. Skaggs and Rice taught us how two voices with starkly different qualities could blend, with sibling-like effect.

Ricky Skaggs & Keith Whitley

Skaggs and his wife, Sharon White, both sing in a high range, blending beautifully and adding intensity to everything they sing. And with his piercing tenor, Skaggs has the ability to create a brother sound with just about anyone. His partnership with Keith Whitley was equally natural, as they started singing together as teenagers in Kentucky. They began touring with the Stanley Brothers when they were both 16. In essence, they grew up together, as did their vocal blend.

Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum

Laurie Lewis is another who can turn any duet into sibling-style harmonies. She and Tom Rozum have sung together for decades. Lewis said that in addition to working hard on their timing and pronunciation (the word “yours” was once problematic), they have the advantage of remarkably similar vocal ranges for a male and female. When they are both “in the head voice, you can really hear the tension in our voices,” an exciting aspect of their duets, she said.

Laurie Lewis & Kathie Kallick

Since the earliest configuration of Good Ol’ Persons, Lewis and Kathy Kallick have sung together, including producing two duet albums. Lewis said, “We have really different timbres to our voices. But we sometimes get confused as to who was singing which part on our old recordings. ‘Wait, is that me or is that Kathy?’” Lewis’ duet album, And Laurie Lewis, showcases her skill in joining voices with so many of her old friends.

The Johnson Mountain Boys’ Dudley Connell and David McLaughlin

Eric Gibson remembered terrific harmony singing by Dudley Connell and David McLaughlin in the Johnson Mountain Boys days. That revered group won the very first IBMA Award for Album of the Year (for At the Old Schoolhouse) and were inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2020. And since his days in the Johnson Mountain Boys, Connell has shown he, too, raises any duo to the level of glorious sibling sounds. Some examples are with bandmate Lou Reid in the Seldom Scene and his two duet albums with Don Rigsby.

Emmylou Harris & … Almost Everyone

The Gibsons both mentioned Emmylou Harris’ stunning ability to create tension and beauty in sibling duet style with so many. Examples range from her earliest recordings with Gram Parsons through all her singing partners in her band, including Ricky Skaggs and Rodney Crowell, and when she introduced a young country audience to the material of the Louvin Brothers on recordings such as “If I Could Only Win Your Love,” “When I Stop Dreaming,” and “Every Time You Leave.” Her 1990 duet album pairs her with male singers. In 1999, after the success of the Trio albums with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, she and Ronstadt recorded Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, showing off the perfection of two beautiful singers who love to sing together.

Dailey & Vincent

Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent both grew up performing in family bands. Jamie started singing with his family at age 3, and by age 12 had mastered bass and banjo. For nine years, he sang lead vocals with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, a band noted for their excellent voices and superb harmonies.

An article in Entertainment News said the Vincent children “were practically raised on harmony” from their youngest days in the Sally Mountain Show. For nine years, Vincent sang the baritone parts with Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder. The two men’s early training, the discipline gained from playing with exceptional band leaders, plus their perfect-for-bluegrass voices created a glorious blend of heartfelt harmony and musical excellence.

Their first album, released in 2008, was met with a flurry of enthusiasm. It earned the duo six IBMA Awards – including Album of the Year – plus two other nominations that year. They have continued to receive dozens of awards from bluegrass, country, and gospel organizations, as well as three Grammy nominations as a duo and two wins between them during their time with other acts. Their 10th album, A Beautiful Life, was released earlier this year.

Explore more of our Artist of the Month content on Dailey & Vincent here. Enjoy even more bluegrass duos here and country duos here.

Lead Image: The Louvin Brothers from Pictorial Press.

You Gotta Hear This: JP Harris, Laura Veirs, and More

Posted on by Editor

Every Friday, BGS shines a light on some of our favorite new tracks in bluegrass, folk, Americana and beyond. Then we ask the artist about the inspiration behind the music and pass their wise words along to you.

This week, enjoy new music from singer and banjo picker JP Harris, acoustic songwriting duo Justin Hiltner & Jon Weisberger, and the Celtic roots music of Kalos, as well as the eclectic jazz-inspired group Mr. Sun, the inventive Wyoming duo The Two Tracks, longtime indie folk favorite Laura Veirs, and finally, Austin’s own rockabilly stars, Monte Warden and the Wagoneers.

Believe us when we say…. You Gotta Hear This!

JP Harris, “Roustabout”

Artist: JP Harris
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: Roustabout
Album: Shaving a Dead Man
Album Release Date: October 30, 2026
Label: Bloodshot Records

In Their Words: “I remember hearing ‘Roustabout’ for the first time from a warbly dubbed tape passed along by a friend, and was immediately struck by Fred Cockerham’s playing; not long after, I heard Dirk Powell’s rendition, ironically just as I’d become obsessed with the fretless banjo, under the alternate name ‘Hop High My Lulu Gal.’ It is melodically peculiar, and though not technically in a minor or modal key, has all the eerie dissonant notes from ‘between the piano keys’ that drew me into old time music some twenty five years ago.

“I found myself somewhat retreating from a difficult stretch of life the winter I recorded this, high up in Monroe County, West Virginia, and the opening verse felt like a letter back down the mountains to a world wondering where I’d gone: roustabout, oh roustabout / honey, where you been so long? / I’ve been in the pen with the forty-dollar men / and honey, I’m going back before long…” — JP Harris

Video by Tessa McCoy. Recorded at Cook’s Old Mill, Greenville, Monroe County, West Virginia

Justin Hiltner & Jon Weisberger, “I Could Cry”

Artist: Justin Hiltner & Jon Weisberger
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee and Brevard, North Carolina
Song: “I Could Cry”
Album: Sycamore
Single Release Date: August 14, 2026
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “‘I Could Cry’ was the second song that Justin and I wrote for this collection, just a few months after we wrote the first, ‘I Couldn’t Cry.’ I like to think this characterizes our emotional range as songwriters! As usual, we built off an idea Justin had, but I recall that we wound up going in a slightly more optimistic direction, lyrically, than where the song was headed at the start. It’s still pretty gloomy, but ‘maybe I’ll just stay’ at the end of each chorus offers a balancing touch of resignation that’s still well short of actual hope, but puts it right in the middle of bluegrass tradition – and so does the virtuosity of the band. We truly had a dream ensemble in the studio!” — Jon Weisberger

“I think my favorite thing about my songwriting partnership with Jon over the years is that he’s always willing to follow my ideas that are truly based in personal expression. This song began as an examination of my journey with treatment-resistant depression and, with Jon’s help, it became something so much more – and that doesn’t feel wallowing or trite. Plus, what a relief that we can write bluegrass songs that actually say something together!” — Justin Hiltner

Track Credits:
Justin Hiltner – Banjo, lead vocal
Jon Weisberger – Upright bass, harmony vocal
Seth Taylor – Acoustic guitar
Libby Weitnauer – Fiddle
Jenni Lyn Gardner – Mandolin
Wendy Hickman – Harmony vocal

Kalos, “Pretty Good Friday/Ladybug”

Artist: Kalos
Hometown: Tacoma, Washington; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Sharon, Vermont
Song: “Pretty Good Friday/Ladybug”
Album: Tamarack
Album Release Date: October 9, 2026

In Their Words: “Ryan composed the first tune on a Friday afternoon and later realized it was Good Friday. Jeremiah named the second ‘foot stomper’ for the Asian or Harlequin beetle, an invasive species of ladybug where he lives. What we love to do as a band is arrange together. We live in the weeds sifting through and spending the time needed to come up with what feels right collectively. Sometimes we get carried away. This was our attempt at putting that aside and creating a set of feel-good, straight-ahead, high-energy reels. We did our best.” — Eric McDonald, Kalos

Track Credits:
Ryan McKasson – Fiddle
Jeremiah McLane – Accordion
Eric McDonald – Guitar
Yann Falquet – Producer

Video by Dylan Ladds, Dooster

Mr. Sun, “The Invisible Present”

Artist: Mr. Sun
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Invisible Present”
Album: The Idea Guys
Album Release Date: September 4, 2026
Label: Adhyâropa Records

In Their Words: “A notable thing about the timing of this record: though in our fourteenth or fifteenth year as a band together with a few albums and many, many gigs behind us, “The Idea Guys” record came at a moment of particular significance. Aidan, always ahead of the curve, has been a family man since 2019 and Darol, while not being a parent in the traditional sense, has nurtured probably thousands of musical progeny either directly or from afar through his musical and pedagogical reputation. But at the time of making the record, Joe and I were both very new fathers: his daughter Hartley is just six months younger than my son Elias.

“Before Elias could talk or walk much, for a while he made a practice of sweetly handing my wife and me little “invisible presents” with his tiny fingers; my interpretation was that he was learning, in some nascent way, about generosity and how to think of and care for others, all while exerting some newfound fine motor control. “The Invisible Present” is an ode to the simple beauty of new life, and the poetic-sounding double meaning of the title made it that much more fitting.” — Grant Gordy, Mr. Sun

Track Credits:
Darol Anger – Fiddle
Joe K. Walsh – Mandolin
Grant Gordy – Guitar
Aidan O’Donnell – Bass

The Two Tracks, “Seasons Unknown”

Artist: The Two Tracks
Hometown: Sheridan, Wyoming
Song: “Seasons Unknown”
Album: Seasons Unknown
Release Date: August 14, 2026

In Their Words: “‘Seasons Unknown’ came from my time living in the Northern Plains of Wyoming after I moved there in my twenties. What I thought would be just another place to land ended up becoming home for more than two decades, where I still live and write today. You get hot summers, bitter cold winters, and the smell of sagebrush after it rains. You also might see a late spring snowstorm or an 80-degree day in November—you never really know what season you’re in! I took a job doing archaeological surveys, and hiked across red rock buttes to open rolling hills to deep, rocky arroyos. It all reminded me of the old Westerns I used to watch with my grandma when I was a kid. This song is my thank you to a place that welcomed me and also convinced me to stay.

