Tag: the Travelin’ McCourys

You Gotta Hear This: Molly Tuttle, Sister Sadie, and More Women in Bluegrass

Posted on by Editor

In this week’s edition of You Gotta Hear This, we shine a light on women in bluegrass!

We begin with “Come Alive,” from Darin and Brooke Aldridge. An four-time IBMA Award-winning vocalist, Brooke beautifully delivers this love letter to the mountain life. Meanwhile, Amanda Cook explores a complicated heartbreak in “Let You Go.” Although she’s an understated singer, all of the emotions are evident in her vocal performance. You don’t have to belt it out in bluegrass to get your point across!

Rising talent Farayi joins with Sister Sadie on “May a Love Like This Find Me,” which is a twist on the social media meme: “May a love like this never find me.” If you find ordinary love to be an extraordinary blessing, you’ll enjoy this one. In addition, Heather Mabe of Red Camel Collective is putting thoughts of love into a gospel song in “My Point of View,” a wonderfully encouraging song at a time we need it more than ever.

Meanwhile, few pop songs from the ’80s capture feelings of frustration better than Men at Work’s “Overkill.” It’s equally compelling as sung by Rosine’s Meredith Lane O’Connor with a vocal assist from the songwriter himself, Men at Work’s Colin Hay. We also have a pretty cool, true-to-life road trip song from Sister Sadie called “Marlboros in Muskogee.” And speaking of traveling, the Travelin’ McCourys offer “She Did Break” with harmonies from one of our favorite female vocalists, Garnet Bowman. And finally, you can’t talk about women in bluegrass without mentioning Molly Tuttle, who reimagines “The Highway Knows” acoustically.

As we say every week, You Gotta Hear This!

Darin and Brooke Aldridge, “Come Alive”

Artist: Darin and Brooke Aldridge
Hometown: Cherryville, North Carolina
Song: “Come Alive”
Release Date: September 25, 2026
Label: Billy Blue Records

In Their Words: “With ‘Come Alive,’ we wanted to capture what the mountains we call home have always meant to us and the deep connection we feel to the place, the people and the traditions that shaped who we are. It’s about the music that has been ingrained in our hearts and souls since childhood, the precious time spent with family, the memories made around a kitchen table or on a front porch, and the songs passed down from one generation to the next. Those are the things that become part of your story and stay with you wherever life takes you. The mountains have a way of reminding us what matters most, and music has always been at the center of that for us. It brings people together, carries our history forward and gives a voice to feelings that sometimes words alone can’t express.

“We hope this song takes people back to a special place, brings a familiar memory to the surface or reminds them of the people and moments that have made their lives meaningful. To us, that’s the beauty of this music. It’s more than a sound or a song. It’s a part of who we are, a connection to where we come from and a tradition worth keeping alive. It’s the kind of music that doesn’t just fill the air. It reaches your heart, stirs your soul and makes you come alive.” — Darin and Brooke Aldridge

Amanda Cook, “Let You Go”

Artist: Amanda Cook
Hometown: Fancy Gap, Virginia
Song: “Let You Go”
Album: Love Through Time
Release Date: October 16, 2026
Label: Mountain Fever Records

In Their Words: “Jeff Partin has written songs for several of my records, and once again, he brought us a beautifully written heartbreak song. There’s something really special about the way Jeff tells a story, and I think this one captures that complicated place of knowing a love has run its course but still having a hard time letting go. The band took Jeff’s song and made it our own, giving it our sound and our style. It expresses another side of love that fits perfectly with the theme of Love Through Time. Love isn’t always about the happy endings. Sometimes it’s about the hurt, the letting go, and finding the strength to move forward.” – Amanda Cook

Farayi, “May a Love Like This Find Me” (Ft. Sister Sadie)

Artist: Farayi
Hometown: Rural Idaho
Song: “May a Love Like This Find Me” (Ft. Sister Sadie)
Release Date: October 13, 2026
Label: Down the Road Records

In Their Words: “When I thought of the concept for this song, I initially thought about how daunting and demoralizing it can feel to try and fail at finding that true, romantic love, but once Deanie, Dani, and I got in the room together, it became apparent that the song was more about gratitude. We chose to explore how love manifests within our ordinary lives in ways that are simple, yet so profound, and in relationships that can easily be taken for granted. Sometimes we already have the profound love we’re seeking.” – Farayi

“Writing this one with Farayi was one of my favorite days in a room in a long time. The idea underneath it is that being well loved is usually pretty unremarkable. It doesn’t announce itself, but it’s everything. That’s a harder thing to write than heartbreak, because there’s no drama in it. But we kept chasing it until it felt true. There’s a lot of real life in this song.” — Dani Flowers, Sister Sadie

Red Camel Collective, “My Point of View”

Artist: Red Camel Collective
Hometowns: Walnut Cove, N.C. (Tony and Heather Mabe); Wirtz, Va. (Johnathan Dillon); Oakboro, N.C. (Curt Love)
Song: “My Point of View”
Release Date: October 14, 2026
Album: Finding Your Way Home
Label: Pinecastle Records

In Their Words: “We needed a gospel song for our upcoming record, so I was thumbing through ideas I had saved on my phone. I ran across the lines ‘you’re doing better than you think, and you’re stronger than you know.’ Those words just hit me right in the heart and I instantly knew, this is a gospel song. It came together so quickly. It flowed right from my heart. We are so excited for folks to hear this tune and our upcoming album, Finding Your Way Home, coming early 2027!” – Heather Berry Mabe, Red Camel Collective

Rosine Feat. Colin Hay, “Overkill”

Artist: Rosine Feat. Colin Hay
Hometowns: Nashville, Tennessee (Rosine); Topanga, California (Colin Hay)
Song: “Overkill”
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “Colin has said that when he wrote ‘Overkill’ in the early ’80s, he was trying to make sense of how fast everything was changing around him during the ascent of Men at Work. At a different scale, that feeling hits home for us too: starting Rosine, getting married, and building a life and a band at the same time has been incredibly rewarding and beautiful, but it’s also brought sleepless nights and long stretches of introspection and self-questioning. Having Colin join us on this song reminds us that most of the people we look up to have faced fears similar to ours and have led lives where each day feels like a new adventure.” — Forrest O’Connor and Meredith Lane O’Connor, Rosine

“When I came up with the song ‘Overkill’ some 46 years ago, I had personal struggles. Whenever I sang the song, it helped me. Soothed my soul, so to speak. It lives inside me and has been my constant friend all this time. When I hear Rosine play the song and Meredith sing it, it lifts my spirits, makes me feel useful. It’s become their friend too. It connects us, like an electric current. That’s what music does, there’s nothing like it.” — Colin Hay

Sister Sadie, “Marlboros in Muskogee”

Artist: Sister Sadie
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Marlboros in Muskogee”
Release Date: October 6, 2026
Label: Down the Road Records/Exceleration Music

In Their Words: “We left Nashville for a tour through Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona honestly kind of dreading it. We knew we were about to drive thousands of miles in three days, and that part of this job feels a little ridiculous sometimes because the travel is most of the work. Then you get up there and play for an hour, maybe 75 minutes, and that’s the part everybody sees. But somewhere along the way, that trip turned into one of those experiences none of us would have missed for the world. We didn’t sit down and decide we were going to write a road song. We went on the road, lived all of these little moments together, and a song came out of it. ‘Marlboros in Muskogee’ feels less like we were trying to make up some glamorous story about life on the road and more like we just paid attention to what was actually happening while we were in it.” — Dani Flowers

“We told our co-writers [Jon Randall Stewart and Jessi Alexander] about the entire trip, and then wrote the song with them. And they got exactly what we were looking for. When we played it for the girls, we were all sobbing because it is exactly what it’s like on the road with us. This song is the story of this band.” — Deanie Richardson

