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Superstars Alison Krauss and Billy Strings stand out among this year’s IBMA Award nominations, which were announced on Wednesday morning. But a coincidentally timed show at Tuesday’s Bluegrass Nights At The Ryman series went at least as far in telling the story of where the genre is going in 2025. The co-bill featured AJ Lee & Blue Summit and East Nash Grass, artists enjoying their national breakouts and who are both now in the running for major awards in September when the International Bluegrass Music Association brings its World of Bluegrass convention for the first time to Chattanooga.
  • To hear Mike Farris sing - an experience a bit like being pinned to the seat of an accelerating Porsche Taycan - is to believe that he was born to the stage, motivated from childhood, and destined for soul/gospel glory. Yet in Episode 327 of The String, we learn that A) Mike is lucky to be here at all and B) that a singing career was not remotely on his own radar until he was approaching his 20th birthday. And the two are related. In his teens, Farris almost died from drug abuse. Music was part of his rescue. And I’ve never heard him go as deep on these subjects as he does in this hour. His newest album is a powerful, secular record recorded at FAME Studios called The Sound Of Muscle Shoals.
  • Andrea Zonn and John Cowan have a few years under their belts as co-lead vocalists in the Nashville supergroup The HercuLeons, and now they have a debut album to complement their regular shows at 3rd & Lindsley. Given that they have significant touring commitments with superstar bands The Doobie Brothers (Cowan) and James Taylor (Zonn), they’ve done well to corral this assembly of musicians and songs. They’re both Music City veterans with rich stories to tell, so we’ve given them each their own episode of The String.
  • Lance Cowan came to Nashville from his native Kentucky in the 1980s to build his career as a newspaper reporter, but he had the songwriting bug from the beginning. He made the scene at the Bluebird Café and made musical friendships. But with a family to raise, he wasn’t up for the sacrifices of the touring life. So he turned to music PR and he’s been one of the most trusted and easy-going pros in the roots music field for three decades. Now though, he’s turned back to music, releasing two albums in two years. Craig catches up with his old friend and colleague about his new direction.
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  • Carolyn Wonderland stopped by the WMOT studio to perform "Texas Girl", "I Ain't Goin Back", and "Truth Is" for WMOT's Words & Music, where we invite artists to perform and discuss their latest projects. In an interview with Jessie Scott, Carolyn reflects on being the first female member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, the making of 'Truth Is' (produced by Dave Alvin), the Austin music scene, and more.
  • Watchhouse is this week's guest on Words & Music, where we invite artists to discuss and perform stripped-down versions of their latest projects. The duo performed the title track of their latest record 'Rituals', along with "Shape" and "All Around You".
  • Ahead of her main stage performance at last week's Wired In at Riverside Revival, Kristina Murray, one of Nashville's most respected country songwriters, stopped by WMOT's backstage studio. She and her guys played stripped-down versions of "Watchin’ the World Pass Me By," "Just A Little While Longer," and "Get Down To It" from Little Blue, her latest album and her first for New West Records' Normaltown imprint.
  • Nashville's best kept secret Lilly Winwood rounds out our 2025 30A Songwriters Sessions with songs and stories, in conversation with Jessie Scott. Once again, we've had a great time with our springtime series where we present artists in acoustic settings, taped in our beach house turned studio near Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, during the 30A Songwriters Festival. Here, you'll get Lilly performing new material: "Illusionist," "All Things Uncertain," and "Broken Promise."
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