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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.

This week’s show finds Amy and myself talking about how much we were looking forward to the World of Bluegrass in Raleigh for 2022. And that led to playing a number of artists who are showcasing or nominated for awards during the week of Sept 26. That includes new music from Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Kenny and Amanda Smith and the Slocan Ramblers. We hear a fantastic miner ballad from the Lonesome Ace String Band and some down and dirty urban hillbilly music from Conner Vliestra and Trevor Holder, plus our first appearance by acoustic revivalists Piedmont Bluz.

The new music in Episode 28 starts at the very beginning with Adam Wright and just keeps rolling. Adam is a writer who has produced smart material for country artists and for his own duo with his wife Shannon. Now he’s working with major bluegrass songwriters Buddy Melton and Milan Miller, releasing singles with their company including the triple-fiddle wonder “End of The End of the World.” Appalachian Road Show is readying the new album Jubilation, and we’ve got their latest single. Other new music comes from Wildfire, banjo player Steven Moore and the Tall Poppy String Band.

It’s our first ever Christmas show, so we took on the task of sifting the staggering number of bluegrass holiday songs down to a collection that isn’t cheesy or sticky sweet. We had to include “Christmas Time’s A Comin,” the most famous of them all, which was written by Tex Logan and recorded first by Bill Monroe in 1951. There are many versions but we settled on a fine one by Rhonda Vincent. “Breaking Up Christmas” is a favorite from old-time music, and here it’s fiddled by April Verch with Joe Newberry on banjo. I’m particularly fond of “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” with its fugue like vocal, offered here by Chosen Road, and the original “Rise Up Shepherd And Follow” by Virginia folk duo Robin and Linda Williams.

For our final show of 2022, Amy and I look back and pick tracks from what we thought were the best and most impactful traditional albums of the year. It was a year that reminded us that for every icon and veteran like Peter Rowan and Del McCoury, there are quite a few youngsters making a bright future for bluegrass and old-time. Molly Tuttle’s album Crooked Tree took her career to new places and inspired a road-burning year of touring and TV appearances. Billy Strings showed a new side of his musicality by making a traditional album of old favorites picked and sung with his dad, just like they did as he was growing up. Nora Brown and the duo of Allison DeGroot and Tatiana Hargreaves delivered remarkable and very different banjo driven old-time albums. Enjoy this tour of 2022 to get ready for the flood of new music in the year to come.

On November 20, 2022 we returned to our cozy club house in Madison, TN for another Old Fashioned Presents night at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge. This month’s featured artist was Austin Derryberry, one of the state’s finest young fiddler players and traditional musicians. He brought along his family band – wife Courtney, brother Conner and father Brian – and the music flowed between duos and full band over the hour. We’ve pulled five great songs from the set to share with you here. Otherwise, we spun new singles from Blue Highway and Larry Sparks, plus classic grass by Bill Grant and Delia Bell.