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Radio is more than a signal and a service. It can act as a metaphor for the energy, sound and reach of a music scene. These synergies of radio station and music community are harder to find in the 21st century than they were in the 70s and 80s, but they’re around. We certainly try to capture the Nashville zeitgeist on WMOT, and there’s no doubt that in the potent scene of western North Carolina, WNCW is a hub of an extensive network of creatives and fans. Running operations and programming at the NPR affiliate is veteran broadcaster Joe Kendrick. And I thought it would be revealing and interesting to get together with him for a conversation.

AmericanaFest 2022 is in the books, and even more than usual, I came away with a backlog of fascinating conversations with artists who don’t live in Nashville but who are making an impact on roots music. This week’s show features highlights from three interviews with emerging talent in the veins of traditional old-time, modern bluegrass and folk-rock. There’s no such thing as a representative sample of the format’s younger generation, but between Tray Wellington, Nora Brown and Taylor Rae, there are plenty of storylines that will unfold and develop in the years to come.

The ambience at Two Dollar Tuesdays at East Nashville’s 5 Spot had a magic all its own. It was a neon-lit weekly church service of sorts, blending community fellowship with the sacred calling of nurturing and showcasing independent roots and rock and roll music at Music City’s most eclectic crossroads. After the closure of the Radio Cafe and the Slow Bar, the 5 Spot became the HQ for East Nashville’s musical renaissance through the 2010s, and Two Dollar Tuesdays (a mismatch of cover charge and musical value more alarming than today’s streaming rates) became its most reliable live event. The man who launched and built it was songwriter/artist Derek Hoke.

It’s one of the biggest bluegrass stories of the year. Sam Bush, founder of New Grass Revival and hugely influential mandolinist and fiddler, has released Radio John: Songs Of John Hartford. We recognize Hartford as the patron saint of our show, due to his mystical ability to advance tradition in a modern way and his deep influence on today’s scene. Sam was his good friend and sometime collaborator. Now he’s recorded nine songs on his own, playing all the instruments (!) plus one new title track in honor of the icon. We play that new song and several other Hartford-inspired tunes in this hour. Plus a great new duo from Shawn Lane and Richard Bennett, a lovely folky single from Carolyn Kendrick and a lookback classic by Bryan Sutton and Pat Enright.

This week’s show poses a question. What would Southern rock sound like in Appalachia, where hard-edged, working-class country music meets high lonesome history? I pursue answers through matched interviews with members of Town Mountain and 49 Winchester, longstanding bands from the high country of North Carolina and Virginia respectively that both made label debuts this year on leading Americana company New West Records. The albums sound great back to back, and the bands tell a story about Blue Ridge Mountain music culture in the 21st century.

Just as we were pulling this week’s show together, the new album by Billy Strings arrived, and it’s quite a different deal than his Grammy-nominated Renewal or his Grammy-winning prior album Home. This is called Me/And/Dad, featuring his father Terry Barber playing the songs that defined Billy’s growing up with his best musical friend and mentor. It’s an amazing story and a wonderful traditional album with a killer guest band. We help Billy celebrate his dad and Doc Watson with “Way Downtown.” Also new this week, singles from the serene-voiced Marija Droze, some clever wordplay from Nashville’s Charlie Treat, a classic from The High & Wides and a barn burner from Appalachian Road Show. We also start a two-week nod to the Grammy bluegrass nominees this year with selections by Peter Rowan and the Infamous Stringdusters.

Todd Snider walked out alone on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in late September looking radiant. The guy has great teeth for one thing, along with the ease and confidence earned from more than 30 years on stage. He was bolstered and beloved by the loyalist lifer fans that hang on his every word, spoken or sung. He told the one about his first open mic and the one about East Nashville character Skip Litz who loved Train Songs. Todd’s mother was on hand and it was her birthday, so we all sang for her. Two days later we sat down for a delightful, rambling conversation.

The Gibson Brothers, twice named IBMA Entertainers of the year, have taken some interesting musical sojourns on their recent albums, especially the R&B-flavored Mockingbird made with Dan Auerbach in 2018. And that’s great because Eric and Leigh have always deftly woven diverse influences into their harmonic convergence. But the release of “Dust,” the first single from a promised 2023 release, suggests a return to bluegrass form with a rolling banjo flow. It’s also a very well written song, so we’re proud to feature it this week. Also up, a new one from the Kody Norris Show, more from Frank Solivan’s Hold On album and legay tracks from Lynn Morris and the Johnson Mountain Boys. Bluegrass. What a good idea!

The Grammy Awards launched the Best Bluegrass Album category in 1989. Bill Monroe won for Southern Flavor. A young banjo player named Bela Fleck was nominated for his album Drive. More than three decades later, Mr. Fleck won in 2022 for his epic My Bluegrass Heart instrumental masterwork. Just before we put together this show, the nominees were announced for the February 5, 2023 awards and the nominees included artists we love and albums we’ve been playing: the Infamous Stringdusters, Molly Tuttle, Peter Rowan, Del McCoury and Yonder Mountain String Band. We’ve sprinkled music from those nominees, not necessarily from the new recordings, in to shows #36 and 37. Yonder launches us this week with “I Just Can’t” from their 2022 album Get Yourself Outside, which is not hard advice to those from their Colorado mountain home base. Also in the hour, new music from Colorado’s Jake Leg and Breakin’ Strings from Maine. And we remember what it sounded like when Chris Stapleton was an original Steeldriver.

The voice is the most important instrument in folk and country music, but most singers in the roots genres don’t push or prod or manipulate that instrument all that hard. Simplicity and clarity is generally more admired and desired than creativity or contrivance. So I’m interested in folk singers who do craft and sculpt their voice, because it’s risky. Too much affect or too much vibrato can break faith with the listener. Courtney Marie Andrews stands out in Americana for the artfulness of her voice, with its deliberate phrasing and graceful warble. It dovetails with her lyrics in a way that’s clearly behind her considerable success. So when we sat down for Episode 230 of The String, I asked her about it first.