The Travelin’ McCourys, “She Did Break” (Ft. Garnet Bowman)

Artist: The Travelin’ McCourys
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “She Did Break”
Release Date: October 13, 2026
Label: McCoury Music

In Their Words: “I had the idea and title for the song ‘She Did Break.’ I wrote it with Adam Hood and Donnie and Chris Davisson. It was so great to hear where we took the idea and went with it. It’s an age old topic of the wandering of a man in a relationship and the heartbreak it leaves behind. I’m proud of how it turned out and the ‘icing on the cake’ was adding Garnet Bowman’s beautiful voice on it.” — Ronnie McCoury

Molly Tuttle, “The Highway Knows” (Acoustic)

Artist: Molly Tuttle
Hometown: Palo Alto, California; Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “The Highway Knows” (Acoustic)
Album: So Long Little Miss Sunshine (Acoustic EP)
Release Date: September 4, 2026
Label: Nonesuch Records

In Their Words: “I recorded this acoustic version of ‘The Highway Knows’ last fall after having so much fun reworking it with an acoustic trio for a couple shows we did last year. On my album version from So Long Little Miss Sunshine, there are drums, keys and all sorts of other textures which we stripped away for this version. People seemed to respond to hearing these songs done acoustically so I wanted to put out these versions that were a little truer to how the songs first sounded when I wrote them and played them around the house. This version features Mair on mandolin and vocals and Vanessa McGowan on bass and vocals.” — Molly Tuttle

Photo Credit: Joshua Black Wilkins (Sister Sadie); Ebru Yildiz (Molly Tuttle)

30 Jamgrass Sitch Sessions

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

What do you mean this whole time we could have been the Jamgrass Situation!?

Ever since the earliest days of BGS we’ve been posting about bluegrass, hosting bluegrass shows, and shooting bluegrass Sitch Sessions. Our often-viral performance videos have been the bread and butter of the brand. Along the way, with our borderless and wide open “rootsy” purview, quite a bit of bluegrass “coloring outside the lines” has been celebrated on our site and jamgrass has permeated everything we’ve done. As the years went on, the influence of bluegrass’s current biggest phenomenon became more and more apparent on the site.

You can see this fact – obviously! – throughout our archive of Sitch Sessions. It’s quite the collection of first-rate jamgrass. Over more than 15 years we’ve had dozens of Sitch Sessions and YouTube videos feature some of the best and most beloved jamgrass acts around. One of our very first viral sensations was a now-retired clip of Billy Strings himself. But so many more have featured on our site and channels: Yonder Mountain String Band, The Lil Smokies, Elephant Revival, Front Country, Punch Brothers, Fruition, Greensky Bluegrass, Town Mountain, Mountain Grass Unit, Lindsay Lou, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, the Travelin’ McCourys, the Hillbenders – and many, many more.

From rooftops in downtown L.A. to Falkenberg, Sweden, to DelFest in Cumberland, Maryland, to the powdery slopes above Lake Tahoe to Telluride, Colorado, and back again. Across the trajectory of BGS over time, jamgrass has been an indelible through line of the work we do and the content we create. And we wouldn’t have it any other way!

To celebrate Jamgrass in July, enjoy exploring these 30 jamgrass Sitch Sessions. And dive into the archive here and here to see even more! Just for today, just for this month – let’s be the Jamgrass Situation.

“Take a Chance on Me” – Yonder Mountain String Band

We’ve gotten the chance to collaborate with Yonder Mountain String Band quite a bit over the years, but this Sitch Session has always been a highlight of our content together. YMSB have been carrying the jamgrass banner for a long time; they are stalwarts of the subgenre, for sure!

“Miss Marie” – The Lil Smokies

But why did the Lil Smokies have to retire!? We miss them so much already. If you miss them as much as we do, check out our final interview with the group posted in April 2025 on the heels of their excellent last album, Break Of The Tide.

“Cedarwood Pines” – The Brothers Comatose

Across the decades and generations you can always count on the Bay Area to produce excellent jamgrass. The Brothers Comatose certainly fit that descriptor! “Cedarwood Pines,” shot on a picturesque DTLA rooftop in 2017, features a classic lineup of the group and (gasp!) electric guitar!? (That’s how you know it’s jamgrass.)

“If Something Breaks” – Front Country

Speaking of Bay Area jamgrass – and bands we wish hadn’t retired! Front Country may be no more, but we’re glad we have our Sitch Session memories. And of course, the members of FroCo have gone on to do even more excellent things in roots music. For instance, have you heard BERTHA? Now there’s some jamgrass, too.

“Wasting Time” – Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

Sometimes a band that isn’t a jamgrass band is a jamgrass band, you know what we mean? Now, are Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats always a jamgrass band? Perhaps no. But here, in our Sitch Session, or in many of their live, all-skate jam or festival or collaboration set contexts? Could be jamgrass… It’s always in the ear of the beholder, after all.

“Winter to Pry” – The Deer

That time we shot sessions at Old Settler’s in Austin, Texas, was one of the best. Such a great range of acts, sounds, and styles. The Deer turned out a perennial favorite Sitch Session for us, which we returned to time and time again as winter would roll in. The outdoor Austin shoot and the Deer’s offering of the song would always warm us up.

“All Day All Night” – River Whyless

If you miss River Whyless, worry not, this band hasn’t retired, they’ve just slowed down a bit and re-intentionalized their performing and touring rhythms. We once featured the group on our stage at Bonnaroo and while their sound always defied perfect categorization, here on “All Day All Night” and on festival stages – and elsewhere, to be sure – they often fit the jamgrass bill perfectly.

“Hey Boys” – The HillBenders

Recently the HillBenders have slightly shuffled their lineup, but the Missouri-based band are still one of the most party-ready groups on the bluegrass and jamgrass scenes. Their work with Keller Williams and Tommy: A Bluegrass Opry are the jammiest of their offerings, but the threads and vibes of jams and jamgrass are woven throughout their work.

“Home In Your Heart” – Elephant Revival

One of our coolest Sitch Session locations ever! Out in the desert in Pioneertown, California, with Elephant Revival. This has always been such a memorable one. Here’s another group we greatly miss.

“Dance You Hippy Dance” – Tim O’Brien

What do you call a forefather who’s also a currentfather? That’s what Tim O’Brien is to jamgrass, a foundational figure who’s also active in the music and in moving it forward. And what would jamgrass be without dancing hippies? Nothing! It would be nothing!

“Burn Them” – Greensky Bluegrass

One of our most-viewed Sitch Sessions of all time, and it’s no wonder. Greensky Bluegrass epitomize the ethos of jamgrass – community, longevity, collaboration, and of course, jams. Every time we collaborated with Mason Jar Music, who produced this session, the results would be stellar. With 1.5 million views and counting… jamgrass is where it’s at.

“Death Comes Knockin’” – Fruition

When bands and performers would route through Los Angeles, we often jumped at the chance to link up and capture some content. In 2016, we met up with Fruition in Echo Park to shoot “Death Comes Knockin’” a rocking, macabre song that’s as old-timey as it is jammy. Fruition have always been good at infusing the traditional into their progressive sounds. An essential band of the modern jamgrass movement.

“My Oh My / Boll Weevil” – Punch Brothers

Okay, now just because they can also play classical doesn’t mean Punch Brothers aren’t a jamgrass band! It’s bluegrass, it’s jam band, it’s jamgrass. I mean, you can’t be a string band playing that many Radiohead covers and not be considered jamgrass, right? Right.