“Making this film was a spontaneous decision one evening this past spring when we received several inches of snow in town. The moody light of the late afternoon, and the calm snowy scene around town was too pristine to miss, so we raced out to capture it before dark. By the middle of the next morning, all of the snow was gone.” — Dave Huebner

Track Credits:
Julie Huebner – Vocals, acoustic guitar
David Huebner – Electric guitar, harmony vocals
Taylor Phillips – Bass, harmonyvocals
Fernando Serna – Drums, harmony vocals
Will Kimbrough – Electric guitar, producer

Video by Dave Huebner/Back of Beyond Media

Laura Veirs, “Feeling Returns”

Artist: Laura Veirs
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Song: “Feeling Returns”
Album: Temple Songs
Release Date: August 14, 2026
Label: Raven Marching Band Records

In Their Words: “This is a song about the dreaminess and also the fears that come with new love. There’s anger in this song but also transformation and a hope that newfound love becomes lasting love. I performed this song on stage in Minneapolis last October on the same day that I wrote it. That was a first. This song came out in one burst with no edits (they rarely come through like that and when they do it feels like a gift from another sphere). I like how the guitar parts interplay in a cool, polyrhythmic way. I also like the line about the Devil’s head. Saucy!” — Laura Veirs

Track Credits:
Written, produced, recorded, arranged and performed by Laura Veirs at the Temple of Bloom in Portland, Oregon, in the fall of 2025

Monte Warden and The Wagoneers, “Ballad of Paladin”

Artist: Monte Warden and the Wagoneers
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “Ballad of Paladin”
Album: Doghouse Flowers EP
Release Date: August 10, 2026

In Their Words: “The reason for the whole-danged session right here. We were commissioned to give The Wags’ spin on this ol’ classic TV Western theme song. It’s crazy-fun, very us, and I will be FOREVER grateful for the way He presented this opportunity to us. There is a new book out called American Paladin by the bestselling author Larry Correia. His publishers are big Wags fans and they wanted us to cut the tune as part of the promo campaign for the book series. Fun fact: The coolest-thing-ever-six-string bass part Brent Wilson picks was on a Danelectro once owned by Harold Bradley – and, wait for it, also once played by Elvis at a June of ’58 session at RCA Studio B.” — Monte Warden

Track Credits:
Monte Warden – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Brent Wilson – Lead guitar, background vocals
Brad Fordham – Bass, background vocals
Mas Palermo – Drums, percussion, background vocals
Nick Litterski – Piano, Hammond B3
Brooks Warden – Background vocals
Brandi Warden – Background vocals

Photo Credits: Emilia Paré (JP Harris); Shelby Brakken (Laura Veirs)

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Bronwyn, Sophie Wellington, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Welcome to our weekly collection of new music! You Gotta Hear This…

First thing today, you should know it’s a bluegrass-rich week in our roundup – which we love! The Binoculars start us off on a strong bluegrassy foot with their cover of “Lorene,” a Louvin Brothers song that will be included on the duo’s upcoming album, Double Whammy, out July 17. Like the Louvin Brothers themselves, the Binoculars do a great job of bridging rootsy sonic territories, country, bluegrass, old-time, and more. For a taste of bluegrass gospel, we’re celebrating the release of Eighteen Mile’s new album, Peace Be Still (out today), with the title track, written by vocalist and guitarist Jack Ritter. It’s fresh, modern bluegrass built on faith and tradition.

We’ve got several great fiddlers represented in our list today, too. A huge – and still-growing name – on the current bluegrass and jamgrass scene, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, is dropping her surname for a new era under a mononym, Bronwyn. Today, Bronwyn announces her upcoming album Rattlin’ Bones, her first LP under the new name, which will release in August. We’re sharing the track from which the LP draws its title, “Sticks and Stones.” It showcases the growth in Bronwyn’s songwriting over time – and features Darrell Scott. Plus, if you’re familiar with fiddler Libby Weitnauer, she’s now releasing music under the artist name Libby Dale. “Empty Tank,” which came out yesterday, is indie Americana with a Gothic, Appalachian undertone and excellent rootsy touches. Dale’s songwriting is impeccable and the production is built on a fascinating blend of roots styles.

An old-time and Americana favorite, Sophie Wellington, has unveiled a new single and video, “Scolding Wife.” Wellington has a new album coming in early July. This track and video showcase her unique, multi-hyphenate approach to music-making; it’s a simple, stripped-down arrangement featuring only guitar and percussion – provided by dance. It’s lovely and entrancing, no matter how basic or elemental in its construction. Singer-songwriter Kate Waters has a new song out this week, too. “Words” arrived on June 10, juxtaposing steel guitar, mandolin, and acoustic guitar in a folk-meets-string band-meets-Americana sound. It’s a contemplative lyric that searches inward and outward for the right thing to say.

You’ll enjoy the music video for the title track of Dailey & Vincent’s album, A Beautiful Life, released today. This feel-good song is the duo’s special way of sharing what they’re grateful for. We’re also thankful that Bill Anderson and Jon Randall (who co-wrote “Whiskey Lullaby”) teamed with Carrie Underwood to write it. And our own Justin Hiltner (editor of BGS and Good Country) and Jon Weisberger (BGS contributor) are back on the site again – for the first time since 2022 – as musicians and artists, rather than writer or editor. Hiltner & Weisberger just announced they’ve signed with Mountain Home Music Company to release music as a duo again. “Marinda” is their first single with Mountain Home, a song about a woman in California built on low-tuned long-neck banjo and an all-star band – that includes Libby Dale (Weitnauer) on fiddle, by chance, as well. We hope you enjoy the track and don’t mind the BGS team’s bias, we think these guys are pretty okay and, yeah… maybe, just maybe, You Gotta Hear This, too!

There’s plenty of bluegrass, Americana, old-time, and more to enjoy. Get scrolling and get listening– You Gotta Hear This!

The Binoculars, “Lorene”

Artist: The Binoculars
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Song: “Lorene”
Album: Double Whammy
Release Date: July 17, 2026
Label: Jalopy Records

In Their Words: “As huge fans of the Louvin Brothers, it’s hard to resist covering all of their songs. ‘Lorene’ really stood out to us, as a secular number and with a letter-writing theme! We both frequent the postal service for transmitting love letters and postcards. There is a spirit in handwritten letters that just can’t be replicated in a text or in the vacuum of social media. We find the lyrics strike an even more dynamic chord in these modern times, where rejection can be felt in a single swipe, and the appetite for approval and response is insatiable and aggressive. This song transports us to a slower more ponderous time, when that ache of not knowing your lover’s position gnaws at your heart. You can feel those empty mailbox blues.” – The Binoculars

Bronwyn, “Sticks and Stones”

Artist: Bronwyn
Hometown: Charlottesville, Virginia
Song: “Sticks and Stones”
Album: Rattlin’ Bones
Release Date: June 12, 2026 (single); August 14, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Sticks and Stones’ started coming to me a couple years ago as I was lying awake in the middle of the night, rolling down the road on the bus. It was a rough ride through the mountains, enough to rattle your bones, and some lines from the chorus started banging around in my head as I was drifting in and out of sleep. The chorus is the heart of this devil-may-care traveling song: ‘Sticks and stones/ Burning down the highway/ Rattling bones/ I don’t need no heartache/ I’ve been gathering a whole lotta sticks and stones…’

“‘Sticks and Stones’ has a hard-won swagger to it, a feeling borne out of years of being on the road as well as the requisite slight romanticism of it that keeps me going. That feeling is clearly heard in the last verse— ‘Heard a guy on a record singing walk that line/ He was saying what I’ve been thinking all my life/ Turned it up loud enough my truck began to shake.’ It’s self-sufficient, self-aware, and a little bit pissed off.” – Bronwyn

Track Credits:
Bronwyn – Fiddle, lead vocal, songwriter
Darrell Scott – Harmony vocal
Harry Clark – Mandolin
Bryan Sutton – Guitar
Frank Evans – Banjo
Jeff Picker – Bass

Dailey & Vincent, “A Beautiful Life”

Artist: Dailey & Vincent
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “A Beautiful Life”
Album: A Beautiful Life
Release Date: June 12, 2026
Label: Pillar Stone Records

In Their Words: “There are songs you record because they’re great songs, and then there are songs that become part of your story. ‘A Beautiful Life’ became that song for us. It captures so much of what we believe – that even through life’s challenges, we have so much to be thankful for.” – Jamie Dailey

“This song became the title track because it perfectly reflects where Jamie and I are today. We’ve been blessed beyond measure, and this lyric serves as a reminder to never take those blessings for granted. It’s a celebration of faith, family, friendship, and the gift of life itself.” – Darrin Vincent

Track Credits:
Greg Morrow – Drums
Craig Young – Bass
Seth Taylor – Acoustic guitar
Andy Leftwich – Fiddle, mandolin
Michael Rojas – Piano
James Mitchell – Electric guitar
Jamie Dailey – Lead vocal
Jaelee Roberts – Harmony vocal
Darrin Vincent – Harmony vocal

Libby Dale, “Empty Tank”

Artist: Libby Dale
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Empty Tank”
Album: Freehand
Release Date: June 11, 2026 (single)

In Their Words: “‘Empty Tank’ was inspired by recordings like Lucinda Williams’ ‘Crescent City’ and Emmylou Harris’ ‘Leaving Louisiana’ – both twisted anthems for less-than-perfect places. It’s an airing of grievances and a love letter for my life in Nashville. Pothole-riddled streets, the music industry rat race, and summer heat are certainly prominent characters, but so are good dances and a great band. Producer Thomas Bryan Eaton helped me bring this track to life with a fantastic rhythm section (Chris Gelb and Jonathan Beam) and the GRAMMY-winning mixing chops of Justin Francis. All parties mentioned brought the relentless groove and thunk I had envisioned for the song. ‘Empty Tank’ is the second single off my debut LP, Freehand, due in October of this year.” – Libby Dale

