Amy Alvey and I took some holiday down time to sip our bitters-infused bourbon cocktails to think about the year in old-time and bluegrass music. Because special things happen when the electricity’s cut off and the drummers take five and the performances are made with hands, fingers, voices, and old boxes of wood and wire. Here you’ll find breakout new stars of string band music, a blues revivalist, veterans taking new directions, and important collaborations. We’ll return to these excellent records all in one hour in the Jan. 4 episode of The Old Fashioned.
Tony Trischka and Various Artists - Earl Jam
A thumb drive containing ultra-rare home recordings of jam sessions between Earl Scruggs and John Hartford inspired banjo master Tony Trischka to work up the songs in the collaborative spirit of those late bluegrass legends. Illustrious guests on this historic set include Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Stuart Duncan and Ronnie McCoury.
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes - I Built A World
Nashville’s Bronwyn Keith-Hynes truly arrived in 2023 and 24 as a star of bluegrass via massive tours (and a Grammy Award) with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway and her first LP as a singing/songwriting artist. It’s brilliant throughout. Oh, and she married Del McCoury Band fiddler Jason Carter in 2024 as well, so her world-building is going great.
Willi Carlisle - Critterland
Old school folk troubadour and rollicking entertainer Willi Carlisle builds on the wit, pathos and humanity that made his breakout Peculiar, Missouri album of 2022 so magnetic. He stayed busy after the multi-hued Critterland as well, following up with a live EP in August and a collection of traditional songs called The Magnolia Sessions in December.
The Down Hill Strugglers - Old Juniper
Old-time American folk music still thrives in Brooklyn, and these guys are leaders in that community, with roles in Jalopy Records, the Jalopy Theater and the Brooklyn Folk Festival. Their return to wax after seven years is cause for celebration, and the songs are, for the first time, all originals. Timelessly hip.
Missy Raines and Allegheny - Highlander
Bass playing champ and lifelong bluegrass singer Missy Raines made her biggest changeup as a leader last year, setting jazzgrass aside for her first straight bluegrass band, though her pattern of working with musicians a generation younger than herself remains. Her first album with Allegheny is rich with new songs in the old style and elite guests like Kathy Mattea, Laurie Lewis and Missy’s old friend Danny Paisley.
Jerron Paxton - Things Done Changed
Raised improbably on old-school blues and R&B in the Watts section of Los Angeles and now based in New York, Paxton embodies a century of American music, expressed as a solo performer on guitar, piano, banjo, bones and harmonica. His first collection of all original songs is a gem among this year’s Smithsonian Folkways releases.
AJ Lee & Blue Summit - City of Glass
AJ Lee is the voice you have to hear in today’s bluegrass and string band scene, with a blend of clarity and velvet that’s rare and thrilling. City of Glass is her band’s first album that fully captures that voice, along with band-wide contributions in songwriting, singing, and hot instrumental work.
Jody Stecher w Mile Twelve - Instant Lonesome and the Twinkle Brigade
Mile Twelve, the Boston Band that gave Bronwyn Keith-Hynes her launch pad, somehow found common cause with a brilliant veteran - bluegrass singer and songwriter Jody Stecher. They released the collab Mile 77 last December (after Stecher’s age) and came right back with this whimsically titled collection of original Stecher songs. Here the fine fiddling comes from Ella Jordan.
Brit Taylor - Kentucky Bluegrassed
Taylor’s Kentucky Blue was one of the best country albums of 2023, so her decision to recast some of its songs (plus some new material) in a string band setting was risky but ultimately inspired. Her observational powers and good humor bring her home region to life, and her facility with all kinds of roots music demonstrates gravitas and beauty worthy of her heroine Patty Loveless.
The Po' Ramblin' Boys - Wanderers Like Me
The acclaimed East Tennessee band lives up to its name with original songs about restlessness, homesickness, and sometimes even returns on this August release, their second for Smithsonian Folkways. A couple of duet vocals with fiddler Laura Orshaw are especially good - and a bit sad because Orshaw announced this fall that she’s stepping away from the band after five years.
Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson and Cleek Shrey - Beehive Cathedral
Three leading lights of today’s old-time scene gathered in a cabin on Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau with banjos, fiddles and an antique pump organ with the late, great musician Clyde Davenport on their mind. The sessions came out as refined, bright and mesmerizing as the nature around them.
Thunder and Rain - Storybook Sessions
Lead singer Erinn Peet Lukes reconfigured her newgrass band Thunder and Rain when she moved from Colorado to Nashville a few years ago. The quartet’s strong harmony singing and keen song sense are evident here, particularly on the spooky Appalachia-evoking “Wendigos Wanderin’”.