“Coming Back To You” – Town Mountain

North Carolina has birthed some high-quality jamgrass over the years. Another band we’d wish out of retirement if we could, Town Mountain combined jam band appeal with country twang and bluegrass drive (and silliness, too). They were jamgrass even before they added a drum kit and a pedal steel, but towards the end of their tenure there they seemed to creep ever closer to the jammy center.

“One Horse Town” – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper Featuring Charlie Starr

Fiddling phenom Michael Cleveland is as traditional as they get, but whether in his work with Jason Carter or his many jaw-dropping features – with Béla Fleck, or Billy Strings, or Tommy Emmanuel, or whomever – he’s known to shred his way through some jamgrass, too. Partnering here with Charlie Starr of Southern rock group Blackberry Smoke, Cleveland and his band Flamekeeper are remarkably jamgrass.

“Billy in the Lowground” – Kenny G, Ed Helms, Bryan Sutton, and Gabe Witcher

A virtual jam for pandemic times creates virtual jamgrass of the highest – and most random – sort! One of our crowning achievements across the history of BGS will be getting Kenny G in on a COVID benefit bluegrass jam. For Whiskey Sour Happy Hour, our pandemic-era virtual variety show, the sensational wind specialist performed “Billy in the Lowground” with Bryan Sutton, Gabe Witcher, and our co-founder Ed Helms. ICONIC. If Kenny G is playing bluegrass, it’s gotta be jamgrass.

“Turn Around” – Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams

Calling Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams “jamgrass artists” would be woefully reductive and simplistic. Still, it wouldn’t be right to exclude them from this list. Across their varied and diverse careers they’ve collaborated, recorded, and performed with some absolutely seminal figures in Americana, jam band, and bluegrass. Here, we caught up with the duo while sailing aboard our favorite roots music cruise, Cayamo.

“How Many Times” – Rainbow Girls

Something about Rainbow Girls is just a perfect fit for a jamgrass playlist – and we don’t just mean the rainbows. Also captured aboard a Cayamo voyage, this Bob Marley cover by the Bay Area-bwased folk group encapsulates so many of the facets that we love about jamgrass, from the material to the joy they bring forth in the music to their humor and community mindset.

“House of the Rising Sun” – Peter Rowan, Sam Bush, and Friends

There wouldn’t be no jamgrass without these fellas! At MerleFest last year Sam Bush hosted the iconic Late Night Jam and there were quite a few Late Night-jamgrassy moments. Whenever jamgrass gets to the point of having its own canon of recognizable material, like bluegrass, old-time, jazz, and others, “House of the Rising Sun” will surely be found among those songs. Absolutely nonnegotiable.

“Takes So Long, Goes So Fast” – Lindsay Lou

Decked out in snow gear, in a gondola above Lake Tahoe, with a bunch of hippies and wooks and music fans at WinterWonderGrass? Yep, that might be jamgrass. Lindsay Lou has become a stalwart in the younger jamgrass generations, and certainly not just because of her many connections to Billy Strings. As a performer herself or a collaborator or artist at large, she’s a favorite at jamgrass festivals and events.

“Fishin’ in the Dark” – AJ Lee & Blue Summit

Jamgrass filtering down through the generations! A fantastic up-and-coming bluegrass band, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, offer their rendition of a jamgrass classic first recorded by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Who are Nitty Gritty if not a jamgrass outfit? While AJ Lee and band are much more than “just” jamgrass, they fit that moniker oh so well. This Sierragrass Sitch Session has been a fan favorite.

“Lonesome Dove” – Mountain Grass Unit

Shouldering the jamgrass mantle for Gen Z, Mountain Grass Unit have jammed with everyone from Billy Strings to Kesha to Shania Twain. These fellas are making a name for themselves right at the very center of the jamgrass universe, but while still carving out their own sound and their own identity. An exciting act to be watching and following along with at this juncture, their new album is set for release in late August.

“The Missing Stair” – Big Richard

You know what’s a prerequisite for being or becoming a jamgrass band? Big Richard energy. This group of supremely talented women have got it. We’d love to see them on more jam band and jamgrass festival lineups – a welcome palate cleanser, indeed.

“Fiery Gizzard” – the Travelin’ McCourys

Del McCoury Band have been known to dip a toe in the jamgrass waters regularly, but when the boys are “released” from their duties with their father and bandleader and go out as the Travelin’ McCourys is when they really lean into the jams. Their live shows are some of the highest quality jamgrass out there, the most elite bluegrass virtuosity lent to the jammiest, rip-roaringest tunes and songs.

“The Road Is a River” – Jim Lauderdale

Country’s modern renaissance man Jim Lauderdale is oh-so-many things – and jamgrass is one of them. With Lillie Mae and Frank Rische at his side, that seems especially true in this Rootsy Summer Session shot in Sweden. With as much tai chi as Lauderdale does, of course he belongs on this list!

“High Country” – Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon are one of THE most important and impactful artisan purveyors of jamgrass around. We were lucky to finally get a Sitch Session with the group a few years ago at WinterWonderGrass in Colorado. WWG is one of the best jamgrass assemblages around these days, and the festival just announced BajaWonderGrass in Mexico for April 2027.

“Weight of the World” – Clay Street Unit

Another group on the cutting edge of jamgrass and actively building its future is Clay Street Unit. Born out of the fertile jamgrass territories surrounding Denver, Colorado, the band just released their debut album earlier this year. So there’s still ample opportunity to get in on the “ground floor” of a group that is certainly going places.

“These Chickens Eat Fascists” – Pixie & the Partygrass Boys

We’d like to thank Pixie & the Partygrass Boys for representing anti-fascism in jamgrass. It’s an important beat and we need more folks giving us such a hilarious point of solidarity as “These Chickens Eat Fascists.” Two things jamgrass is always going to be: open and accepting of everyone, and a goddamn party!

“Not Quite Spring” – Kyle Tuttle

A premier banjoist in jamgrass, Kyle Tuttle has performed with so many greats in the subgenre, from Jeff Austin and Molly Tuttle to Lindsay Lou to Leftover Salmon – and many, many more. His own solo albums and solo shows (which are, gratefully, becoming more and more frequent) are jamgrassy top-to-bottom. If you’re lucky, catch him at Bluegrass Mondays at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in Nashville these days, where he’s often holding court with impeccable bands backing him up.

“Islands In the Stream” – Love Canon

A jamgrass tributary in the mighty jamgrass river coursing towards the roiling jamgrass sea is cover songs from outside of bluegrass and roots music altogether. Ever since the Earl Scruggs Revue, New Grass Revival, and others in the earliest days, this has been an important plank in the jamgrass platform. Love Canon are one of the bands who did it best, offering bluegrassified versions of absolute bangers – like “Islands In the Stream,” here featuring Lauren Balthrop on vocals.

Lead Image: AJ Lee & Blue Summit

LISTEN: Charlie Worsham, “Wrap My Porch Around”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Charlie Worsham
Hometown: Grenada, Mississippi
Song: “Wrap My Porch Around” featuring the Travelin’ McCourys
Album: Once Upon A Second Time Around
Release Date: July 3, 2026 (single); August 7, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “I take any chance I can to emulate my heroes. With ‘Wrap My Porch Around,’ I wanted to honor both Vince Gill, in the way he cut two versions of ‘High Lonesome Sound’ and Dierks Bentley, who I would argue has done more to keep bluegrass relevant in modern country music than any other artist in the last 20 years. Not surprisingly, those two guys have been responsible for giving me a home stage from which to make music on the road these past five years. Also not surprisingly, besides my own shows, those are the two guys I last shared the stage with at the Station Inn.

“Working with the Travelin’ McCourys – recording at Vince’s house, no less – made the bluegrass version of ‘Porch’ extra sweet. Unless I’m mistaken, I think ‘Porch’ was the last thing Jason Carter played on with them before striking out on his own. For a liner-note, hillbilly history buff like me, it’s as cool to be associated with that milestone as it is to be in possession of Roy Acuff’s last tube of Poli-Grip (this is a fact… it was collected from his dressing room at the Opry after he passed, and gifted to me by a close friend).” – Charlie Worsham

Track Credits:
Alan Bartram – Bass, background vocals
Cody Kilby – Acoustic guitar
Jason Carter – Fiddle, background vocals
Ronnie McCoury – Mandolin
Rob McCoury – Banjo
Charlie Worsham – Vocals, acoustic guitar

Photo Credit: PJ Brown

Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland’s New Album is a Fantastic Twin Fiddle Workshop

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Following more than 30 years since first meeting and countless times sharing the stage during festivals, the two most accomplished fiddlers in International Bluegrass Music Association history have finally teamed up for their debut album together.

Released March 14 via Fiddle Man Records, the aptly titled Carter & Cleveland sees the combined 18-time IBMA Fiddle Players of the Year Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland flexing their bluegrass muscles on compositions from some of the most prolific songwriters around – like Darrell Scott, John Hartford, Tim O’Brien, and Del McCoury.

Coincidentally, it was with McCoury and his sons’ band, the Travelin’ McCourys, with whom Carter spent the last 33 years playing until the February announcement that he’d be stepping away from the groups to focus on his solo material and collaborative projects, like this one with Cleveland.

“I just thought it was time to start pursuing other things, like my own career,” explains Carter about his decision to leave the bands. “That being said, I never thought I’d be leaving the [Del McCoury] Band. I recently gave a fiddle lesson and the person I was teaching told me he was surprised I left the band and I remember telling him, ‘I’m kind of surprised too.’ [Laughs] But it’s so rewarding to be doing something new with my own band along with getting to play with Mike.

“I’m also really excited to see the McCourys play with their new mandolin player, Christian Ward,” he continues. “There’s no bigger fan of Del or the Travelin’ McCourys than me. This will be the first time since I was 18 years old that I’ll be able to sit out in the audience and watch his show. I can’t wait!”

It was also with McCoury where Cleveland, then 13, first met Carter back in the early ’90s during one of Carter’s (then 19) first gigs with him.

“[The Del McCoury Band] has always had the players that I aspire to be like,” says Cleveland. “I remember going to and recording the band’s shows from the soundboard when Jason was just starting out with them. Then I’d go home and try to play guitar over the recordings to best imitate each part. They quickly became some of my biggest influences in this music, and still are.”

Ahead of the album’s release, BGS spoke with Carter & Cleveland over the phone to discuss the duo’s years-long partnership, the process of bringing this record to life, and their thoughts on the history of duo records in bluegrass music.

You have tunes from Del McCoury, Darrell Scott, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Buck Owens and other roots music legends on this project, but no originals. What was behind that decision?

Jason Carter: Well, for me, I didn’t have any original tunes at the time we started doing this, so I just started throwing out songs I liked. Then I called some songwriters – Tim O’Brien, Terry Herd, Darrell Scott, and others – and the songs I liked most of what they sent I then played for Mike. I’ve only written one fiddle tune so far, but actually have four or five writing sessions lined up this week, so maybe if there’s a Carter & Cleveland Volume II, I could have a cut on there.

Michael Cleveland: We’ve talked about needing to sit down and write together, it just hasn’t come to fruition yet. When I’ve sat in with Del or Jason in the past we never had time to rehearse, which is similar to how these songs came together. We were able to talk about material and send things back and forth, but we didn’t have much time to sit down and rehearse before recording because we’re both so busy. I hope we get to do that someday, but at the same time songwriting isn’t the main focus for me. I know folks that’ll write a tune every day, but for me that only happens once in a while; when it does I make sure to run with it.

What are some standout songs for y’all on this project?

JC: That’s tough, because I like all the songs on the record. At any given time I could have a different favorite. There’s also some that didn’t make the record we still have in the can and might put out later that could actually be my favorite songs. That being said, I really like the part of “With a Vamp in the Middle” where [Mike] finger picks the fiddle while I’m strumming…

MC: That was your idea!

JC: I heard you play something that sparked that. [Laughs] When you’re in the room as a fiddle player and you hear Michael Cleveland play, it’s all special. He [is] leagues above everyone else.

MC: It’s hardly ever a problem that you have too many good songs, but that was definitely the case when we went in to record. As soon as we put the word out about it we had a bunch of our musical heroes sending us songs to record and they were all great! When I first heard the demo of “Give It Away” from Tim O’Brien I liked the song immediately. Tim was playing old-time banjo on it in the key of D while singing, but once I heard Jason sing it in the key of B I knew it was meant to be a hard-driving bluegrass song.

I also really enjoy “Kern County Breakdown.” The only time I’d ever heard that – which made me want to record it – was from Alison Krauss. She used to play it as a fiddle instrumental and I always wish she recorded it. I don’t know if it’ll happen, but I’m still holding out hope that she’ll put out a fiddle album one day.

She does have her first album in 10 years dropping later this month, so you never know!

Throughout the history of bluegrass music there have been many timeless duo records from the likes of Ralph Stanley & Jimmy Martin to Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice to Bill Monroe & Doc Watson. What are your thoughts on being the next chapter in that series of collaborations?

JC: I hadn’t really thought of it like that before…

MC: If this album is mentioned in the same breath as any of those, that would be great! We also talk a lot about our favorite twin fiddle albums, which this seems to be more of, and have tossed around the idea of doing this project for 15 years. There’s albums from Kenny Baker and Bobby Hicks, Buddy Spicher and Benny Martin, Buddy and Vassar Clements, and so many more, but there hasn’t been one for a long time now. That’s what originally inspired us to do this. In the last few years people have also finally figured out what a great singer Jason is, which afforded us a lot more room to experiment than if it were a twin fiddle instrumental album.

JC: Mike just has such a good ear. I remember sending him a couple versions of demos I played and sang on and he’d immediately get back to me with suggestions like adding a fiddle lick at the beginning, like on “Outrun The Rain.” He thought it would be great for a high harmony thing two above the lead. As soon as he heard this stuff he had ideas. It was really cool to see how that all came together.

Mike just mentioned the idea for this album has been floating around for 15 years. When did y’all eventually get to work on it?

JC: We started recording a couple years ago. The first session we recorded we actually did at [guitarist] Cody Kilby’s house during COVID, then it was another year or so after that until we got working on it again. Because we didn’t have any rehearsal time, I remember sending voice memos of myself playing fiddle, guitar, and/or singing to Mike to listen to and send suggestions back. I remember being at a show with Del tucked away in the dressing room by myself trying to record versions of these songs or trying to run through an arrangement before sending it to Mike through text message.

MC: I had a great run with the label I was previously involved with, Compass Records, but they weren’t really interested in collaboration albums. With all of my projects and Jason as busy as he is, we were always just in the middle of other things until Jason put out [2022’s Lowdown Hoedown] and I completed [2023’s Lovin’ Of The Game]. It was around that time we decided to take the leap and finally start working on this.

Speaking of taking a leap, I know y’all co-produced this record too. What was your motivation behind that?

MC: We had talked about bringing somebody in. I’ve worked with Jeff White for years on my albums. In a way he helped to produce this one too, which is fitting because I always felt like we co-produced my albums together. For this record there were people we’d send stuff to listen to, even down to the final mixes, just because we respect their opinions, but the final calls were all us.

JC: Even when you’ve got someone like Bryan Sutton in the studio for tracking, he may have an idea he throws out that becomes a big help as well. That could come from anyone involved in the session, even engineer Sean Sullivan, who we leaned on heavily as well because they do this every day. These people are here for a good reason, because they’re super talented and play some of our favorite music. And when it comes to Cleve, I’m all ears. He always has good advice.

