Craig Havighurst

Nearly 12 years ago, an informal arrangement between the caretakers of a down-on-its-luck American Legion Post and a handful of young honky tonk musicians led to the creation of Honky Tonk Tuesday Nights, one of the most vibrant residency music series of the past two decades. It’s been a haven for people who love to dance, for East Nashville community, for visits from stars, and for talent development in roots/Americana music. Craig spends time with the event’s founders and takes you to the scene, now moved to Eastside Bowl in Madison. With a photo essay by John Partipilo.

Even with the draws of Nashville and Boston, some bluegrass and string band musicians choose to settle in New York City, where the folk boom of the 1950s never died. When I asked mandolinist Jacob Jolliff why he bases in the biggest city in the USA in a String interview this winter, he gave the same answer many artists do – New York has energy, variety and musicianship like nowhere else. That includes bluegrass standout Michael Daves, an astonishing old-school singer and guitar player. The two surprised us with the release of the new covers album We Like Jim And Jesse!, the most clearly articulated tribute concept ever. That’s how we kick off this week’s show, but we’ve also got a hot track from a new live album by Blue Highway celebrating 30 years of classic songs. And we feature several artists who made the Bluegrass Situation’s recent article “Ten Fiddlers We Know You’ll Love” by our pal Rachel Baiman. Amy Alvey is one of them!

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings introduced themselves to the world 30 years ago with their seminal Americana recording Revival. Now, they’re tapping their shared youthful love of the Grateful Dead on an extensive tour celebrating the 45th anniversary of the live acoustic album Reckoning. In between, the duo/couple has made an indelible mark on American roots, with Grammy Awards and an Americana lifetime achievement award for songwriting. Just before the tour’s launch with a pair of Brooklyn Bowl shows last weekend, Craig caught up with Gillian Welch for this Q&A.

The Infamous Stringdusters emerged out of Nashville’s world-class but somewhat undiscovered bluegrass scene of the 2000s. Six guys with different professional pathways into the music and wide ranging tastes in other genres got to know each other at gigs, picking parties, and the IBMA World of Bluegrass. And their first gesture as a band - the 2007 album Fork In The Road - was a triumph, winning three IBMA Awards. Since those days and after a couple of early personnel changes, today’s quintet has become a huge force in jamgrass music with a fierce and in-demand live show. Yet they turn back to some of the simpler and more blues-based elements of their core heritage on their new 20th anniversary release, 20/20.

He was an East Tennessee country guitar prodigy who was invited on the Grand Ole Opry at age 11 by Marty Stuart, and Trey Hensley has made good on that promise by emerging as one of the finest singers and pickers in contemporary roots music. His national profile took shape after forming a super-flexible duo with dobro master Rob Ickes around 2016. Now, after four albums, collaborations with Taj Mahal and a Grammy nomination, Hensley has revved up his songwriting and made Can’t Outrun The Blues, which is not his first solo album but the one he regards as his true artistic debut.

Earl Jam is back. Two years after releasing his first Grammy-nominated, multi-artist collaboration in the name of Earl Scruggs, banjo legend Tony Trischka has sent Earl Jam 2 into the world, and it continues the surprises, the old standards, the surprising songs in a match of artists and repertoire for our time. To remind you of the backstory. Tony received a gift of a thumb drive with audio recordings of John Hartford jamming with Earl in the 1980s and 90s. There were 200 songs, from classics to quirky takes on pop tunes. And Tony made a deep study of Earl’s solos, finding nuances and ideas that were novel in his life-long pursuit of all things Earl. Here we welcome the release with “Columbus Stockade Blues,” cut with Del and Ronnie McCoury. We’ll have other tracks in the coming weeks of course. Also this week, the newest collab between Jim Lauderdale and the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, Joe Troop’s new folk protest band and song, and the first recording we’ve seen from North Carolina supergroup TANASI.

Just days after one of his storied shows at the Station Inn with some of the leading lights of bluegrass music, singer and songwriter Ronnie Bowman was killed in a motorcycle accident, leaving music-lovers and music-makers across Nashville and the national bluegrass community shocked and saddened. He died on Sunday afternoon at 64 years old.

Nashville’s Bob Minner has straddled the worlds of country music and bluegrass like few others in the modern era as a songwriter and guitar picker. More than 30 years ago, the Missouri native signed on with his lifelong friend Tim McGraw. More recently he’s written songs cut by The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, Jim Lauderdale, Blue Highway and others. Signed now to Billy Blue Records, Minner’s releasing new music of his own, the latest being “Kentucky Bluebird,” written by Don Cook and Wally Wilson back in the 80s and released as an enhanced, posthumous demo recording by Keith Whitley. Minner and McGraw both love Whitley and have used this song as a warm-up before going on stage. So here, McGraw lends his voice, as does Lori McKenna, on a lovely new take on the song. Also this week, Jesse Smathers reworks the old jug band number “Take A Drink On Me” with old-time flair, while Joe Newberry and April Verch welcome spring with the new album and title cut “Blessing On The Wing.”

The soundtrack to the Depression-era movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? came out in the final weeks of 2000 and was certified Platinum by February of 2001, making this the 25th anniversary of the year that the multi-artist masterpiece shook up country music and became the biggest boost for old-time folk, blues, and bluegrass in decades. With a recent Grand Ole Opry special celebration as a backdrop, Craig Havighurst revisits the album’s story, its songs, and its impact on American culture.

When Emily Scott Robinson released Appalachia, her fifth album in a 10-year career and her third for Nashville boutique Oh Boy Records, it spiked up into the Americana airplay top ten, something that had never happened to her before. But she had set the table through quality songwriting, ambitious touring, and a luminous voice that embraces the dark and the light with a rare alchemy. At WMOT’s Eastside studio, Craig and Emily speak about her newest work with super-producer Josh Kaufman and the hard work that led to it.