Eighteen Mile, “Peace Be Still”

Artist: Eighteen Mile
Hometown: Upstate South Carolina
Song: “Peace Be Still”
Album: Peace Be Still
Release Date: June 12, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Peace Be Still’ on the better side of a bad year. While the tune was there, I struggled to find words that could convey my testimony throughout the song. The more I thought about my testimony and walk with Christ, the words came quickly and became what you hear today. I wanted this song to not only be a personal testimony of God’s grace and mercy, but a message to those who are struggling that my Lord and Savior can provide peace that is beyond all understanding. I’m so honored and never would have thought that a song I wrote would become the title track of our first album with Mountain Home. I’m so thankful to my friends for choosing it.” – Jack Ritter, lead vocalist, guitarist, songwriter

Track Credits:
Jack Ritter – Acoustic guitar, lead vocal
Hallie Ritter – Upright bass, harmony vocal
Carson Aaron – Acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
Savannah Aaron – Fiddle
Steve Pettit – Mandolin
Rob Ickes – Resonator guitar

Justin Hiltner & Jon Weisberger, “Marinda”

Artist: Justin Hiltner & Jon Weisberger
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee & Brevard, North Carolina
Song: “Marinda”
Release Date: June 12, 2026
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “On a mountaintop in Western North Carolina I met a fabulous woman named Marinda. ‘Like Miranda, but with the letters swapped,’ I think she told me. She’s a great cook, made us a delicious lentil salad. Then she told me where she was from: Marin County, California. I couldn’t believe it. Marinda from Marin.

“There are so many bluegrass songs that take their titles from women’s names, I guess it was time Jon and I added such a track to our catalog of co-writes. I love how this one turned out, evoking iconic and familiar images of California and singing praises to a powerful, entrancing woman. She may be a fictionalized version of my friend Marinda, but her inspiration comes all the way through. I love the long-neck, low-tuned banjo here and the way the fiddle, banjo, and mandolin all join in together on the melodic hook. When I’m missing the Bay Area – or Marinda’s lentil salad – I play this tune.” – Justin Hiltner

Track Credits:
Justin Hiltner – Banjo, lead vocal, songwriter
Jon Weisberger – Upright bass, harmony vocal, songwriter
Seth Taylor – Acoustic guitar
Libby Weitnauer – Fiddle
Jenni Lyn Gardner – Mandolin
Wendy Hickman – Harmony vocal

(Editor’s Note: Justin Hiltner is the editor for BGS and Good Country, and Jon Weisberger is a former contributor to BGS.)

Kate Waters, “Words”

Artist: Kate Waters
Hometown: Dallas and Houston, Texas, and Taos, New Mexico
Song: “Words”
Album: Some Comfort
Release Date: June 10, 2026 (single); August 21, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “This is the oldest song on the record, from my earliest stages of songwriting as an adult. I was wrestling with why I felt intimidated by writing lyrics, like words couldn’t ever fully capture what I wanted to say. I mean, that’s why I’m a musician, truly.

“The sentiment still holds true – words can do a lot, but they also fail a lot of the time. We see it so much these days, politically speaking – people talking past each other and never truly understanding one another. I’m a music therapist, and as someone who’s worked professionally with nonspeaking people for most of my professional life, I know how important it is to tune into other aspects of communication and human connection.” – Kate Waters

Sophie Wellington, “Scolding Wife”

Artist: Sophie Wellington
Hometown: Staunton, Virginia
Song: “Scolding Wife”
Album: Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still
Release Date: June 8, 2026 (single); July 10, 2026 (album)
Label: Adhyâropa Records

In Their Words: “This fiddle tune has complex phrasing and tells an intriguing melodic story. Marion Reece, the source fiddler for this tune, plays this in calico tuning (AEAC#) which give it haunting, suspended quality. While I can’t remember where I first learned this tune, I fell in love with it again in 2025 when playing it with Sally Jablonsky and Stefan Amidon at Cascade of Music and Dance, a social dance camp run by Country Dance & Song Society. We played this tune late into the night, locking in with one another and allowing the space to breathe and the notes to sing. For me, old-time music shines brightest in my friendships and shared memories of playing. I’m fascinated with how to best adapt this music for guitar, allowing it to feel fluid and free on that instrument.” – Sophie Wellington

Track Credits:
Sophie Wellington – Guitar, percussive dance

Video Credits: Pat Piasecki and Chris Dempsey, with special thanks to Barbara Hauser.

Photo Credit: Bronwyn by Alexa King Stone; Sophie Wellington by Pat Piasecki.

Unspoken Tradition’s
Resilience Playlist

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

We find ourselves at a proverbial crossroads in Southern Appalachia. Our land battered by the devastation of a hurricane, scorched by scores of wildfires; ancient rivers, swelled by floodwaters, carving new courses through the landscape. Yet the land and its peoples persist. As artists, we are the guardians of the stories of the people in our communities – stories of hope and love, of loss and desperation, of a community rising above tragic circumstance. Stories of Resilience.

On our new album, we reflect in song about what it means to meet the moment with music that both binds our wounds and demonstrates our healing. In bearing witness to this time and place, we recognize that the path forward is not just survival – it is the conscious choice to innovate, to adapt in the face of adversity. It is in that choice that we find meaning, and renewal.

The songs on this playlist refer to the theme of resilience or have a connection to specific songs on our album of the same name. We wanted to share the work of some of the other artists that wrote the material and/or inspired the songs we recorded. Check out and follow these folks – especially if they are new names. Their catalogs are terrific discoveries and their work is excellent! – Unspoken Tradition

“Linemen” – Zoe & Cloyd

John Cloyd Miller is the author of the song “Weary Town” from our album. Zoe & Cloyd are longtime friends and Western North Carolina natives who experienced the ravages of hurricane Helene in their neighborhood. “Linemen” is a tribute to the heroes of the rescue and recovery effort as they were on the front lines of restoring power to the region. God bless these Linemen!

“Katie and Burl” – Acoustic Syndicate

We wanted to share the original version of this song that we re-recorded for our album Resilience. Acoustic Syndicate is a seminal North Carolina fusion-grass band and writer-guitarist Steve McMurray is a dear friend.

“Dust Bowl Children” – Alison Krauss & Union Station

One of our favorite songs and artists! A story of trials, tribulations, and resilience from another point in history.

“Papertown” – Balsam Range

Western North Carolina native Milan Miller wrote this song as well as one from our album called “Weeds Don’t Wither.” This is the true story of the North Carolina mountain town of Canton and its paper mill that was the heart of the town’s industry. The mill has since been closed, adding an extra layer of disparity to the story.

“Alleghenies” – Saravanan Sankaran

From our bass player’s solo album Back To Bassics. It’s one Sav wrote about his Western Pennsylvania mountain home! This is a mainstay of our live set.

“Weary Town” – Unspoken Tradition

This song’s theme is at the center of our new album. It holds new meaning for us in the wake of the great flood disaster that came to our Western North Carolina home. When we play it live, we dedicate it to the city of Asheville and the resilient people of WNC.

“Back in Yonder’s World” – Norman Blake & Tony Rice

This song! And the album it’s from, Norman Blake & Tony Rice 2, is a “desert island” album for us.

“Margie” – Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass

This artist is one of our biggest influences, especially for Sav. We were thrilled and honored to have Danny join us on “I’ll Break Out Again Tonight” as a featured vocalist!

“Moments” – Unspoken Tradition

One of the first singles we released from the new album. Written by the album’s producer, Jon Weisberger, it embodies the sincerity of appreciating the subtle moments in life.

“I’m In a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)” – Alabama

This country-rock hit was a radio staple in its time. We thought it would make a great bluegrass song. To hear our version, listen to our Mixtape below or, better yet, check it out on the new album!

Photo Credit: Sandlin Gaither

Tim O’Brien & Jan Fabricius Pick ‘Paper Flowers’ As Their First Album Together

Posted on by Editor

Tim O’Brien & Jan Fabricius‘ new album, Paper Flowers, represents something of a double collaboration. While O’Brien has achieved many accomplishments in his long career, Paper Flowers stands as his first official album collaboration with his wife, Jan, although she has written and performed with him over the past decade.

Secondly, Paper Flowers is the result of the couple’s ongoing collaboration with the legendary singer-songwriter Tom Paxton. Twelve of the album’s 15 songs are the product of these regular Zoom sessions. Paxton had known the couple for years from traveling in similar musical circles, but their virtual songwriting dates arose after mutual friends Cathy Fink and Jon Weisberger asked O’Brien and Fabricius if they would consider co-writing a song with Paxton for the Bluegrass Sings Paxton project that they were then just getting off the ground.

The first song the three of them wrote together, “You Took Me In,” wound up on that 2024 release. “We wrote the song really quickly and we’re really happy about it,” O’Brien shared on a phone call between concerts with Fabricius in New Mexico. “It did jump start the process.”

O’Brien has found this collaborative process particularly productive. “Writing songs on your own, for me, sometimes I labor over them for months,” he elaborates. “But with a co-write, it seems like your time is precious. The idea that you’re together in the same space…and you want to get to the crux really as quickly as possible. And in general, it’s a liberating process. It’s like fishing. You’re pulling these things out of the water and you see, ‘Oh, there’s a good one. Here’s a good, good size one.’”

You can easily sense the musical liberation on Paper Flowers. The album stands as perhaps O’Brien’s most musically diverse work across his celebrated career. While still securely rooted in an acoustic foundation, the record contains a variety of music styles, including the boogie-woogie jaunt “Blacktop Rag Top,” the gospel-tinged “Back To Eden,” and the New Wave-y rocker “Down to Burn.” Fabricius discovered that these songwriting sessions can lead to some interesting results.

“It amazes me how we’ll have an idea and then by the time the whole song’s molded and done, it may be totally different, take you down a different path than you thought you were going,” she says. One example of this twisty path of songwriting came when the couple shared with Paxton the story of an armadillo that they were battling in the yard of their Nashville home – including the animal’s miraculous escape from a raccoon trap. Paxton, who was at a laundromat at the time, immediately saw it as a song premise. The highly comical “Lonesome Armadillo” relates the misadventures of an armadillo that’s stranded in a laundromat. It’s trying to bum a quarter to get back to Amarillo after failed attempts to become a Nashville music star, including getting kicked out of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and not getting to meet award-winning bassist (and longtime O’Brien collaborator) Mike Bub.

Fabricius also credits Paxton for coming up with a key lyrical detail – a peanut butter sandwich – in “Covenant,” a heartbreaking song about parents losing a child in a school shooting that was inspired by the 2023 Covenant School tragedy in Nashville. She recalls, “When he said, ‘Well, let’s say this kid has got a peanut butter sandwich in the backpack,’ at first I thought: ‘Huh?’ And then I thought, ‘Oh boy, that really does bring the reality to it.’ We’re just putting ourselves into the parents’ shoes a little bit, you know, and what can you say? It’s hard to put the words to it, so less was more.” O’Brien adds that these “visual references and physical details are sometimes better than trying to moralize or anything.” He also drew a parallel to the subtleties involved in cooking: “If you make cornbread, you don’t want to stir it up too much. It doesn’t work as well if you stir it up too much.”

Detailed lyric writing is something Paxton very much believes in. “It’s not just a tree; it’s an oak tree,” Paxton believes. “It’s not just a street, it’s Cornwall Street. You get them closer to life when you notice the particulars of life and the sandwich in the kid’s backpack is a given and it’s up to you to see it.”

The importance of details also was central in the creation of the track, “Yellow Hat.” Paxton came to one session stating that he wanted to write a song about a hat. Not just any hat, but a yellow hat. This sense of specificity certainly lent an air of realism to the tune, which deals with a couple aging gracefully. The lyrics come off as being so relatable and authentic that people think it is about O’Brien and Fabricius. O’Brien says that he has alerted audiences that it is not them in the song by announcing: “This is about an old couple, not us; (they’re) moving out of their house, not our house.”

“He hasn’t bought me a yellow hat!” Fabricius chimes in.

Paxton, in fact, often arrives to the Zoom with a premise or a phrase that he is eager to work on. Fabricius recalls him saying: “’This idea has been driving me nuts all week. It’s about a guy who really loves his wife but all he does is complain about her.’ And we were off and running.” After coming up with lyrics for this premise, O’Brien and Fabricius realized the next day that the song was very husband-sided, so they wrote a verse from the wife’s perspective. “And (Tom) was really happy with it,” Fabricius reveals. And well, he should be. The tune, “This Gal Of Mine” sits nicely with Tennessee Ernie Ford/Kay Starr’s “You’re My Sugar” and John Prine/Iris Dement’s “In Spite Of Ourselves” as a classic battling couples country tune.

There are times too when ideas come out of nowhere – or close to nowhere. At one of their virtual meetups, O’Brien was sitting around riffing on the guitar and, as he recalls, “Tom says, ‘Boy, the more you play that, the more it sounds like you’re playing ‘fat pile of puppies.’” And thus, the song “Fat Pile of Puppies” was born. While the tune may initially sound like a light romp simply about adorable little dogs, “Fat Pile of Puppies” (at one time considered for the album’s title) holds a deceptive depth to it. The crucial lyric “Falling in love is what I fear” could easily be describing the emotions for another human as much as for a dog.

“It’s kind of a love song in a way,” Fabricius confides. The writing of this song also came as O’Brien and she were still mourning the loss of their 17-year-old dog; however, they have since acquired a new pup named Nellie Kane (yes, after the O’Brien-penned Hot Rize track).

Real-life inspirations serve as the source for several other songs on this album. “Father of the Bride,” for example, was written for Fabricius’ son when his daughter was getting married. The humorous “Atchison” was inspired by a trip the couple took to Kansas, where Fabricius is from. She has a cousin who actually lives in Atchison, and during the visit, O’Brien exclaimed: “I have never been to Atchison.” The phrase stuck in their heads, giving rise to the album’s catchy lead-off track, which not only references the great train tune “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” but also affords O’Brien the opportunity to break out a Jimmie Rodgers-like yodel.

It’s not surprising, however, that the couple wound up choosing “Paper Flowers” as their title track, because it serves as something like their courting song. The tune came about after they came across O’Brien’s old notebooks (the “little $2 notebooks you could put in your shirt pocket,” as he described them) in which he had written his early love notes to her. Fabricius saved the postcards and paper flowers that he had sent her. One of the notes contained the sentence: “one for you and one for me and one for the miles in between,” which got transformed into one of the song’s key lines.

“We still have the paper flowers on the mantle,” Fabricius shares. “And they made for good cover art.”

The tracks that the couple wrote without Paxton, “I Look Good in Blue” and “Down to Burn,” are both true stories, although not drawn from their own lives. “I Look Good in Blue” is a gin-soaked portrait of a honky-tonk piano player whose family told O’Brien and Fabricius about this woman whose wish was to “save that (Bombay) Sapphire bottle and pour my ashes in.” Another song drenched in alcohol, “Down to Burn” was written after the couple encountered a quintet of drunk women on a “girlfriends’ getaway.” The tune, which exudes an ’80s New Wave party vibe, provided O’Brien the chance to dust off his electric guitars. “The great part is seeing Tim in our music room putting electric guitar on (the song). He had more fun with that,” Fabricius shares. O’Brien admits, “I sweated over it more than I had fun. I did enjoy that. I have several electric guitars, and I don’t know how to operate them, and it made me try to learn more. I kind of got a couple of them working pretty good.”

O’Brien has won two GRAMMYs and made a lot of music in his over 50 years as a professional musician. Toward the end of our conversation, he shared some of his thoughts about the role of music and musicians in society. “The music is, in a broader sense, like the human song. It’s like creative force, like a tree growing or grass growing. It’s going to happen and we’re the vehicles – the musicians – the people who play music and we just organize it in some way to let it be there…

“The human race could not function without music,” he continues. “It’s used for various things. It’s used for ceremony. It’s used for dancing. It’s used for entertainment. It’s used for communication… I mean Bob Dylan, he wrote ‘Blowing in the Wind.’ He was writing what he saw, what was already going on. It wasn’t like he invented that. He’s the channel.” O’Brien then paused before adding, “It’s a nice thing to be in the channel and kind of push it along.”

Photo Credit: Scott Simontacchi

MIXTAPE: Thomas Cassell’s Songs to Pass the Time

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

2024 is winding down and like any other year, there’s a lot to say goodbye to as we welcome in the future. Memories (the good and bad), loved ones, homes – all seem to eventually become markers in time.

A marker in my ‘24 was the release of my third record, The Never-Ending Years, in October. The theme of time is common throughout (as the title would suggest), and when BGS asked me to put together a playlist in celebration, I considered the many topical songs that have had an impact on me.

There may be some obvious players left out (sorry, Pink Floyd and Jim Croce) but really, these are simply the songs that have meant the most to me, songs I listen to in eternal recurrence, all having something to do with the fact that time moves on – with or without our blessing. – Thomas Cassell

“Where Did the Morning Go?” – Blue Highway

Blue Highway has had an incredible impact on everything I do. They really set a bar with thoughtful, original material in bluegrass music. This song in particular pulls a heartstring, as the every-quickening pace of life only blurs with time.

“Childish Things” – James McMurtry

There’s an innocence that we lose every day and much of our wonder and curiosity tends to disappear with it. But for me, the contentment of looking back brings calmness and comfort for the future. James McMurtry is on my Mount Rushmore of songwriters and this song (I think) is as good as anything he’s ever written.

“Mama’s Hand” – Lynn Morris (written by Hazel Dickens)

Leaving home is tough, as most anyone knows. Inevitable as it is, it can be hard to say goodbye, no matter the opportunity that awaits. Lynn’s music has brought me a lot of comfort in this life.

“Today” – John Hartford

John Hartford’s songwriting certainly doesn’t need my endorsement, but I think his early records are often overlooked. This song was released in 1967, Hartford’s LA era that gave us “Gentle On My Mind,” “No End of Love,” and so many others. There ain’t nothing but today.

“Last Time on the Road” – Nashville Bluegrass Band (written by Carl Jones)

This song found me at the right time. I was getting burnt out from touring and music in general had become a daily commitment that brought little joy. It was nice to know that others felt the same, but also that they were capable of salvaging the good and moving forward making great music – in the NBB’s case, four more great records.

“Needed” – Robbie Fulks

Robbie Fulks has been a favorite for a long time, partly for his unpredictable performance style – check out Revenge! (Live) – but also for his thoughtful lyricism and vulnerable storytelling. This song highlights the latter, and all the reflection and regret that comes with getting older.

“Blackberry Summer” – Dale Ann Bradley

Is it possible to be nostalgic for a childhood you didn’t have? I think so – at least that’s how I feel when I listen to this song. Dale Ann takes me back to all of my childhood summers, as similar or different as they may be.

“Nail” – Ed Snodderly

Ed is a songwriter’s songwriter, and one of the coolest musicians I know. His group The Brother Boys is an all time favorite, but this song from his 2017 solo record really fits the current theme. The nothin’ here leaves no more.

“Don’t You Know I’m From Here” – Brennen Leigh

Prairie Love Letter is one of those records that I downloaded before a flight and then proceeded to listen to three or four times through before landing (still do sometimes). The writing is incredible front to back, but the opening track really hit me hard. I’m from a very small town and every time I go home, I find I have less of a connection to the place – only a growing longing for one. This song of Brennen’s couldn’t articulate that feeling any better.