MC: When you first start recording, you don’t always know what sounds good. It’s like with playing, singing, or anything else, the more you put yourself in those situations the more you understand what you want to hear and how to achieve it. Working with Jeff in the past, we’d be together during the day when all of the sudden he’d say, “Hey Mike, I gotta take off for a few hours, produce for a while.” It freaked me out the first time he did that, but it forced me to get comfortable in the situation and forced me to trust my ear more. Jeff having that faith in me also gave me a little more confidence in myself that I was making the correct decisions and to continue trusting my instincts.

JC: With the Travelin’ McCourys, all of those records were produced by the band along with most of the stuff we did with Del, too. I did produce my solo record, Lowdown Hoedown, though. But even on that, when we were recording Sam [Bush] and Jerry Douglas were there. I remember Jerry – who produced a lot of the McCourys’ stuff early on – always had great ideas on arrangements and different things to put in when he spoke up, which was a huge help. Getting to be in the studio with him is an education you can’t get anywhere else.

Jason, you briefly spoke of a few of the album’s players there. But they’re far from the only top-notch pickers you have on this record, with the likes of Vince Gill, Charlie Worsham, and Sierra Hull, among others. How’d y’all go about deciding who to bring into the fold?

JC: We just tried to think of who would best fit with the songs as we listened to demos for each.

MC: It also came down to who was available at certain times. Guys like Bryan Sutton, Cory Walker, and Alan Bartram played on most of it. I remember days where Sam Bush was available on mandolin and others where Harry Clark filled in. Some of the first sessions we did after the pandemic were with Cody Kilby and Casey Campbell followed by David Grier and Dominick [Leslie].

And going back to something Jason said earlier, I also leaned on Bryan a lot, specifically about what songs he thought it would be good to have Sam on, which led to his inclusion on “Middle of Middle Tennessee” and a few others.

What has music, specifically the process of bringing this record to life, taught you about yourselves?

MC: This was one of the first things I’ve done without a producer being there. Most of the time we would agree on decisions, but other times you don’t know what the right thing is and somebody has to make the call, because that’s typically something a producer would do. When it’s just you there’s no question, but when you’re working with somebody you want to make sure it’s a collaboration and not one person running the ship. Recording this album has taught me to be more aware of that.

JC: The singing part of this too, that’s still pretty new to me. I’ve sung on other people’s records, my solo album and with the Travelin’ McCourys, but being the lead singer throughout is a new venture for me and something I really enjoyed getting to do with Michael.

What do the two of you appreciate most about one another as both musicians and people?

JC: Everything about Mike’s playing, he’s just on another planet right now, and as a person he’s the same way. I recently got married and Mike was my best man, because no matter what he does he is the best man!

MC: Hearing Jason play with Del, he’s always been the fiddler I’ve wanted to be. We’re both into the same stuff, which is why I think we work together so well. It’s why we’re able to jump on stage and play twin fiddles without rehearsing, which is usually a mess when you do that. Getting to work with him on this album has been a dream come true for me.

Photo Credit: Lead image by Sam Wiseman. Square image by Emma McCoury.

9 Bluegrass Covers of Grateful Dead Classics

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s certainly true that the Grateful Dead were never a bluegrass band, starting with the fact that their lineup had not just one drummer, but two. And yet it also can’t be denied that the group’s musical DNA has a wide streak of bluegrass deep within, both in terms of licks and improvisational flair.

In large part, that’s due to the late Jerry Garcia – “Captain Trips” – who started out as a banjo player before finding his most famous calling as the Grateful Dead’s lead guitarist. Before that, Garcia played in folk circles for years, and his many extracurricular collaborators included David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Don Reno, Chubby Wise and other titans of the genre. More than a quarter-century before O Brother, Where Art Thou? took bluegrass to the top of the charts, Garcia’s 1973 side project, Old & In the Way, stood as the top-selling bluegrass album of all time.

Garcia and the Dead’s bluegrass bona fides are solid indeed, as shown by artifacts like the Pickin’ on the Grateful Dead series (not to mention Grass Is Dead, a tribute act). But maybe the strongest testament to the strength of the Dead’s bluegrass-adjacent side is what other artists have made of their catalog. Countless bluegrass musicians have covered Dead songs in ways that would appeal to even the staunchest chair-snapping purists. Here are some of the best.

“Friend of the Devil” – The Travelin’ McCourys (2019)

This rounder’s tale is the granddaddy of ’em all, a bluegrass staple from almost the moment it appeared on the Dead’s 1970 proto-Americana classic, American Beauty. Long a picking-circle staple at festivals, it’s been covered by everybody from Tony Rice to Elvis Costello. But here is a fantastic cover by one of the finest family bands in all of bluegrass, captured onstage at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in 2019. In contrast to the manic pace of the original, this version proceeds at more of an elegant glide. But it’s still got plenty of get-up-and-go, with killer solos over walking bass and a great Ronnie McCoury lead vocal.

“Dire Wolf” – Molly Tuttle (2022)

Among the most acclaimed young artists in bluegrass, Molly Tuttle is a two-time Guitar Player of the Year winner from the International Bluegrass Music Association. She also won IBMA’s Album of the Year trophy for 2022’s Crooked Tree, which included the 1970 Workingman’s Dead standard “Dire Wolf” as a bonus track. Equal parts folk fable and murder ballad, it’s something like “Little Red Riding Hood” with an unhappy ending. And Tuttle’s vocal is even more striking than her guitar-playing.

“Wharf Rat” – Billy Strings (2020)

Possibly even more acclaimed as a guitarist is William “Billy Strings” Apostol, another IBMA Awards fixture (and multiple Entertainer of the Year winner) who is frequently likened to Doc Watson. But few guitarists have ever conjured up Garcia’s sound, spirit, and all-around vibe as effectively as Strings. A song about a lost soul in a seaside town, “Wharf Rat” first came out on the Dead’s eponymous 1971 live album. Strings’ 2020 live version from the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, is amazing, as Strings doesn’t sing it so much as inhabit it. The money shot is his guitar solo that begins just after the five-minute mark.

“Scarlet Begonias” – The Infamous Stringdusters (2020)

Gambling is one of the Dead’s recurrent tropes and “Scarlet Begonias” gives it a playful spin with a loping guitar riff. The original dates back to 1974’s From the Mars Hotel and it’s been widely covered in oddball styles by the likes of electronic duo Thievery Corporation and the ska band Sublime. But “Scarlet Begonias” has never had it so well as in this excellent bluegrass version by The Infamous Stringdusters, shot onstage at Seattle’s Showbox just ahead of the pandemic in early 2020.

“Ripple” – Dale Ann Bradley (2019)

More often than not, vocals tended to be the Dead’s weak link. But that is not a problem for Kentucky Music Hall of Famer and five-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Dale Ann Bradley. The elegiac “Ripple” began life as the B-side to the “Truckin’” single and was also a show-stopper on the Dead’s 1981 acoustic live album, Reckoning. Bradley covered it on her 2019 LP, The Hard Way, with Tina Adair providing truly lovely vocal harmonies.

“Uncle John’s Band” – Fireside Collective (2022)

One of the Dead’s folksiest numbers, “Uncle John’s Band” kicked off Workingman’s Dead at an easy-going amble – a clear departure from the psychedelic excursions of the Dead’s earliest work. This live version by the young Asheville, North Carolina, band Fireside Collective reimagines “Uncle John’s Band” as sprawling jam-band fodder.

