2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Clarence White - one of the undisputed greats of bluegrass guitar.

To mark the occasion, and to celebrate Clarence, I've been speaking to people who knew and played with him, as well as musicians who were influenced by his playing.

This is part 1, featuring all new interviews with David Grier, who knew Clarence in the final year of his life, and Alan Munde, who played with Clarence in those final months, most famously on The New Kentucky Colonels - Live In Sweden 1973.

Part 2 will feature interviews with Russ Barenberg, Tim Stafford and Michael Daves. 

I've chosen to focus mostly on Clarence's flatpicking and his contribution to bluegrass guitar, although the reality is he had just as seismic an influence on country rock.

These interviews were a joy to be part of. I hope you enjoy them.

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.

Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.

Bluegrass Jam Along News

• IBMA episode

News and announcements (Church street News)

• Caitlin Canty and Chris Eldridge - ‘Come By the Highway Home’
• Nechville Billy Failing banjo
• Sarah Jarosz tour dates

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Eric Skye fiddle tune TABs
• Eric Skye interview
• Bronwyn Keith-Hynes interview

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist
• Full list of interviews
• Peghead Nation
• Use the code ‘jamalong’ for a free month of any course

Happy picking.

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode is a special IBMA World of Bluegrass 2023 round up.

I was incredibly lucky to be nominated for an IBMA Momentum Award for the podcast, so I made the trip over from the UK to Raleigh for the awards ceremony and the conference. 

While I was there I interviewed a few people, some you'll be very familiar with, some maybe less so, about their experiences of IBMA and what it means to the bluegrass community.

My guests include:

• Alex Graf
• Fred Kosak of Stillhouse Junkies
• Daniel Patrick from the Mandolins and Beer podcast
• Frank Solivan of Tone Slabs
• Marcel Ardans from Lessons With Marcel
• Hillary Klug

I also spoke to Scott, one of the many, many volunteers who help keep IBMA running year in year out.

I had an amazing few days at IBMA....and I won the award too!

Happy picking.

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.

Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.

Bluegrass Jam Along News

• IBMA website
• Martin Simpson & Thomm Jutz interview

News and announcements (Church street News)

• IBMA music award winners

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Martin Simpson & Thomm Jutz record
• On The Honky Tonk Highway With The Brother Boys
• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist
• Full list of interviews
• Peghead Nation
• Use the code ‘jamalong’ for a free month of any course

Happy picking.

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guests this week are Martin Simpson & Thomm Jutz, who join me to talk about their wonderful new record 'Nothing But Green Willow : The Songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry.'

The album brings together a selection of British folk songs collected in Appalachia in the early 20th century by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles. Alongside Martin and Thomm it features a range of incredible artists from both sides of the pond, including Sierra Hull and Justin Moses, Angeline Morrison, Odessa Settles, Tim O’Brien, Tammy Rogers, Seth Lakeman, Dale Ann Bradley and Tim Stafford.

We talk about how the songs made their way to Appalachia, how (and why) Cecil and Maud travelled to the region to collect them and why this record is so important to both Martin and Thomm.

It was a truly fascinating conversation and it's a superb record. I'd really urge you to check out the physical copies of this one as the packaging is amazing and features some really informative and fascinating liner notes. There's a list of places you can find the record here - https://simpsonjutz.lnk.to/nothingbutgreenwillow

Happy picking,

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.

Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.

Bluegrass Jam Along News

• Bluegrass Jam Along website
• Peghead Nation
• Use the code ‘jamalong’ for a free month of any course

News and announcements (Church street News)

• Punch Brothers - Energy Curfew Music Hour

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• IBMA app
• Apple
• Google

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist
• Full list of interviews

Happy picking.

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is James Kee, lead singer and guitarist with East Nash Grass.

James chats about how the members first came together via a regular Nashville gig, how that slowly began to turn into a band and also about their fantastic new record Last Chance to Win.

You can find out more at the East Nash Grass website, where you'll find tour dates, music, merch and links to social platforms for regular updates.

I really enjoyed this one - hope you do too!

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.

Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.

Bluegrass Jam Along News

• Bluegrass Jam Along website
• Peghead Nation
• Use the code ‘jamalong’ for a free month of any course

News and announcements (Church street News)

• IBMA app
• Apple
• Google

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Cory Walker - School Project
• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Lessons With Marcel

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist
• Full list of interviews

Happy picking.

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.

Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.

Bluegrass Jam Along News

• Bluegrass Jam Along website

News and announcements (Church street News)

• Brad Farmer scholarship info

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New Spotify playlist
• Full list of interviews

Happy picking.

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone.

Not a full episode this week, I just wanted to let you know what's going on over the summer as I'm taking a short break.

Happy picking!

Matt

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.