“Bed by the Window” – James King (written by Marnie Wilson and Rob Crosby)

The Bluegrass Storyteller. I’m not sure there’s a song that earned James King that title more than this one does. Here’s your reminder to go and visit the elderly in your life, wherever they may be.

“The Randall Knife” – Guy Clark

I couldn’t finish this playlist without including Guy Clark’s magnum opus. There’s a lot I could say about this song, but none of it as well as him.

“Autumn Leaves Don’t Fall” – Thomas Cassell

And if you’ve made it all the way to the end, I’ll reward you with a little bit of self-promotion. Jon Weisberger and I wrote this song after thinking about how the more people we lose, the quicker we seem to lose them. Time is exponential.

Photo Credit: Scott Simontacchi

Our Favorite Songs and Recordings Featuring Billy Strings

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s hard to imagine Billy Strings as anything other than the glass-shattering guitar virtuoso he’s become. Over a decade, he’s flipped, rearranged, and altogether transformed bluegrass music. He leads with instinct, allowing the music to speak on a much deeper level than many of his contemporaries. Four albums deep into his career, in addition to a live album and several collaborative projects, Strings immerses himself in the tradition of string music while bringing a fresh, exciting perspective to the classic structures of flatpickin’.

Our November 2024 Artist of the Month, Strings continues cementing his legacy by stretching boundaries and pushing progressively forward. With a foot firmly rooted in the past, always feeling ripped from another era, the musician remains intently focused on breathing life into the genre for modern audiences. As much as he’s built upon his growing solo catalog, he’s also known to frequent other artists’ work and inject his unique charms into their shared musical performances.

Strings has remained committed to bluegrass and jamgrass through the last 10 years and more, while often stepping outside these tight genre boxes for some playful excursions. From appearing on a Dierks Bentley song to teaming up with a rap juggernaut-turned-country-star Post Malone, the Michigan native keeps an open musical mind and heart. He’s an unstoppable force, always willing to try something new.

Below, we’ve put together nine of Billy Strings’ best features, both on his own projects and on others’ releases, too.

“Things to Do” with Zach Top

Zach Top recently released a three-track collaborative EP with Billy Strings as an Apple Music exclusive. “Things to Do” sees the duo injecting the track with a healthy helping of pep. The pair swaps off verses, each bringing their strengths to the performance.

“Girl, it just ain’t right / You’re burning up my daylight,” they sing. On a wide stretch of musical canvas, Top and Strings paint with vitality and urgency. The special release also includes a cover of Ricky Skaggs’ 1983 classic “Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown” and “Bad Luck,” another Top original, which appeared on his 2024 studio album Cold Beer and Country Music.

“California Sober” featuring Willie Nelson

On the eve of Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday, the country legend hopped aboard “California Sober” with Billy Strings. The rollicking track celebrates weed in moderation, finding the pair giving up late-night parties and weekend binges for a chiller sort of high.

In classic Nelson fashion, dusty strings give an air of a traveling tune and barreling down the highway at 100 miles an hour. The one-off collab single (written by Strings, Aaron Allen, and Jon Weisberger) demonstrates someone maturing and realizing that some vices should be left in the past. But regardless, the duo still cheekily admits: “the devil on my shoulder always wins.”

“M-E-X-I-C-O” with Post Malone

Post Malone dove head first into country music with the release of 2024’s F-1 Trillion. Featuring everyone from Dolly Parton and Tim McGraw to Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson, the collaborative set made quite a splash – seeing the rapper swerve into modern country with his own special twist. “M-E-X-I-C-O” is a certified barn-burner, among the project’s standout moments. Credit should be given generously to Billy Strings, who infuses his twangy, finger-pickin’ bluegrass style into the explosive, toe-tapping experience.

“The Great Divide” with Luke Combs

“The Great Divide” arrived in 2021 as a cautionary tale during troubling sociopolitical times.

“We’re striking matches on the TV / Setting fires on our phones,” warns Combs in the opening line. The singer fuels those flames throughout the song, sending smoke signals as things methodically escalate. “We’re all so far, far apart now / It’s as deep as it is wide / We’re about to fall apart now,” the lyrics burst like dynamite.

The song isn’t all doom and gloom, though. Later on, the lyrics detail how many strangers love one another despite glaring differences. Several years later, the song rings even more eerily poignant than ever before.

“Dooley’s Farm” with Molly Tuttle

A long-time fan of The Dillards’ classic, “Dooley,” Molly Tuttle updates the story to reflect an elderly man’s penchant for growing weed. “Dooley’s Farm” is a slower ditty, unlike the giddy-up pace of the Dillards’ song, and darker in tone and feel.

Strings lends his voice for spooky backing vocals, poking through the track like a ghost in the night. Their performance is found on Tuttle’s 2022 album, Crooked Tree.

“You can hide by day, but the night will find you / They caught Dooley in the moonlight,” whispers Tuttle over the gentle cry of a fiddle.

“Too Stoned to Cry” with Margo Price

Margo Price had been wanting to record “Too Stoned to Cry” for years, ever since hearing its writer Andrew Combs perform the lonesome ballad. Working with Beau Bedford, she convinced the producer to put his magical touch on the song. When it came to enlisting a duet partner, Price turned to Billy Strings, who turns in a sinewy and evocative lead performance.

“There’s whiskey and wine and pills for the pain / Fast, easy women and a little cocaine,” they sing, their voices tangling like barbed wire. With its frayed, tired edges, the song proves to be an ample showcase for both singers’ talents. It’s as classic as you can possibly get these days.

“I Will Not Go Down” with Amythyst Kiah

On her 2024 album Still + Bright, Amythyst Kiah reaches into the depths of her songcraft for a cinematic stunner. With Billy Strings in tow, “I Will Not Go Down” pounds with alarming emotional urgency. Taking cues from such film staples as Avatar: The Last Airbender and Lord of the Rings, Kiah mounts an expedition across space and time, metaphorically speaking, as she slays dragons and seeks life’s simple truths. Strings supplies a startlingly resonant knit of guitar work that punctuates Kiah’s flame-throwing vocals.

“Muscle Car” with Andy Hall

Two musical forces collide for a bedeviling five-minute epic on “Muscle Car.” With no vocal line, the composition here sizzles and pops, as it transmits its very own story through the power of instruments.

Andy Hall’s 2023 album, Squareneck Soul, delivers a torrential downpour of raw storytelling. Hall (of the Infamous Stringdusters) expertly offers up rip-roaring string work, matched with his companions’ equally engaging performances. The track also features Sierra Hull (mandolin), Wes Corbett (banjo), and Travis Book (bass), who all band together for one of the decade’s finest bluegrass moments.

“Bells of Every Chapel” with Sierra Ferrell

Sierra Ferrell pulls Billy Strings along for a charming lovesick gallop with “Bells of Every Chapel.” Found on her 2021 album, Long Time Coming, the mid-tempo track sees Ferrell peering through rose-tinted glass, examining unrequited love that squeezes your heart.

“They were ringing so clear/ But you couldn’t hear/ And your heart could never be mine,” she sings. Old-timey in spirit, the song soars higher and higher with Strings’ choo-choo train flatpicking.

(Editor’s Note: Continue exploring our Billy Strings Artist of the Month content here.)

Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen

Billy Strings Could Play Whatever He Wants – And Still Chooses Bluegrass

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

The first time I heard Billy Strings’ name was in 2014, from a guitar picking pilot friend of mine from northern Kentucky who was working up in Michigan. I first met him at the Frankfort Bluegrass Festival in Illinois two or three years later, by which time I’d played a song or two from the Fiddle Tune X album on the satellite radio show I was hosting with Del McCoury. Billy had either recently gotten or was about to get his first IBMA Award for Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year (his then-roommate, Molly Tuttle, got one at the same time).

After that, I’d see him from time to time – I was already writing songs with fellow Michigander and Billy’s across-the-street neighbor Lindsay Lou – but it wasn’t until June 18, 2018, that we got together to write our first song, “Love Like Me.” We wrote a few more after that, he went into the studio, and put most of them on 2019’s Home. Since then, working as a team with another Michigander, Aaron Allen, we’ve written many more, for Renewal and now for Highway Prayers, too. To be honest, it’s been a little life-changing – a taste, at least, of what it must have been like for Music Row songwriters back in the day.

One striking feature of Billy’s trajectory has been his ability to keep the enthusiasm of the normative bluegrass industry and community that the IBMA generally represents; my social media feeds regularly remind me that most of the stalwart traditionalists among my friends – people who grew up immersed in scenes that trace back to the music’s earliest days – aren’t dissing Billy Strings. They’re cheering him on. That hasn’t always been the case with bluegrass artists bringing the sound and the songs to larger-than-usual audiences, but it’s indisputable here, as three successive IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards (finally supplanted this year by Del, another traditionalist admirer) demonstrate.

The reason, I think, is that, as BGS Editor Justin Hiltner puts it in his Artist of the Month reveal essay, “the most innovative and revolutionary aspects of Billy Strings and his version of bluegrass are not what he’s changed, but what has stayed the same.” When the BGS team invited me to have a chat with Billy for Artist of the Month, I figured it was, among other things, an opportunity to dig deeper into that idea – and so I did.

Together, we talked about recording Highway Prayers, about working in a band, about writing songs and making set lists. We talked about a number of things, but somehow always wound back up, again and again, at the endlessly rewarding music of Mac Wiseman and Larry Sparks, “Riding That Midnight Train” and “Cumberland Gap,” “Uncle Pen” and more.

Does it get any more bluegrass than that?

You didn’t record Highway Prayers all at once, did you? Wasn’t it recorded over a while?

Billy Strings: Right. We started in January out in LA at EastWest Studios, with Jon Brion the producer and Greg Koller at the helm as engineer. We recorded a few tunes out there. I really love what we got sonically, but I just don’t know if being in LA while trying to make a record was right for us – we were right downtown in freaking LA, man. I felt like, “What the hell am I doing out here in this big city where all these movie stars are, trying make a record?” I was working with Jon [Brion], who is a genius, that’s where he likes to work and the sounds we were getting were awesome and everything was cool, but I think it was also at a time where I was wanting to get the guys together without a producer and just throw stuff at the wall.