“Cassidy” – Greensky Bluegrass (2007)

“Cassidy” first appeared on-record as a Bob Weir solo tune on his 1972 side-project album, Ace, but it’s been on multiple Dead live albums over the years. It’s always been something of an enigma, inspired by a young girl as well as Neal Cassady. Michigan jamgrass ensemble Greensky Bluegrass gets to its beat-poet heart on this version from 2007’s Live at Bell’s.

“Tennessee Jed” – Front Country (2018)

A frequent theme for the Dead was being in motion, whether traveling toward something or running away from it. So it follows that homesickness would be an aspect of their music, perhaps most overtly on this wistful song from the double-live LP, Europe ’72. California’s Front Country put “Tennessee Jed” through its paces in this 2018 version from their “Kitchen Covers” series.

“Touch of Grey” – Love Canon (2014)

If the Dead wasn’t a bluegrass band, they most definitely weren’t a pop band, either. But the group had occasional brushes with the Hot 100, most famously with the 1970 statement of purpose “Truckin’” and its “what a long strange trip it’s been” tagline (even though the group had only been together about five years by then). “Truckin’” stalled out at No. 64 and was later eclipsed by its 1987 sequel “Touch of Grey” – an actual Top 10 hit with its bittersweet conclusion, “We will get by, we will survive.”

From Charlottesville, Virginia, Love Canon strips away the ’80s pop keyboards and covers the song well as straight-up bluegrass on 2014’s “Dead Covers Project.”

Photo Credit: Old & In the Way, courtesy of Acoustic Disc.

BGS Bytes: Your Roots Music Social Media Round Up

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Welcome back to BGS Bytes, our monthly column designed to spare you the scroll and key you into the most notable roots-related social media posts! From birthdays to tributes to the dawning of festie season, we’ve got something for everyone. Check out these buzzworthy and viral internet moments from Randy Travis, Molly Tuttle, Chris Eldridge, the Brothers Osborne, and more.

AI Gives Randy Travis’ Voice A Second Chance

@randy.travis Randy’s fans and their desire to hear his voice again inspired Randy to make “Where That Came From” a reality with the help of his team. We are blessed to share this moment with you. Your love inspires Randy to keep on going! Thank you for singing along, always. – Team RT #CountryMusic #NewMusic ♬ Where That Came From – Randy Travis

In 2013, Randy Travis suffered a major stroke following his hospitalization for cardiovascular issues, resulting in aphasia that severely diminished his capacity to speak and sing. Devastated, the world thought Travis might never sing again — until just a couple of weeks ago.

Working alongside Cris Lacy, a co-producer from Warner Music Nashville who previously produced Travis’ music, and Travis’ longtime producer Kyle Lehning, a small team of songwriters, musicians, and computer programers put together a new song for Travis, “Where That Came From.”

The track uses scratch vocals laid down by singer James Dupre, which were then filtered through an AI system informed by dozens of sound bytes from Travis’ catalog. Through trial and error, Lehning and engineers worked to ensure that the song seamlessly evoked Travis’ essence. Travis and his wife, Mary, are absolutely elated by the results, calling the experience “magical,” “beautiful,” and “overwhelming.”

Stevie Wonder Celebrates His 74th Birthday by Becoming a Citizen of Ghana

On May 13th, the legendary Stevie Wonder celebrated his 74th birthday while attending a ceremony that granted him Ghanaian citizenship. The first African country to become independent in 1954, Ghana has historically been an epicenter for many African Americans disenchanted with rampant anti-Blackness in the states. In 1975, Wonder began to dream about moving to Ghana to reconnect with his ancestral roots. Though he reconsidered, remaining in the U.S. to record his lauded Songs in the Key of Life, his 50-year dream came full circle this month.

He spoke on the monumental nature of this moment in his speech at the ceremony, stating, “Now, as a Ghanaian citizen, I am committed to fulfilling the dream we’ve cherished for so long — uniting people of African descent and the diaspora.”

Chris Eldridge Pays Homage To His Father, Ben Eldridge

Throughout its history, bluegrass has been well known as an intergenerational genre, passed down through familial, social, and geographical lineages. One glowing example is Chris “Critter” Eldridge (widely known for his role as a vocalist and guitarist with Punch Brothers) and his father, Ben Eldridge, who sadly passed away on April 14th of this year.

In a beautifully written tribute, Chris speaks about Ben’s incandescent banjo playing, the cultural significance of his band the Seldom Scene within the bluegrass and folk landscapes, Ben’s uncanny knack for mathematics, and his beautiful heart. A legend of his time, Ben will be missed greatly and forever revered.

DelFest Turned into Adelefest

Memorial Day weekend was a legendary one at the 16th annual DelFest, a four-day bluegrass festival taking place alongside the verdant mountains and flowing Potomac river of Cumberland, Maryland.

Listeners were in for a treat when the ethereal Sierra Ferrell came out to join Lukas Nelson’s set with the Travelin’ McCourys for a few songs. Among them was a cover of Adele’s hit, “Someone Like You,” infused with all the melancholy that a little country twang can offer. During a backstage pre-festival rehearsal, Lucas posted a Reel to warn Adele, “You’re going country whether you like it or not!”

Molly Tuttle Pays a Visit to Her First Martin

 

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In this sweet and heartwrenching post, Molly Tuttle, queen of flatpicking, tells the sweet story of her first Martin guitar. Penny by penny, she saved up enough at the ripe age of 12 to purchase her very own Martin. It is now on display at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, alongside instruments from musical giants like John Hartford, Elizabeth Cotten, Earl Scruggs, Mississippi John Hurt, and more.

AJ Lee & Blue Summit Release New Single, “He Called Me Baby”

A song that has lived many lives, AJ Lee & Blue Summit put their own spin on the classic, “He Called Me Baby.” Written by Harlan Howard, the song was most commonly sung as “She Called Me Baby” until Patsy Cline covered it in 1963. Throughout its history, it’s shifted through many genres and forms, perhaps most notably becoming a Top Ten R&B hit in 1971 with Candi Stanton’s recording.

The Brothers Osborne Guest Judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race

@brothersosborne Temporarily trading in our guitars 🎸 for the judge’s panel on @RuPaul’s Drag Race #AllStars9 ♬ original sound – Brothers Osborne

And, being that we’re a few days into June, we simply must include a quick Pride Month teaser! This past week, brothers TJ and John Osborne, most commonly known for their country duo The Brothers Osborne, were featured as guest panelists in Season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. This iconic crossover is the perfect kickoff to a month sure to be filled with reminders of the inextricable weavings of queer culture and roots music.

Photo Credit: Randy Travis by Marisa Taylor; RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars production still courtesy of QPrime.

BGS 5+5: Jason Carter

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Jason Carter
Hometown: Lloyd, Kentucky
Latest Album: Lowdown Hoedown
Personal nicknames: Fiddler

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Del McCoury. I first heard Del when I was around 15 years old. At that time I was playing guitar and knew I wanted to play music for a living. When I heard Del I knew that was the band I wanted to join, and knew his sons played banjo and mandolin, so the only options were bass and fiddle. My dad had a fiddle and he started teaching me to play around that time. For the next few years I spent most of my time learning fiddle solos to Del McCoury songs. My parents were very supportive. My Mom would drive me to school and I remember we listened to “I Feel the Blues Moving In” every day of my senior year. She said she never got tired of the song either. I was obsessed with his music from an early age!

