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 International Booth info 
  • Contact Christopher Howard Williams (IBMA board member) via the contact form on the Bluegrass in La Roche website
• Nice Like That Kickstarter page
• Blue Ridge Banjo Camp

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Punch Brothers’ set at Telluride 2024

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

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guests this week are Ruth Oxenberg and Rob Schumer.

They join me to talk about a very special series of concerts they've curated called Bluegrass on Hudson, which are happening at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, in New York's Hudson Valley.

But we start by talking about a wonderful documentary they directed and produced called Bluegrass Journey. It's a movie I've watched multiple times and really love. We chat about how they got into bluegrass in the first place (including how the Del McCoury Band almost became their wedding band!), how a TV news segment on bluegrass turned into a feature length documentary, their experience of filming the movie at Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival and some of the legends of bluegrass who feature in the movie, including the Del McCoury Band, Peter Rowan, Tim O'Brien, Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile and an iconic performance of Shenandoah by Tony Rice.

If you haven't seen Bluegrass Journey I'd urge you to check it out.

This was a wonderful conversation. I hope you enjoy it!
Happy picking,
Matt

Watch Bluegrass Journey on Amazon Prime

Bluegrass on Hudson info and tickets

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Tony Trischka, who returns to Bluegrass Jam Along to chat about his superb new record Earl Jam.

We talk about  Tony receiving a thumb drive containing 200 unheard recordings of Earl Scruggs jamming with John Hartford, and his amazement at not just how many tunes were on there that he'd never heard Earl play, but also hearing Earl play in different styles and tunings too.

Tony started transcribing the breaks and that was the start of the project that became Earl Jam, which features performances from Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sam Bush, Del McCoury and Sierra Ferrell, alongside many more incredible musicians.

It's a wonderful record and, as always, it was a joy chatting to Tony.

For more info on the album, to buy or stream Earl Jam and to check Tony's tour dates, visit tonytrischka.com

Happy picking,
Matt

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

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 

• Peghead Nation - Weekly Mandolin Workout

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton at Blue Ridge Guitar Camp

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

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

Today - June 8th - is Tony Rice's birthday. To celebrate, I'm reposting the chat I had with Alison Krauss as part of the 'Church Street Blues' 40th anniversary celebrations last year. The final episodes ended up being almost 5 hours long, so I thought it would be fun to re-post this as a standalone episode for those who missed it (or just want to listen again to celebrate Tony's birthday).

In this episode Alison talks about what Tony's music means to her and shares some memories of spending time one on one with Tony.

It was a wonderful conversation to get to have and I hope you enjoy it.

If you missed the Church Street Blues episodes,  featuring Wyatt Rice, Bryan Sutton, Chris Eldridge and many more, you can listen here:

Part 1 
Part 2

Matt

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Jacob Jolliff, who joins me to talk about his wonderful new record Instrumentals 2: Mandolin Mysteries

We talk about the process of writing the record and how many of the tunes began on piano rather than mandolin, plus the great band Jacob assembled to record and tour the album. We also chat about what it was like to sit in with Bela Fleck for part of the My Bluegrass Heart tour and some of the things Jacob leaned from Bela about rehearsing and leading a band in the process.

You can buy Mandolin Mysteries on Bandcamp on vinyl and as a digital download.

For more info, visit jacobjolliff.com or follow Jacob on Instagram or Facebook

You'll also find some cool performances of tracks from the record on Jacob's YouTube channel.

Happy picking!
Matt

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

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 international stage
• Fisher Center’s Bluegrass on Hudson 2024 Series

Releases (The Grass is New)

• David Grisman’s Unexpurgated Grass
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

In my ears

• Alan Rusbridger - Play It Again

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

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, who returns to chat about her great new record 'I Built a World', which comes out on Friday May 24th.

This is Bronwyn's first record as a lead singer and we chat about her song choices, the musicians she chose for the record, the wonderful line up of backing singers she has and how the record came together.

We also talk about the journey Bronwyn's been on over the past couple of years with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, including winning a Grammy.

You can pre-save 'I Built a World' on all the usual streaming platforms.

If you missed it first time around, here's my first interview with Bronwyn, chatting about her last record 'Fiddler's Pastime'

For news and updates follow Bronwyn on Instagram

Hope you enjoy this one and happy picking!
Matt

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

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 

• Blue Ridge Music Center Summer Series
• Blue Highway Fest
• IBMA tickets

Releases (The Grass is New)

• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Billy Strings Marc Maron interview

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

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Oliver Burkeman, best-selling author of the book 'Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals.'

'Four Thousand Weeks' isn't a book about bluegrass, or American acoustic music...or even about music. But, it addresses so many of the the things that can trip us up and stop us from making the space in our lives for the things we love, like music.

I'm not entirely sure this podcast would exist if I hadn't read Oliver's book. The fact that it's lasted long enough for this to be episode #388 is definitely down to me staying on the bus (Oliver will explain what that means in the interview!)

We tend to defer our happiness to some unspecified point in the future, when all our chores are done, or work is finished, or the kids grow up or we retire. But Oliver argues strongly in favour of doing the things that make us happy right now.

I struggle with that, and I presume many of you do as well, so I decided to invite Oliver to come onto the podcast to talk about it and offer some advice.

This was a really fun conversation, full of big, but simple ideas, which I'm sure will resonate with many of you. I got a lot out of this one and I hope you do too.

You'll find more info on Oliver and the book at www.oliverburkeman.com. While you're there, I really recommend signing up to his mailing list, 'The Imperfectionist', for regular smaller doses of inspiration on how to build a meaningful life in an age of bewilderment.

Happy picking!
Matt

Support the show

===

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

- Review us on Apple Podcasts