So we threw a makeshift little studio together and brought in Brandon Bell, and that’s where we recorded a good bulk of it – just threw up a couple of mics with a little lunch box of pre-amps and went for it. We would sit there and work a song out and then go upstairs and cut it. The great thing about being at my house was, it’s like there’s no authority figure there and it doesn’t feel like a studio – it just feels like we’re at band practice. And if you wanted, while somebody’s trying to do a overdub or something, you could go for a bike ride. Just that in itself was mentally freeing.

I will say that the tones we were getting out there with Jon were unquestionably better to me. But I’m kind of in the spot where I’m just, like, “Does it really matter?” Well, even if most people listen to music on their damn phone, it does matter. That’s how you make a sound that can evoke emotion. But also, as a bluegrass musician, any time we get with somebody or something, it’s like, “We should record you guys on these old ribbon mics and straight to tape with no edits,” and it’s just like, “Well, dude, it’s 2024.”

I feel like in some ways when people do that, they’re kind of privileging the process over the result, when the result is what people are gonna hear and what they’re gonna relate to.

Yeah, I’m just chasing something and I’m not trying to think about it too much. I read something in a book the other day, it’s called Blues and Trouble, by Tom Piazza. He says that sometimes you can push an idea up a hill, and you gotta push and push to get it to the top of the hill, but sometimes an idea gets going and you have to run to keep up. That’s where I like to be – you know what I’m talking about as a songwriter – when it just kind of falls out. Those are the best ones, you know, and quite a few of these songs just rolled off the page. Like “Be Your Man,” for instance, I wrote it in 20 minutes; it just came out. Of course there are other ones you have to work hard on, but, man, those – I just love when they show up like that, it almost feels like you just siphoned it out of the ether. Who wrote the song, you know?

That’s something that I’ve heard a lot over the years from a lot of great songwriters: it’s just like pulling it out of the air, and it kind of falls right in there. When you’re in that zone, you can’t hardly beat that.

No, you gotta keep going with it, you know. It’s hard to get in that zone, and like I said, it’s rare for me, it might only happen a couple of times a year that I write a song like that. That’s how “Dust In a Baggie” was. I wrote it in 30 minutes at work – I didn’t even have a guitar, I just had the melody in my head and a little notepad. I was cleaning rooms at the hotel and I sat there and wrote that. That’s still how the song is today, you know, it was just… it was done. Finished.

Let me ask you a little bit more about your process more generally. What’s the role of the guys in the band? You know, in the bluegrass world, at one extreme you’ve got the Jimmy Martin style of bandleader, which is, you know, “This is my sound, and this is how you’re gonna do it, and I will tell you what you need to do and show you what you need to do.” Then, on the other end, you’ve got somebody like Bill Monroe or J.D. Crowe, who says, “I brought you in to do your thing and let’s see how it fits together with everything else going on there.”

I very much lean towards the latter. I’ve got such amazing musicians that I’d be stupid not to listen to what they’ve got to say, you know? They’re so amazing and each one of them has their own strengths. So it’s a good mixture of like, I’m the band leader, kinda what I say goes, but I also take into consideration everything that the guys say. Sometimes I really need their advice and ask for it– like, for instance, most of the time I write the set list, but sometimes … I’ll go to the front lounge and say, “Hey, what do you guys wanna play tonight?” And then some ideas will come at me.

They’re there when I need them and they also don’t take anything personally when I say, “Hey, no.” It just depends, because sometimes it’s touchy when you write a song and somebody else wants to try to change it. But sometimes, if you hear them out, the idea that they come up with is way better. It just takes you a second to see what they’re talking about.

What you said about Crowe, bringing people in to do their thing, that’s really what I want. I don’t wanna be the dictator. I wanna be somebody who’s in a band. My whole life, my friends have been my family, especially when I was a teenager and started playing in bands. The word “band” means a lot to me. It means my brotherhood, you know, my closest friends and family.

That leads me to something that I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody else talk to you about this. You’re constantly bringing new material into the band – not originals, but older songs, old bluegrass songs. You’re always refreshing the repertoire. Are you just listening to old stuff all the time and hear something and say, “Man, that’s cool, let’s start doing that”? How does it work?

There’s a lot of songs in my head just from growing up playing bluegrass and we still haven’t scratched the surface of it. You know what I mean? Like, one night I’ll just be thinking of my dad in the old days, how we used to pick down around Barkus Park, and I get feeling sentimental or something and all of a sudden we’re gonna play “Letter Edged in Black” or whatever.

There’s just a whole well of tunes to pull from the bluegrass songbook and I like to mix it up. Like, if we did “Cumberland Gap” last time, then let’s do “Ground Speed” this time and if we did “Ground Speed” this time, next time let’s do “Clinch Mountain Backstep.” And then sometimes you play a tune and it feels good, so then it will stick around – like we’ve been playing “Baltimore Johnny.”

I guess having the guys in the band that you do helps, because a lot of them already know those tunes – or at least have some idea how they go, so you can work something up pretty quick.

Yeah, and they’re quick learners. Most of the time I wake up at the hotel and I’m stressing until I can write a set list, until it’s finished. Otherwise I can’t take a nap, because it’s a puzzle every day. There’s so many people that come to every single show of ours and we see the same people in the front row every night. I just don’t wanna feed them the same thing for dinner. I wanna mix it up.

Sometimes it takes two or three hours to make a set list. I’m doing it all on my iPad, so I’m not actually crumpling up paper and throwing it in the waste basket, but that’s what I’m doing. I’ll make a set list and I’ll go, “Oh, fuck that, that’s garbage.” And then eventually I’ll land on something that I feel is suitable or whatever. But it’s a puzzle every day. And then usually there will be a song or two on there– back in ’23, or maybe ’22, we played a new song every single show of the entire year. Every set that we played, we debuted a new cover. That was a task; once we got halfway through the year, it was like, “We gotta keep it going.”

So these days, it might not be every single show that we’re having to learn a new song, but we’re definitely having to refresh on things and arrangements and stuff. Every day before a gig, if we go out on stage at 8:00, then 6:45 or so we’re getting our instruments and sitting down and we’re starting to talk through some shit. Sometimes we’re learning these songs. And then sometimes we go out there and wing it. I like to be in that space, too. A lot of times, if we over rehearse things and think about it too much, somebody will fuck it up. But if we just get the basic idea down and go out there and somehow believe in ourselves, then we get through these songs.

Leaving the covers aside, I was reading a review of Highway Prayers and the guy who wrote it seemed almost baffled by the fact that it’s really a bluegrass album. And it is, from “Richard Petty” to the opening song that you wrote with Thomm [Jutz], to “Happy Hollow” and even “Leadfoot.” These are songs that, to me, are almost super-traditional in the forms that they use and the melodies.

Do you feel like your ear is kind of trained enough to feel comfortable with reusing folk materials, for lack of a better term? Like “Leadfoot” has this “Lonesome Reuben” kind of sound to it – but it’s not “Lonesome Reuben,” either. That’s gotta enter into your process a lot, I would think.

Not consciously. I grew up playing bluegrass and sometimes when I’m trying to write a song, that’s just how I think about it. When I first started writing, back when I was 16 years old, I would just rewrite “Riding That Midnight Train” or something. Not trying to, I would just write a song and then I would be like, “Oh, fuck, this is just ‘Riding That Midnight Train,’ it’s just the same melody. I can’t even call this my own song. But now, with a song, I show it to the band guys and they’ll say, “I don’t know, I think it’s your tune.”

I’m just trying to chase the idea, and not get in its way, and not let anything – especially from the outside world – into my brain to influence my direction. When I’m writing something good, it’s like I’m trying to write in my diary or something – or like I’m trying to write a bluegrass song that is [reflective] of my childhood and my love for the music. It’s that sentimental feeling that I get when I hear bluegrass music, that I love it so much, that it reminds me of my childhood. That before I knew anything dirty about the world, there was this love for bluegrass music and that’s the kind of music I wanna make.

I’m a bluegrass man. You know, we do all this other stuff, and I write other songs too, but at the core of it all is a bluegrass musician who was fed Doc Watson and Bill Monroe and Larry Sparks. So that’s the stuff that I like. I’m still listening to the Stanley Brothers all the time. I’ve listened to this shit my whole life and I still haven’t heard it all, you know?

You could do pretty much whatever you wanted, and yet you are still, at the core, playing bluegrass music.

What’s authentic? You know? I’m trying to not lose myself to this fucking big monster, you know what I mean? Because, yeah, I could get a drummer and pick up my electric guitar. I could put on a cowboy hat and join that whole bandwagon, too. But that’s not me and it’s not true. I don’t care about that shit. The more that I’m in this industry, the more that I’m just trying to stay true to myself and my music, because I see past all the bullshit and see past the glam of it. And I’m so grateful – so, so grateful – to have a fan base that will allow me to just wear a pair of blue jeans on stage and play three chords and the truth at them.

I feel like if I went and changed it up too much, then I might lose a bunch of those folks. And that’s hard, too, because sometimes I feel like we need a drummer. We’re in these giant arenas, it’s like, “Man, if I had a drummer and I could pick up the Les Paul, we could just fucking chop heads.” And I do enjoy that, too, because that is part of who I am. When I got out of playing bluegrass so much, when I was a kid, I played some electric and some Black Sabbath and shit – so there’s some of that in there.

But what I play is what’s in my heart, man. And that’s why I’m still playing Mac Wiseman songs, and there’s something – it’s almost like a freaking kink or something. I just love it so much. I love playing “It Rains Just the Same in Missouri” to a big crowd of people, or “I Wonder How the Old Folks Are at Home, or “The Baggage Coach Ahead,” or any of these old [songs].