The February after my graduation I hired on with the Del McCoury Band. I think the stars aligned. At that time Del still drove the bus. There were many nights I would sit and practice fiddle through the night while he drove. Lots of times I wouldn’t know what to play for a solo on his songs. I’d ask for his help and he’d sing melodies for me to play. Over the years watching how he’s run his band, giving them the freedom to express themselves musically and how open he is to exploring different genres of music through bluegrass. I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend the last 30 years in his band.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

One of my favorite memories is when the Del McCoury Band played Oswego, New York, with Phish. They invited us to play on their main stage set and after seeing a sea of 80,000 people in front of the stage I got pretty nervous. We played a couple tunes with them and someone broke a string. Trey said, “Hey, play one of those fiddle/banjo duet things you guys do.” The thoughts of breaking down the wall of sound from this rock band to just fiddle and banjo scared the hell out of me until Rob and I started playing. The crowd continued dancing as if the entire band was still playing. It was pretty cool how that crowd and that band accepted our music. We got to play several more times with them and Jonathan Fishman has actually played entire sets with the Del McCoury Band and The Travelin’ McCourys and most recently he recorded on my solo record Lowdown Hoedown.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

Whether it’s gardening, golfing, hunting, or fishing, I like to be outdoors. All those hobbies seem to clear my mind of anything else going on in the world. Sometimes I hunt a farm around Goodlettsville, Tennessee, not far from Grandpa Jones and Stringbean’s old houses. I’ve sometimes wondered if I was crossing the same paths that they walked when they hunted together. It’s also nice to put the boat in and go down the Cumberland River. The view of Nashville from the river is pretty cool! Sometimes I pass by John Hartford’s house. That always brings back memories of all the jam sessions we used to have. Those are great memories.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

From my earliest memories I remember my dad’s band The Buffalo Creek Express playing shows. I tried to mimic them as a kid. When I was 8 years old one of dad’s friends, Mike Parsons, came to our house and his son who was only a couple years older than me was playing guitar. I thought this kid is good! I wonder if I can do this. I asked my dad if he would show me how to play. After Mike left my dad showed me the chords to the song they were playing. “The House of the Rising Sun.” The next time Mike came to the house I was the kid playing.

What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?

In 2001 we were on the Down From The Mountain tour. Bobby Hicks was the fiddler in the Ricky Skaggs band that was also on the tour. It seemed like every day we were playing tunes together. Bobby was very generous about teaching me his style of fiddling. One day I was having a hard time with something he had showed me. He straightened me out pretty quick and before he left and before I walked on stage he said, “Just get out there and play from the heart and those people are gonna love you.” I’ve never forgotten that moment or the encouragement he gave me.

Photo Credit: Michael Weintrob

IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards Reveal Nominees, Hall of Fame Inductees

Posted on by Editor

Nominees for the 32nd Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards presented by Yamaha were announced today, with Balsam Range, Billy Strings, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Del McCoury Band, and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys landing in the top category of Entertainer of the Year. Alison Krauss, Lynn Morris, and the Stoneman Family will be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame during the show as well.

Five people who have made significant contributions to bluegrass music were named as recipients of the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award: industry leader Nancy Cardwell Webster, broadcaster Lee Michael Demsey, Czech luthier/performer Jaroslav Prucha, musician/performer Cliff Waldron, and Boston Bluegrass Union’s Stan Zdonik.

The IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards on Thursday, September 30, at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina. Awards are voted on by the professional membership of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), the professional nonprofit association for the bluegrass music industry.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

Balsam Range
Billy Strings
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
The Del McCoury Band
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Ronnie Bowman
Del McCoury
Danny Paisley
Junior Sisk
Larry Sparks

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Brooke Aldridge
Dale Ann Bradley
Sierra Hull
Molly Tuttle
Rhonda Vincent

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Sister Sadie

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

Appalachian Road Show
Billy Strings
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
The Infamous Stringdusters
The Travelin’ McCourys

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR sponsored by Ron & Nancy McFarlane

Appalachian Road Show
Carolina Blue
Gina Furtado Project
High Fidelity
Merle Monroe

SONG OF THE YEAR

“Banjo Player’s Blues”
Artist: High Fidelity
Songwriter: Charlie Monroe
Producers: Jeremy Stephens, Brad Benge
Label: Rebel Records

“Hitchhiking to California”
Artist: Alan Bibey & Grasstowne
Songwriters: Wes Golding/Alan Bibey/Jerry Salley
Producers: Jerry Salley, Ron Stewart, Dottie Leonard Miller
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Just Load the Wagon”
Artist: Junior Sisk
Songwriter: J.R. Satterwhite
Producers: Amanda Cook, Junior Sisk, Mark Hodges
Label: Mountain Fever Records

“Leaving on Her Mind”
Artist: Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Songwriter: Jack Clement
Producer: Rosta Capek
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Richest Man”
Artist: Balsam Range
Songwriters: Jim Beavers/Jimmy Yeary/Connie Harrington
Producer: Balsam Range
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

ALBUM OF THE YEAR (Tie)

Bluegrass 2020
Artist: Scott Vestal, Patrick McAvinue, Cody Kilby, Dominick Leslie, Curtis Vestal
Producers: Scott Vestal, Ethan Burkhardt, Lonnie Lassiter
Label: Pinecastle Records

Distance and Time
Artist: Becky Buller
Producer: Stephen Mougin
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

Fall Like Rain
Artist: Justin Moses
Producer: Justin Moses
Label: Mountain Fever Records

Industrial Strength Bluegrass: Southwestern Ohio’s Musical Legacy
Artist: Various Artists
Producer: Joe Mullins
Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Load the Wagon
Artist: Junior Sisk
Producers: Amanda Cook, Junior Sisk, Mark Hodges
Label: Mountain Fever Records

Still Here
Artist: Steve Gulley & Tim Stafford
Producers: Steve Gulley, Tim Stafford
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Gena Britt
Gina Furtado
Rob McCoury
Kristin Scott Benson
Scott Vestal

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mike Bub
Todd Phillips
Missy Raines
Mark Schatz
Marshall Wilborn

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Jason Carter
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Deanie Richardson

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Rob Ickes
Phil Leadbetter
Justin Moses

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR sponsored by Yamaha

Trey Hensley
Billy Strings
Bryan Sutton
Molly Tuttle
Jake Workman

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Jesse Brock
Sam Bush
Sierra Hull
Ronnie McCoury
Tristan Scroggins

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

“Birmingham Jail”
Artists: Barry Abernathy with Vince Gill
Songwriter: Traditional
Producers: Barry Abernathy, Jim VanCleve, Dottie Leonard Miller
Label: Billy Blue Records

“In the Resurrection Morning”
Artists: Sacred Reunion featuring Doyle Lawson, Vince Gill, Barry Abernathy, Tim Stafford, Mark Wheeler, Jim VanCleve, Phil Leadbetter, Jason Moore
Songwriter: Mark Wheeler
Producers: Barry Abernathy, Jim VanCleve, Dottie Leonard Miller
Label: Billy Blue Records

“My Baby’s Gone”
Artists: Justin Moses with Del McCoury
Songwriter: Dennis Linde
Producer: Justin Moses
Label: Mountain Fever Records

“Tears of Regret”
Artists: High Fidelity with Jesse McReynolds
Songwriters: Jesse McReynolds/Lucille Hutton
Producers: Jeremy Stephens, Corrina Rose Logston, Brad Benge
Label: Rebel Records

“White Line Fever”
Artists: Bobby Osborne with Tim O’Brien, Trey Hensley, Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan, Todd Phillips, Alison Brown
Songwriters: Merle Haggard/Jeff Tweedy
Producers: Alison Brown, Garry West
Label: Compass Records

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

“The Appalachian Road”
Artist: Appalachian Road Show
Songwriter: Jim VanCleve
Producers: Jim VanCleve, Barry Abernathy, Appalachian Road Show, Dottie Leonard Miller
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Foggy Mountain Chimes”
Artists: Scott Vestal, Patrick McAvinue, Cody Kilby, Dominick Leslie, Curtis Vestal
Songwriter: Earl Scruggs
Producer: Scott Vestal
Label: Pinecastle Records

