My guests on the podcast this week are Lillian Werbin and Kristina Gaddy. I caught up with them at IBMA to chat about Roots Revival : A Black Stringband Symposium, a collaboration between IBMA and The Banjo Gathering.

Hosted at IBMA's World of Bluegrass, the symposium celebrated and explored Black contributions to Bluegrass and other traditional music, both historic and continuing, featuring contemporary conversations about diversity and inclusion in traditional music and the ways in which Black musicians, builders, and researchers navigate bluegrass and traditional music spaces.

We talk about how the event came together, some of the themes it explores and how discussions and events like this can become part of the continuing conversation about traditional music.

For more information on The Banjo Gathering, and to sign up for the 2024 event, which is happening this month, head to The Banjo Gathering website.

If you missed it, check out my interview with Kristina about her fabulous book Well of Souls : Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History. You can buy Well of Souls at Elderly Instruments (which Lillian is also CEO and co-owner of!).

I really enjoyed this conversation and it helped me think about some of the issues we touched on with fresh insight and understanding. I hope you enjoy it.

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.

News and Announcements (Church Street News)

• Donate to help those devastated by hurricane Helene
• John Hartford tune marathon

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 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 selection of interviews I carried out at IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, North Carolina last week.

It was the last IBMA in Raleigh before the event moves to Chattanooga in 2025, and was an amazing week, full of great conversations, events, music, instruments, picking and people. I had a fantastic time and can't tell you how much it means to me to feel so welcomed by the bluegrass and string band community.

But it was also a devastating week for the people of western North Carolina and East Tennessee, as hurricane Helene devastated the area. In Raleigh we were lucky to escape with some rain and minor delays to the street festival - others were nowhere near so lucky.

There's a desperate need for help and resources in the area so, if you'd like to donate something (however small), there's a list here of places you can go to do that. 

OK, on with the interviews. In this episode you'll hear from:

• IBMA executive director Ken White, on IBMA WOB's move to Chattanooga next year
• Christopher Howard-Williams from IBMA, EBMA and Bluegrass in La Roche, on the international bluegrass scene and some of the challenges it faces
• Patricia Butler, co-founder of ArtistWorks, on receiving a Distinguished Achievement Award
• Steve Nall (Nully) of Collings Guitars, on why their new Hill Country series is a radical departure for Collings and why bringing them to IBMA is so valuable in terms of feedback
• Brenna MacMillan, on her brand new record Dear Life, and finding community amongst her fellow musicians
• Chris Eaton, UK dobro player, on coming to IBMA for the very first time

Thanks to everyone I met out in Raleigh. Back next week with another IBMA interview - in the meantime have a great week and happy picking.

Matt

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

This week’s episode is all about learning to play music.

I’ve been listening back to the interviews I’ve done over the past 3 years and so many of them touch on some really core stuff when it comes to being a musician. All of it has helped me at one point or another, so I thought I’d put together a compilation of some of my favourite bits. 

There’s something in here for everyone, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been playing for years and just need some inspiration or encouragement.

Whether you’ve listened to all of these before, or you’re new to the podcast, this grab bag of ideas and inspiration has something for you, no matter where you are on your musical journey (which is a key theme of these conversations).

You’re going to get tips and advice from some of the leading figures in acoustic music and a couple of writers who have amazing insights to share.

You’ll be hearing from Bryan Sutton, Sierra Hull, Scott Nygaard and Stephen Mougin, as well as best selling author Oliver Burkeman and author and neuroscientist (and banjo player!) Josh Turknett.

You’ll also hear (briefly!) from me.

I got so much from listening back to these and I hope you find something to inspire you too.

Here are links to the full interviews these came from, in case you missed them, or just want to listen again.

• Josh Turknett
• Bryan Sutton
• Sierra Hull
• Stephen Mougin
• Scott Nygaard
• Oliver Burkeman

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.

News and Announcements (Church Street News)

• IBMA World of Bluegrass info
• Collings Hill Country guitars
• Kruger Brothers Music Academy

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Billy Strings ‘Seven Weeks in County’ video

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 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.

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)

• Vasen & Hawtail
• Preorder link
• Tour dates

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Andy Statman album
• Buy on Amazon
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 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 guest this week is the legendary Jerry Douglas.

Jerry joins me again to chat about recording his first new album in six years. It's called 'The Set' and features the band Jerry's been playing with for a decade now.

He talks about what's special about playing with that band and why he chose to re-visit some tunes that will be familiar to his fans for this record, as well as new material, including 'The Fifth Season', which started out as a FreshGrass commission.

We also chat about some of Jerry's other long standing collaborations, including Transatlantic Sessions, the Telluride House Band and Alison Krauss and Union Station. Jerry reveals AKUS have not one but two new albums recorded.

'The Set' is out on September 20th. You'll find all the info and links to preorder on Jerry website

For info and updates on all Jerry's projects, make sure to follow him on Facebook and Instagram

It's always a joy chatting to Jerry. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Happy picking,

Matt

**this episode was edited post release to remove a small section of the content**

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

My guest this week is Fretboard Journal's Jason Verlinde.

Jason shares the story of how Fretboard Journal started, back in 2005, and how it's grown from a print magazine to include a series of great podcasts and The Fretboard Summit events.

We also chat about the current state of the acoustic instrument market and how the vintage market has changed over the past two decades, plus what people can expect from this year's Fretboard Summit, which kicks off in Chicago in just two days.

Visit fretboardjournal.com for more info on the Fretboard Journal magazine and podcasts and fretboardsummit.org for info on the Fretboard Summit.

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.

This week, news of a brand new record by Daniel Patrick of the Mandolins and Beer podcast and a new flatpicking course from Grant Gordy on Peghead Nation.

There's also new music from Stephen Mougin and Ned Luberecki, Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland, Sarah Jarosz, Any Leftwich, Aoife O'Donovan and Hawktail and Jerry Douglas!

Don't forget, you'll find the new releases playlist here:

The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Also....

Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/

The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 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 guest this week is Rebecca Frazier. Rebecca was the first woman ever to appear on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and her band Hit & Run are the only band to win all three Rockygrass, Telluride, and SPBGMA Festival Band competitions.

She joins me to chat about her new record Boarding Windows in Paradise. We talk about working with legendary producer and engineer Bill Wolf, recording with Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan and the band Love Canon and the decade gap between this and her last record.

We touch on so many different aspects of combining music with life and how we change (or don't ) over time. We also talk about our shared love of Dolly Parton's record The Grass is Blue and the influence it had on Rebecca's new record.

I loved this conversation and I hope you do too.

For more info check out rebeccafrazier.com, where you'll find links to her tour dates, social channels and YouTube.

If you're listening to this before the record comes out on September 13th 2024, you can pre-save and pre-order the record.

Happy picking.

Matt

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