You get out on the big arena stage like that and you play “Uncle Pen,” it’s like, “Fuck, yeah!” It’s kind of like just force-feeding these people bluegrass, and I love it, you know.

(Editor’s Note: Continue exploring our Billy Strings Artist of the Month content here.)

Photo Credit: Dana Trippe

An All-Star Lineup Salutes Folk Legend Tom Paxton On ‘Bluegrass Sings Paxton’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

There is no disputing that Tom Paxton is a living music legend. In the early 1960s, he was a major player in the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene, along with the likes of Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Peter, Paul & Mary. The writer of such classic tunes as “Last Thing On My Mind,” “Bottle Of Wine,” “I Can’t Help To Wonder (Where I’m Bound),” and “Ramblin’ Boy,” Paxton has earned Lifetime Achievement Awards from the GRAMMYs, ASCAP, and the BBC. The beloved songwriter has had his tunes covered by a wide spectrum of acts, ranging from Harry Belafonte and Neil Diamond to the Pogues and Norah Jones. While several fellow singer-songwriters (notably Carolyn Hester and Anne Hills) have devoted entire albums to Paxton music, it took a group of admiring bluegrass musicians to deliver the first multi-artist tribute album of his songs.

Bluegrass Sings Paxton, which came out August 30 on Mountain Home Music Company, offers an impressive lineup of contributors that cuts across several generations of bluegrass musicians. Performers include celebrated acts, such as Alice Gerrard, Claire Lynch, Laurie Lewis, and Tim O’Brien along with younger stars, like Sister Sadie, Della Mae, Steep Canyon Rangers’ singer/guitarist Aaron Burdett, Unspoken Tradition’s Sav Sankaran, and current IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Greg Blake.

Paxton, speaking to BGS from his home in Virginia, said that he had a mostly hands-off role in the making of Bluegrass Sings Paxton. “I just sat on the sidelines in amazement”; however, he confided, “I was just blown away” after listening to the entire album for the first time. The 86-year-old singer-songwriter was also being a little modest about his own contributions. This collection contains two new Paxton tunes, and he sings on a pair of tracks as well.

The genesis for Bluegrass Sings Paxton started with a conversation that GRAMMY-winning musician/producer Cathy Fink had some years ago with Paxton, who she has worked with since the early 1980s and has known even longer. “I know Tom’s catalog really well and have often thought there was great material there for bluegrass,” she shared with BGS. “I could hear this album before we even began.” The idea further evolved a while later when Fink brought up the idea to award-winning songwriter, producer, and Mountain Home executive Jon Weisberger at IBMA a few years back, and he immediately came aboard.

Several of Paxton’s tunes have been very popular in bluegrass circles over the years. A half century ago, Kentucky Mountain Boys covered “Ramblin Boy” while the Dillards and the Kentucky Colonels were among those who have recorded “The Last Thing On My Mind.” More recently, “I Can’t Help But Wonder (Where I’m Bound)” was a hit for Ashby Frank and “Leavin’ London” is a live staple of Billy Strings’ concerts. However, both Fink and Weisberger thought the project was a terrific way to get Paxton’s deep songbook better known in the bluegrass world. As Weisberger explained, “I had no doubt that there were more [songs] – both already written and yet to be written – that would work well within bluegrass, and that bringing them to light would encourage artists looking for songs to look to his catalog.”

Several acts came into the project with specific songs that they wanted to do. Blake, who fatefully was sitting at the same table with Weisberger and Fink at IBMA, quickly put dibs on “Leaving London.” Danny Paisley, who remembered his dad, ’80s bluegrass star Bob Paisley, taking him to the Philadelphia Folk Festival as a child and seeing Paxton play there, requested “Ramblin’ Boy,” because it was a song his father had performed. “I Can’t Help But Wonder (Where I’m Bound)” was already part of Della Mae’s live repertoire, so doing that tune was a natural fit for them.

When it came to what songs other acts took on, Fink gave the performers a lot of free rein to delve into Paxton’s vast treasury of tunes, a decision that worked out wonderfully. “Each artist made the song their own and it really worked,” she confided. Claire Lynch chose “I Give You The Morning” and Alice Gerrard selected “The Things I Notice Now” from Paxton’s 1969 The Things I Notice Now album. Chris Jones picked “The Last Hobo” from 1986’s And Loving You. Paxton’s 2002 album, Lookin’ for The Moon, was the source for both Aaron Burdett’s selection of and Sav Sankaran’s rendition of the title track. Laurie Lewis, meanwhile, found “Central Square” from 2015’s Redemption Road. In case you haven’t done the math, these songs alone cover nearly 50 years of Paxton’s recordings.

Paxton, too, was thrilled with the selections, proclaiming “I liked every one of the songs that they chose.” While he expected tunes like “Can’t Help But Wonder,” “Ramblin’ Boy,” and “The Last Thing On My Mind” would be part of the set, Paxton said he “was just tickled to death” over the inclusion of such lesser known numbers as “Central Square,” “The Same River Twice,” and “The Last Hobo.”

Chris Jones revealed to BGS that he picked “The Last Hobo” because the tune “felt like a classic Tom Paxton third-person story song, sort of in the spirit of ‘Ramblin’ Boy,’ in a way. It has a kind of tenderness that is so often present in Tom’s songs.”

Jones was also a member of the de facto “house band” that played on the majority of Bluegrass Sings Paxton’s tracks. A secret weapon behind the album, this team of bluegrass all-stars includes IBMA award-winners banjo player Kristin Scott Benson (the Grascals), fiddler Deanie Richardson (Sister Sadie), and Jones on guitar, along with mandolinist Darren Nicholson (formerly of Balsam Range), bassist Nelson Williams (Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, New Dangerfield) and harmony singers Travis Book (The Infamous Stringdusters) and Wendy Hickman.

Jones felt that everyone “clicked well together” and gave the music “a natural sound, which helped give the impression that these were bluegrass songs to begin with, even if they weren’t.” He also credited producers Weisberger and Fink for “coming up with arrangements that really fostered that feeling, too.”

Bluegrass Sings Paxton opens with one of the tunes that Paxton sings on. He was able to join Della Mae on “I Can’t Help But Wonder (Where I’m Bound)” as the band was recording in Maryland, not too far away from Paxton’s home base in Virginia.

“We did it live in the studio. No overdubs or anything,” he revealed. “I had a ball doing that track with them.” Paxton also sang with long-time collaborators Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer – the three did a double album, All New, together in 2022 – on the up-tempo love tune, “All I Want,” which is also one of the two of new Paxton tunes on the project. The other new number, “You Took Me In” is a co-write with Tim O’Brien and his wife Jan Fabricius. One of the first tunes he wrote with the couple, Paxton said that “it had to be chosen. It’s such a good song.” He described it as “gospel without being gospel,” adding, “I took the literal gospel out of it and kept everything else.”

Fink & Marxer and O’Brien & Fabricius are among the handful of musicians that the still highly-active octogenarian collaborates with via Zoom each week. Folk luminary John McCutcheon, Colorado troubadour Jackson Emmer, and the rising Pittsburgh band Buffalo Rose are also among his regular online songwriting coterie. Paxton says he sometimes writes three to five songs a week. “Lots of folks would retire to the golf course at this point in their lives,” Fink marveled, “but Tom is driven by writing the next song.”

Over the years, Paxton has penned hundreds and hundreds of songs, and more than 60 albums bear his name, beginning with 1962’s I’m the Man That Built the Bridges that was recorded live at New York City’s fabled Gaslight Club. Even from the start, Paxton filled his records predominately with originals, which wasn’t typical at that time. Dylan’s 1962 debut, for example, contained only two originals. Dave Van Ronk, in fact, famously proclaimed in his memoir that it was Paxton who kicked off the folk scene’s “New Song Movement,” not Dylan as often credited.

The best-known songs from his debut, somewhat curiously, are three tunes that might best be described as children’s music: “My Dog Is Bigger Than Your Dog,” “Marvelous Toys,” and “Going To The Zoo.” Writing and performing kids songs was not an isolated occurrence for Paxton, who went on to release several children’s albums, including the GRAMMY-nominated Your Shoes, My Shoes, and to write books for kids. Paxton very much sees himself as continuing the legacy of his heroes, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and The Weavers – artists who performed all types of songs, from story songs and ballads to children’s tunes and political songs.

“Everything I do is really rooted in traditional music,” Paxton elaborated during his phone interview. “I’m always going back to that well of traditional folk music, Appalachian music, cowboy music. It’s a wonderful tradition – great, great songs, and I just keep trying to write songs that feel the way they felt.”

Paxton cites one specific musician – the late, great Doc Watson – to explains his “best route” to bluegrass music. He saw Watson when Ralph Rinzler first brought him to play in New York City and came away so impressed. “I was very fond of him and adored his music. I think he liked me, too. Doc recorded many of my songs over the years.” He also remembered sharing a bill with Watson once in Tampa and being brought out on stage to perform “Bottle Of Wine.” Paxton was rather intimidated over Watson’s and his guitarist Jack Lawrence’s virtuosity. “Why do I feel like I’m wearing painter’s gloves,” he recalled saying while admitting “it was a lot of fun.”

Weisberger describes Paxton’s place in American music as a unique one. “He was an integral part of the transition from wholly traditional folk music to the more modern conception of the field, with its inclusion of performing songwriters, but where a lot of his contemporaries moved on in one way or another, he went deep rather than broad… I think that’s what makes so many of his songs sound so natural and organic and almost effortless. That is an artistry that is really easy to overlook or under-appreciate, so I’m happy to have put together a collection that will, I hope, bring more attention and appreciation to that still ongoing legacy.”

When asked how his songwriting has changed over the years, Paxton replied that he hopes it’s deeper and more developed, adding rather humbly that “I’m still the same writer I was when I wrote ‘Last Thing On My Mind.’ It’s like a farmer who puts in the same crop every year. It’s the same farmer.”

