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We’ve spun the Chattanooga Dogs before but this week we couldn’t decide between one of their fiery banjo/fiddle instrumentals and one of their irresistible honky tonk songs. So we played both. The band is anchored by guitarist Conner Vlietstra and banjo player Trevor Holder, and they are young fellows who sound like they stepped through a wormhole from the East Tennessee music scene of 1940. We heard them live in Nashville as they took part in a celebration of Ed Haley’s fiddle music recently and were struck again by their keening tone and their swing. Old-time acoustic country has no better friends right now. Also new music from rising stars Seth Mulder and Midnight Run, Nashville’s eclectic Charlie Treat, and the new star duo of Thomm Jutz and Tim Stafford.

We love the thrill of discovery here at Roots Radio. Sometimes it’s an exciting new artist on the scene, but we’re just as ready for epiphanies about artists from the past who eluded us through our lives. This week’s case in point is the Whitstein Brothers. The name rang a tiny bell with me but I had no idea what I was in for when Amy sent some links over to their albums on Rounder Records in the 1980s. Robert (guitar) and Charles (mandolin) were from Colfax, LA and did some early work with Porter Wagoner. They brought their Louvin Brothers sound to Rounder for a strong body of work including this week’s “Seven Years Blues.” Also on the show, a great cover as Volume Five releases “Walk Beside Me” by Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott, as well as a new single by the Kody Norris Show. Old-time music comes from Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves, The Horsenecks, and Adam Hurt.

We go live again this week from Dee’s with highlights from a fine set of music from Minneapolis string band Steam Machine, represented by its core duo Rina Rossi on guitar and AJ Srubas on fiddle. We thought they’d be playing as a two-piece, but being the resourceful musical souls they are, they signed up three able Nashville ringers on bass, mandolin and banjo and brought the house down. Their music is a self-proclaimed hybrid of bluegrass and old-time, and they truly left us craving more. Also this week, new music from Darren Nicholson, newly indie after more than 15 years with western NC stars Balsam Range. And we are excited to bring you more from the women making acoustic roots music so rich these days with tracks by Anya Hinkle, Maddie Denton and Libby Weitenauer.

Madison Cunningham blasted on to the modern folk scene in 2019 with a debut album so thoughtful and original that it landed on the prestigious Verve Forecast label and was nominated for a Grammy Americana Album award. After the pandemic interrupted her career momentum, she picked right back up in 2022 with a fast-growing audience and a brilliant sophomore album called Revealer. Just home from her final overseas tour of last year, Madison joined me by Zoom for a conversation about her acclaimed guitar playing, writing an album in stasis and her less-than ideal categorization as a folk singer.

Cory Walker is a widely traveled and appreciated banjo player, who I’ve been seeing a lot lately playing with East Nash Grass at Dee’s, our clubhouse in Madison TN. Of course his resume is much longer than that, including tours and sessions with Ricky Skaggs, Sierra Hull, Jim Lauderdale, Mountain Heart, and more. We open this week’s show with a new single from Cory, because he’s been taken in by Mountain Fever Records and there’s an album in the works. “Far Away Again” was written by Cory’s brother Jarrod with Christian Ward and sung by Tim O’Brien. Bodes well for the future. Also this hour, which I’m hosting alone while Amy traveled in Mexico, includes a new one from Tina Adair, a delicious recent track from AJ Lee & Blue Summit and classics from Bill Monroe and Norman Blake.

ACME Feed & Seed is something of a refuge from the party scrum on Lower Broadway. The four-level restaurant, bar and venue is at the very end of the strip, overlooking the Cumberland River in a 130-year-old building with timber beams and vast old arched brick windows. It’s a space with soul, especially on Saturdays around noon when Nashville icon Charles “Wigg” Walker takes the stage to sing for excited crowds at his Soul Brunch.

In today’s bluegrass and string band scene, John Hartford is a patron saint. With his honor for his elders, his hippie humor, and his relentless quest for new refinements and ideas, the late singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, archivist and raconteur may be the single greatest influence on pickers under 50 years old working in traditional Americana. For Sam Bush, himself a hero of modern bluegrass, Hartford was all that and more - a friend and picking buddy and sometimes a touring partner or boss in the studio. So there’s a feeling of inevitability about Bush’s new tribute Radio John.

Dolly Parton is never far from the news, but lately she’s been everywhere. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 5, and about the same time she announced that she would actually be releasing a rock and roll album next year with covers that include “Stairway To Heaven” and “Purple Rain.” (I can hear it!) Her years of philanthropic work were rewarded by an astonishing $100 million gift from Jeff Bezos. And, a bit less consequentially, she joined TikTok. Well Dolly, who is about to turn 76 on Jan. 19, is always pure gold in our hearts and we were motivated to put together a set of Dolly-grass this show, so check that out in our third act. Otherwise, we’ve got new music from the Tennessee Bluegrass Band, Trey Wellington and Appalachian Road Show.

Featuring The Shootouts, Bee Taylor & Channing Wilson

Kentucky natives Linda Jean Stokley and Montana Hobbs met through Morehead State University's traditional music program just over ten years ago. Through three albums, including a new self-titled project, and extensive touring, they're adding a deft neo-traditional sound to the renaissance of country music coming from the Bluegrass State.