The Breakdown

Béla Fleck’s virtuosic 1988 instrumental album "Drive" is a touchstone of modern acoustic music, and has influenced every bluegrasser looking to break new ground since. Featuing new interviews with Béla, Jerry Douglas, and Mark Schatz, this episode reveals the untold stories of its studio recording – including how Bela got tough with Tony Rice, and why Jerry was often found in tears out in the studio hallway.

Released in 1963 by Columbia Records, the historic performance from Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain Boys records the first time a bluegrass artist headlined the venerable New York concert hall. Emma and Patrick dissect the record and pull up archive interviews and recordings that take you behind the scenes of this classic live recording.

The 1976 album Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard (not to be confused with their earlier recording Hazel and Alice) is dissected, a release that came out after the unlikely duo already broke up. Hazel and Alice have become one of the most influential artists in the history of bluegrass, tackling subjects that range from racial injustice to the hardships of being a working woman in their music.

Fiddler Patrick McGonigle and music journalist Emma John uncover bluegrass music one iconic record at a time in The Breakdown, a new limited series from The Bluegrass Situation. Peeling back the layers of a sometimes under appreciated genre, The Breakdown reveals the bizarre, compelling, and often completely mad stories from bluegrass players past and present.