This week, blast off with the Matchsellers’ “Bluegrastronauts,” the world’s first outer-space bluegrass odyssey, recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Mixing elements of tall tales, theater, science fiction and bluegrass, the Bluegrastonauts show isn’t quite like anything you’ve ever heard.

The Matchsellers are Warsaw, Indiana native Andrew Morris and Julie Bates of Kansas City, Missouri. Their exciting, gritty, and often hilarious stage show has been developed over six years of touring across the US and Europe. Performing at the Ozark Folk Center State Park, Andrew and Julie present their outer-space bluegrass odyssey with a four piece stringband, featuring Chad Graves of The Hillbenders on dobro, and Betsey Mae on bass. The group combines absurdity, authenticity, and excellent musicianship to create a performance that is representative of the present age: They are pleasantly stuck between the years gone by and those to come.

The Matchsellers’ Bluegrastronauts is old-time in outer space. It’s a far away galaxy as close as your first cousin. It’s a 100,000-mile-an-hour horse and buggy. Dressed as space travelers from the year 2437, the Matchsellers’ Bluegrastronauts take audiences through a musical “history of the future,” including a first-hand account of the Apocalypse of 2137, the subsequent colonization of the moon, and the dangers of playing hopscotch in deep space. The show reaches the heights of absurdity while confronting deeply humanist issues of love, disillusionment, and mortality. Prepare to travel through space and old-time with one of the most unique and ambitious acts in acoustic music today.

- https://thematchsellers.com/bluegrastronauts-band/

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers a 1978 recording of mountain dulcimer master David Schnaufer performing the traditional tune “Red Haired Boy,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.