“Ground Speed”
Artists: Kristin Scott Benson, Skip Cherryholmes, Jeremy Garrett, Kevin Kehrberg, Darren Nicholson
Songwriter: Earl Scruggs
Producer: Jon Weisberger
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“Mountain Strings”
Artist: Sierra Hull
Songwriters: Frank Wakefield/Red Allen
Producer: Joe Mullins
Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

“Taxland”
Artist: Justin Moses with Sierra Hull
Songwriter: Justin Moses
Producer: Justin Moses
Label: Mountain Fever Records

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

“After Awhile”
Artist: Dale Ann Bradley
Songwriter: Public Domain
Producer: Dale Ann Bradley
Label: Pinecastle Records

“Grit and Grace”
Artist: Balsam Range
Songwriters: Ann Melton/Milan Miller/Beth Husband
Producer: Balsam Range
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“Hear Jerusalem Calling”
Artist: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
Songwriters: Marty Stuart/Jerry Sullivan
Producers: Joe Mullins, Dottie Leonard Miller
Label: Billy Blue Records

“In the Resurrection Morning”
Artists: Sacred Reunion featuring Doyle Lawson, Vince Gill, Barry Abernathy, Tim Stafford, Mark Wheeler, Jim VanCleve, Phil Leadbetter, Jason Moore
Songwriter: Mark Wheeler
Producers: Barry Abernathy, Jim VanCleve, Dottie Leonard Miller
Label: Billy Blue Records

“When He Calls My Name”
Artist: Alan Bibey & Grasstowne
Songwriters: Alan Bibey/Ronnie Bowman
Producers: Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, Ron Stewart, Jerry Salley, Dottie Leonard Miller
Label: Billy Blue Records

Photo of Billy Strings: Jesse Faatz
Photo of Alison Krauss: Capitol Records
Photo of Molly Tuttle: Zach Pigg & Chelsea Rochelle

IBMA Virtual Business Conference: Who’s Taking Part, How to Watch, and More

Posted on by Editor

J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Sarah Jarosz, and Ronnie McCoury are just a few of the artists taking part in the IBMA Virtual World of Bluegrass, which begins today, Monday, September 28. Kristin Scott Benson, Doyle Lawson, and Mumford & Sons’ Winston Marshall are also confirmed to participate.

IBMA Virtual World of Bluegrass is an annual bluegrass music homecoming and convention that takes place online this year, encompassing the IBMA Business Conference, IBMA Bluegrass Ramble, the 31st Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, and music festival IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC running through October 3. See the full schedule.

Check out our General Information page regarding IBMA Virtual World of Bluegrass. You’ll find our full-week schedule…

Posted by International Bluegrass Music Association on Thursday, September 24, 2020

Conference registration is available at a lower price point than in years past: $99 for IBMA members, and $149 for non-members. Register here.

To stream the following sessions, as well as many others, IBMA Business Conference registration is required. Business Conference registration also allows access to other valuable content: an online version of the Gig Fair (one of the most popular conference events each year) the Songwriter Showcase, two virtual in-the-round Song Circles, the Annual IBMA Town Hall Meeting, the IBMA Virtual Exhibit Hall, and much more.


As previously announced, Sarah Jarosz will deliver the Keynote Address on Monday, September 28 to kick off this year’s virtual IBMA Business Conference. “Having attended IBMA as a young kid just getting into bluegrass, and having returned more recently as a performer at their Raleigh conference, I’m deeply honored to have been asked to be this year’s keynote speaker. I look forward to helping kick things off!” said Jarosz.

Organizers have added three presentations to lead each day’s conference activities, Tuesday through Thursday:

Tuesday at 11 AM ET: Artist-2-Artist with J.D. Crowe, Winston Marshall, and Jerry Douglas

Hall of Famer J.D. Crowe’s infusion of new ideas into bluegrass banjo took the music to a decidedly younger and more diverse crowd, inspiring a new generation of pickers and fans. His music would influence a young banjo player across the Atlantic named Winston Marshall, who would take the banjo to millions of fans worldwide. As a member of Mumford & Sons, Winston has helped completely transform the image of the banjo in popular culture. Jerry Douglas has used his dobro to build musical bridges throughout his storied career. He has shared both the stage and the studio with J.D. Crowe and Winston Marshall, and he invites you to join him and these two groundbreaking banjo players for a fun conversation about how music unites.

We just announced special feature presentations to kick off each day of the IBMA Business Conference:

Monday – Keynote…

Posted by International Bluegrass Music Association on Friday, September 18, 2020


Wednesday at 11 AM ET: Artist-2-Artist with Doyle Lawson and Kristin Scott Benson

Doyle Lawson has been a leader in bluegrass music for decades. He and Quicksilver played at a festival in Dahlonega, Georgia in the mid-eighties, and it changed the life of a young girl in the audience named Kristin. Three and a half decades later, Kristin Scott Benson is one the most celebrated banjo players of her generation and is the reigning IBMA Banjo Player of the Year. She sits down with Bluegrass Hall of Fame member, Doyle Lawson, to talk about the impact he and his music have had on her and on the bluegrass community at large.

Thursday at 11 AM ET: From the Bay, to Bean Blossom, and Back

Jerry Garcia is unquestionably a towering figure in American culture, and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He and the Grateful Dead set the template for a new style of music that would inspire generations, much as Bill Monroe, The Father of Bluegrass himself, had done. What’s less known about Jerry, is that long before, during, and after the Grateful Dead, he was a banjo player, a bluegrass musician, even an aspiring Bluegrass Boy. Join Ronnie McCoury, filmmaker Brian Miklis and others in a conversation diving deep into the relationship of a true giant of American music, and the music that inspired him.

The Bluegrass Situation will proudly present our fifth annual Shout & Shine Online on Saturday, October 3rd at 2pm ET. And at press time, 30 artists have also been confirmed for a series of showcases known as the Bluegrass Ramble.

The virtual music festival IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC, will take place Oct. 2-3. Special performances by The Travelin’ McCourys with special guest Del McCoury; Steep Canyon Rangers; Jerry Douglas & Odessa Settles; Sierra Hull & Molly Tuttle are just some of the highlights that bluegrass fans can look forward to.

 

In addition, PNC Bank is boosting its support for the IBMA and bluegrass artists experiencing financial hardship due to pandemic-related performance cancellations. PNC Bank, the presenting sponsor of IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC, has announced it will match all 2020 donations made to the IBMA organization and the IBMA Trust Fund, for a total up to $50,000. (Donate now.)

IBMA is the nonprofit professional organization for the global bluegrass music community — connecting, educating and empowering bluegrass professionals and enthusiasts while honoring tradition and encouraging innovation worldwide. The organization has suffered financially this year due to pandemic-related health precautions that are preventing the IBMA World of Bluegrass event from being held in Raleigh, N.C. The IBMA Trust Fund, which is administered by IBMA, was established in 1987 as a means to offer emergency financial assistance to bluegrass music professionals. In 2020, requests for assistance have increased tenfold due in large part to COVID-19.

As the presenting sponsor of IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC since 2013, PNC Bank has helped bring bluegrass music and culture to Raleigh for what has become one of the city’s most beloved live, free events. While IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC cannot be presented as an in-person event in 2020, PNC remains committed to supporting this event and community tradition by helping deliver bluegrass programming in a virtual setting, Oct. 2-3.

Donations may be made online; additionally, those registering for the free IBMA Virtual World of Bluegrass Music Pass have the opportunity to make a donation during the online registration process. The Music Pass includes access to all music performances during the week, including IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC, the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards presented by Count On Me NC, and IBMA Bluegrass Ramble presented by Count On Me NC.