Photo courtesy of Fleming Artists. Album cover courtesy of Crossroads Label Group.

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Julian Taylor, the Grascals, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

We’ve got a fine collection of new tracks, videos, and performances for you this week in our premiere round-up, You Gotta Hear This!

Don’t miss some stellar bluegrass from genre staples – and labelmates – the Grascals, who are celebrating their 20-year anniversary, and Chris Jones & the Night Drivers. The former celebrate their heroes, the Osborne Brothers, with a cover of “Georgia Pineywoods” while the latter get topical while poking fun at doomsday rhetoric on “What If You’re Wrong.”

Jazzy roots duo Winterlark bring us a charming number with a somewhat unlikely subject– emojis. Well, and love gone not-so-right, too. Felled Oak, AKA Brian Carroll, also debuts “Taplines,” a track written while he worked the maple syrup season in Vermont. Singer-songwriter Amy Speace considers the construction of “The American Dream” with a brand new, summery music video and Spooky Mansion performs the title track from his upcoming album, What About You?, live outdoors on the ranch.

Don’t miss Julian Taylor’s debut of a brand new music video for “Pathways,” a song released earlier this week about family, connection, and inter-generational perspective that features the one and only Allison Russell.

To cap it all off, we’ve got an exclusive Yamaha Session from flatpicker Trey Hensley that posted to BGS earlier this week, too. It’s all right here and, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, but You Gotta Hear This!

Felled Oak, “Taplines”

Artist: Felled Oak
Hometown: Corinth, Vermont
Song: “Taplines”
Album: Smoke on the Hillside
Release Date: September 30, 2024

In Their Words: “All of the tunes on this project were birthed from time tapping trees in the sugarbush this past January here in Vermont. In the dead silence of winter, alone in a cluster of skeletal maples hiking uphill, I found myself humming and whistling melodies to keep myself (and the winter birds) company. Some of those melodies stuck and I’d pull out my phone, make a quick voice recording then when I got home transcribe them on the mandolin and octave mandolin.

“‘Taplines’ was a melody that fell beneath my own fingers effortlessly and when I brought it to good friend and musical partner, Mark Burds, a smile crept across his face as we played it together for the first time. All of these tunes were recorded in luthier workshops and small, personal spaces around central Vermont and featuring my closest musical friends. It’s music to be shared and played together, to connect. Intimate, organic, and honest.” – Brian Carroll, Felled Oak

“‘Taplines’ was really fun to put clawhammer on, because it’s one of those simple yet beautiful melodies that falls so nicely on banjo and it’s so satisfying to groove on.” – Mark Burds, banjo

Track Credits:
Brian Carroll – Octave mandolin, mandolin, upright bass, acoustic guitar
Mark Burds – Banjo

The Grascals, “Georgia Pineywoods”

Artist: The Grascals
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Georgia Pineywoods”
Album: 20
Release Date: August 23, 2024
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “I don’t believe The Grascals would be in existence without The Osborne Brothers. Their heavy impact and influence on us is one of the main reasons we all love bluegrass music so much. ‘Georgia Pineywoods’ is a classic Boudleaux and Felice Bryant song originally recorded by The Osborne Brothers and it just felt very fitting for us to include it on this album celebrating our 20th band anniversary. We will always salute The Osborne Brothers’ music and their continued inspiration to The Grascals!” – Jamie Johnson

Track Credits:
Kristin Scott Benson – Banjo
Danny Roberts – Mandolin
Jamie Johnson – Guitar, lead vocals
Terry Smith – Bass, baritone vocals
John Bryan – Guitar, tenor vocals
Jamie Harper – Fiddle, vocals

Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, “What If You’re Wrong”

Artist: Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “What If You’re Wrong”
Release Date: August 23, 2024
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “Jon Weisberger and I co-wrote the song as a conversation with a conspiracy theorist. It’s meant to be a light-hearted look at the subject – I’m pretty sure it’s the first bluegrass song to mention chem trails! – but it does ask a serious question: When something earth-shaking is predicted, whether it’s the end of the world, a change of government, or just the results of a major ballgame, what do you do when it doesn’t happen? Do you question your sources or double down? We have so much of this in the era of social media and different realities we live with, it seemed pretty timely, and we had fun with it.” – Chris Jones

Amy Speace, “The American Dream”

Artist: Amy Speace
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The American Dream”
Album: The American Dream
Release Date: October 18, 2024
Label: Wind Bone Records

In Their Words: “I’ve worked with Neilson Hubbard and Joshua Britt (their production company is Neighborhoods Apart) on a bunch of videos, so I trusted them to get the vibe of the song. Also, Neilson produced the record and Josh played on it, so I knew they got it. We all wanted to capture that feeling of the freedom of the end of summer. I grew up mostly in a small town with rural countryside all around it and we’d take long drives through the cornfields as the sun set. We shot this on a country drive and an abandoned cabin (also used in the album art) near Franklin, Tennessee. The appearance of the tractor and the train are coincidences.” – Amy Speace

Video Credit: Neighborhoods Apart, Neilson Hubbard and Joshua Britt

Spooky Mansion, “What About You?”

Artist: Spooky Mansion
Hometown: San Francisco, California / Bay Area
Song: “What About You?”
Album: What About You?
Release Date: August 22, 2024 (song); October 31, 2024 (album)

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘What About You?’ with the intention of painting a picture of my life through different stories. The places I’ve been and the people I come from have all made me who I am. In those early days of a relationship, when you’re getting to know someone, there are certain memories that you retell to explain who you are.

“The verses are meant to be quiet, subdued, and more introspective as I try to describe myself. The chorus is bigger and joyful as I turn the attention to the person I’m talking to. In all my experiences, ‘I didn’t even know that I was looking for you.’ It culminates in a repeated anthem at the end as a reminder that despite what you’ve already lived through, there is more in life that will keep changing you and continuously creating you into the person you are. In this case, it was a beautiful woman I’d recently met who is now my wife and love of my life.” – Grayson Converse, Spooky Mansion

Video Credit: Directed by Jacob Butler.

Julian Taylor, “Pathways” (Featuring Allison Russell)

Artist: Julian Taylor
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Song: “Pathways”
Album: Pathways
Release Date: August 21, 2024 (song); September 27, 2024 (album)
Label: Howling Turtle Inc.

In Their Words: “I remember sitting in my living room when the melody and chord patterns just came to me. Often, when I sit down to write music, it’s the first thing that I start playing that sticks, because it’s raw and honest. I worked the progression in several different ways. First on the acoustic guitar and then on the piano. I still have probably upwards of seven or eight takes of it somewhere on my voice notes. Some were quite punk sounding, while others were quite folk sounding. Ultimately, the sound of the melody and progression in 6/8 time seemed to have the most impact on me.

“This song became a lyrical collaboration between two friends of mine that are also neighbors. I was invited to hang out and write with my pals Robert Priest and Rosanne Baker Thornley, who has a studio down the road from me. When I arrived, I showed them what I had been working on and they loved it. We ultimately wanted to write a hopeful song that spoke to our next of kin, and since we all have children who are the most important people in the world to us, we followed that inspiration. I performed with my friend Allison Russell at the Juno Awards this year and asked her if should be interested in collaborating on the song seeing as she is a mother as well and I am so honored that she said yes and brought yet another magical spark to our creation.” – Julian Taylor

Track Credits:
Julian Taylor – Vocal, guitar
Allison Russell – Duet vocal
Colin Linden – Electric Dobro, mandotar, bass, harmony vocal
Gary Craig – Drums, percussion
Jim Hoke – Saxophones
Janice Powers – B3 organ

Winterlark, “Ending With Heart Heart Heart”

Artist: Winterlark
Hometown: Santa Cruz, California
Song: “Ending With Heart Heart Heart”
Album: Sing To Me About Tomorrow (EP)
Release Date: August 23, 2024 (song); September 20, 2024 (EP)
Label: Squink Records

In Their Words: “It seemed that the world was ready for a song about the insidiousness of emojis, so I tried to write a modern-day song about a poorly communicated break-up, like the one in Elvis Presley’s rock-n-roll classic ‘Return to Sender.’ One of the keys to the song is the pairing of the sad lyrics with the happy, infectious beat driven by Kristin and drummer Chris Haskett. They make everything swing.” – Sweeney Schragg

“When Sweeney shared the core idea of this song, I do believe I laughed – uncomfortably. Aren’t we all guilty of throwing emojis at people instead of real words? Sweeney left six spots open for bass fills, a better gift than a box of black licorice (my favorite).” – Kristin Olson

Track Credits:
Sweeney Schragg – Guitar, vocals
Kristin Olson – Upright bass, vocals
Chris Haskett – Drums

Yamaha Sessions: Trey Hensley, “Hold What You Got”

On a sunny Sunday afternoon just outside of Nashville, Tennessee earlier this summer, BGS linked up with award-winning guitarist, songwriter, and jaw-dropping flatpicker Trey Hensley to kick off a new series of Yamaha Sessions. Hensley, a GRAMMY nominee and the reigning IBMA Guitar Player of the year, pulled his custom Yamaha FG9 R out of its road case to shred through a cover of a classic Jimmy Martin number, “Hold What You Got.”

Hensley is a picture perfect modern demonstration of how bluegrass trailblazers, like Martin, blurred the lines between country, old-time, bluegrass, and beyond. His voice reminds of honeyed country singers like Randy Travis, while his blisteringly quick picking and remarkable articulation are built on Tony Rice and Clarence White building blocks – but simultaneously, those techniques are as forward-looking and contemporary as his peers, Billy Strings, Jake Workman, and others. Hensley pulls limitless tone and warmness from his Yamaha FG9 R, even while approaching the song with near-aggression, ripping through acrobatic triplet licks and leaning into ugly delicious chromaticism in every solo.

More here.

Photo Credit: Julian Taylor by Robert Georgeff; the Grascals by Laci Mack.