An eclectic collection of bluegrass styles in this episode, from Bill Monroe to the Lost Pines. American Drive play some hard-driving bluegrass, the Waller Brothers have a couple of duets, the Stanley gospel Tradition do a great SB song in their inimitable style. Alison Brown picks banjo like no-one else, and Rhonda Vincent sings her own brand of bluegrass. We’ve got an old-timey tune from Phil Rosenthal & Family, and the Trenwiths feature on a tune we usually use to start our live shows. Lots to like.

Bluegrass music continues to provide us with a wide variety of musical influences and styles, from slow country ballads, story songs, bouncy instrumentals to hard-driving pieces about a wide variety of topics. This week, we have offerings from Wildfire, Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, Danny Paisley, Walden Dahl and the Osborne Brothers. There’s some instrumentals from Bill Monroe, Red Wilson and even the Trenwiths, and some Aussie bluegrass from Acoustic Shock. Doc Watson demonstrates his fine picking and singing and there’s some very country-ish bluegrass from the Can’t Hardly Play Boys.

I’ve got music from three of my favourite LP’s on this show – the Johnson Mountain Boys, John Hartford, and Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver – all top music. There’s some fine picking from John Hickman, Richie Simpkins, and some songs from NZ tourists – Sassafras. Michelle Nixon and Drive, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers get some songs into the programme, and there’s some early bluegrass from the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, pioneers of this genre. What a collection!

Being as this is the first show for 2026, I’ve started with a delightful song about the ‘First Day of the Year‘ from Joe Newberry, after some rather contemporary picking from 1972 from the HCBB. That’s followed by some of the earliest bluegrass from Flatt & Scruggs, a great song from Kathy Barwick & Mary Gibbons, and music from the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys and Rhonda Vincent. JD Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys play a couple of tunes, and Laurie Lewis gives us a rather different version of the race between Molly & Tenbrooks. The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band take us ‘Down To The Hall On Saturday Night’, and John Reischman rounds out the show with an original song and an original instrumental. Bluegrass at its most diverse.

This week’s show has a rather diverse collection of early ‘classic’ bluegrass, jazzy numbers, Christmas carols, brand new NZ bluegrass, archival NZ bluegrass and stories about NZ baches.

Always something to like. You can listen to Claire Lynch, Jerry Douglas, Larry Sparks, Tony Trischka, Jimmy Martin, the Petersens, Ricky Skaggs and NZ’s ‘You, Me, Everybody’ and the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas packed with classic Bluegrass - enjoy this festive repeat episode from 24-12-2019.

Many of the selections in this show come from ‘compilation’ albums, featuring tracks from performers that I don’t have in my general collection. As always, there’s some great picking and singing, from the likes of Ricky Skaggs, reno & Smiley, Arthur Smith, the Witcher Brothers, Hot Rize, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, and Charlie Sizemore. The Trenwiths get a song into the mix, as do old favourites the Seldom Scene, and I feature two tracks off an LP I just found in a local OpShop, from Joe Stuart – one of Bill Monroe’s most reliable Blue Grass Boys.

Quite a few of the selections on this show have an ‘old-timey’ feel to them, making it all sound very relaxed. Mark Johnson & Emory Lester get us started after a burst of ‘Sunburst’, then Nothing Fancy, Chad Manning, Dix Bruce and Jim Nunally and Raymond McLain all contribute. The Johnson Boys do a brief ‘set’, Bob Baker sings a song his Mum taught him, and the Barefoot Nellies play a tune in the Amnesia pub in San Francisco. Merle Haggard sings a Jimmie Rodgers favourite, Bill Emerson picks a foxy tune, and Caroline Jones and the Trenwiths do a very bluegrassy version of a Christmas song. We’re definitely into December!

Selections from banjo man Butch Robins, the Bluegrass Album Band, Bobby Hicks, and the Foggy Hogtown Boys. Bill Monroe, Doc Watson feature with ‘live’ recordings, and Caroline Jones does a Christmas song with the Trenwiths. A song from ‘Oh Brother’, and one from the Petersens. Lots to like.

A rather ‘odd’ mix of early bluegrass, old country songs, Western Swing and dynamic fiddle tunes. It must be bluegrass!