Bluegrass Jam Along Interviews

Hi everyone. This is a very short episode just to update you on a couple of bits and let you know about some changes coming to the Bluegrass Jam Along podcast over the coming weeks.

There's some really exciting content coming your way but the format will be changing a little (I explain why in the episode).

That's all, folks.

Happy picking,

Matt

Support the show

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Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

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.

News and announcements - church street news 

• Fretboard Summit
• Alison Brown Banjo Basecamp
• Bela Fleck banjo raffle

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Infamous Stringdusters website
• Michael Daves’ Bandcamp
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Donate to the Mandolin Cafe

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist
• Full list of interviews
• Collings Guitars

Happy picking.

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

My guest on this week's bitesize episode is Gabe Witcher. This extract comes from a longer conversation I had with Gabe in June 2023, directly after he'd played his final shows with Punch Brothers at Telluride.

Gabe talks about first meeting Chris Thile at a festival when they were kids; playing football together before they even got round to jamming; how they found the rest of the band that became Punch Brothers; their first shows together in New York City and how the emotion of playing the tunes they worked on back then hit him in those final Telluride shows.

Here's the full 2023 interview with Gabe if you want to hear the whole conversation.

Happy picking.

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

My guest for this week's Bitesize episode is Jarrod Walker, best known to most of you as the mandolin player in Billy Strings' band.

This is a segment of a longer interview from 2022. In this section Jarrod talks about getting the gig with Billy, how it was both the most progressive and the most traditional gig he'd had, learning to play plugged in and experimenting with pedals.

The full interview (link below if you're interested) covers much more, including what Chris Thile taught him about learning fiddle tunes, how he almost ended up selling instruments for a living rather than playing them and going from landscaping one day during the pandemic to playing a live streamed gig at Red Rocks the next.

To connect with Jarrod and find out where you can catch a show, check out the links below:

Jarrod's Facebook

Jarrod's Instagram

Billy Strings' website

Here's the full interview with Jarrod.

Happy picking.

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

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.

News and announcements - church street news 

• Joe Brent Adhyâropa Records interview
• JD Crowe and the New South reissue
• Tim Stafford JD Crowe interview episode
• Earl Scruggs Music Festival
• Sierra Hull Tiny Desk Concert

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton Live at the Legion
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist
• Full list of interviews
• Collings Guitars

Happy picking.

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

My guest this week is Joe Brent, founder of Adhyâropa Records.

So many of the guests I've had on the podcast have released their albums through Adhyâropa and I was fascinated to find out more about the label.

We talk about why Joe set up the label in the first place, the reasons why it's almost impossible for musicians to make a living today, how Adhyâropa is trying to change that and why, in the end, it's just about helping people put out good music.

There's so much to learn in this one, whether you're a musician trying to navigate building a career or, like me, you're a fan who wants to understand how musicians get paid and what we can do to support our favourite artists.

There's something in this episode for everyone.

For more info on Adhyâropa, to submit your project or just to contact Joe, visit  www.adhyaroparecords.com

To buy music, visit Adhyâropa's Bandcamp store

I loved this conversation - I hope you enjoy it too.

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

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.

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Alison Krauss vinyl reissue from Craft Recordings 
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist
• Full list of interviews
• Collings Guitars

Happy picking.

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

This week's Bitesize episode comes from one of my favourite interviews, the conversation I had with Caitlin Canty about her record Quiet Flame.

The album was produced by Chris Eldridge (of Punch Brothers and Mighty Poplar) and features a fantastic band, including Paul Kowert, Brittany Haas, Sarah Jarosz, Noam Pikelny and Andrew Marlin.

In this excerpt Caitlin talks about the delay between experiencing something and writing about it and how she needs to see patterns emerge before she starts to write. We also talk about a couple of the tracks on Quiet Flame and what they mean to her.

This was such a fun conversation and one I've gone back and listened to more than once in the couple of years since it was recorded.

If you want to hear the full interview, you'll find links on bluegrassjamalong.com

For more info on Caitlin and to buy the album, visit caitlincanty.com

There are some great videos, featuring the band from the album, on Caitlin’s YouTube channel (you should watch them, they’re fantastic).

For updates, follow Caitlin on Facebook and Instagram

Happy picking!

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

Hi,

This week's briefing is slightly different - I'm running you through some of the nominees for this year's IBMA Music Awards.

I'd love to hear what you think - who you think will win, who you think should win, who's missing from the lists and any other thoughts.

Come and join the conversation via Instagram, Facebook or Threads and let me know!

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

My guest this week is Sara Watkins, with a deep dive into I'm With Her's latest record, 'Wild and Clear and Blue', which has already become one of my favourite records of recent years.

We talk about the album’s first writing sessions in 2021, just as the world was starting to reconnect post-pandemic and how that theme of connection eventually grew to run through the whole record. 

We also talk about collaboration and how essential that is to I’m With Her; the joy of cover versions and getting to know someone through music; how that shared love provided the seed for the album’s title track and why playing these songs with Aoife and Sarah at this point feels so special.

I also ask Sara about her own journey as a songwriter, stepping out of the shadows of her bandmates in Nickel Creek and we discuss the idea that albums are like puppies (you’ll just need to listen!)

This was one of my absolute favourite interviews to record. I hope you enjoy it.

For more info on I’m With Her, including tour dates and to buy I’m With Her vinyl, CDs and merch, visit imwithherband.com

For regular updates follow Sara on Instagram and Facebook

Happy picking,

Matt

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

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook