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We’ve been obsessed with the SteelDrivers since they exploded onto the Americana scene in 2007 and 2008 as a vehicle for the rustic and bluesy songs of Mike Henderson and Chris Stapleton. With the banjo of Richard Bailey and fiddling from Tammy Rogers, the band was bluegrass but something more. And they’d go one to be global touring artists and Grammy Award winners. I admit I was taken a bit by surprise by their latest release, a pure gospel-grass album called Tougher Than Nails. We lead off with the opening song, “Somewhere Down The Road.” We also had AmericanaFest 2023 on our minds as we pulled music for Show #76, drawing from artists set to play our Old Fashioned party at the outset of the event: Missy Raines and Allegheny, Cristina Vane, Robbie Fulks and the Lonesome Ace Stringband. Now that’s Americana.

It was not unexpected but it was exciting to hear that Jim Lauderdale and the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys had teamed up to make an album. They’ve collaborated at events around the country, including our own Old Fashioned Throwdown 2022. And they just get each other’s vibe and humor. We start this week with the title track of The Long And Lonesome Letting Go, which arrived 9/15. We’ve got a couple of bluegrass blocks, featuring in the first case nominees for this year’s IBMA Awards, including winners Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings, as well as a duet by two giants of the mandolin being ushered into the hall of fame – Sam Bush and David Dawg Grisman. I sought out a bunch of banjo instrumentals for the second half of the program. Amy’s cool artist discoveries include Holler Choir and Happy Trails Prospector.

We told you in these pages about the many repeat winners at the IBMA Awards in Raleigh at the end of September, but always of note are the Momentum Awards, given to emerging talent at a special lunch the day before the big show. This week we feature several winners, including the band category winners the Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band. Based in Northern California, the quartet features brothers Miles and Teo Quale, plus bassist Andrew Osborn and 2023 National Flat Pick Guitar Champion Ian Ly. We hear their take on the classic “Been All Around This World.” Also winning a Big Mo prize in the vocalist category is Carley Arrowood with the song “Chasin’ Indigo.” The show, hosted by yours truly, also includes a new single from Missy Raines and Allegheny, and a double shot of the SteelDrivers, because they lost their founder, mandolinist and core songwriter Mike Henderson, and we wanted to pay tribute through their new gospel album.

One might imagine that after 17 years singing country music and releasing ten albums, an artist would have shared all of her secrets with her audience, but Eilen Jewell says only in the aftermath of 2020 and a bunch of disruptive change and loss well beyond the reach of the pandemic, that she was ready to get real in ways she never had before. "It's the most personal album I've ever made,” she says in Episode 284 of The String about her album Get Behind The Wheel.

Featuring David Borne, Nora Jane Struthers & Daniel Donato.

Amy’s in the driver’s seat this week post IBMA with some really interesting choices that taught me a thing or two. The Fretliners, with Tom Knowlton on guitar, Taylor Shuck on upright bass, Dan Andree on fiddle, and Sam Parks on mandolin, have had a crazy year, winning the band contests at Rockygrass and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They’re from Colorado, so maybe they’re in tune with those festies’ judges. Anyway, congratulations. Amy spins “Where The Green Grass Grows” from their new self-titled album. Also in the hour, old-time from the Downhill Strugglers and new singles from the Tennessee Bluegrass Band and the Price Sisters. A double shot of the Poplin Family from the 1960s takes you to the break.

Chris Jones is one of modern bluegrass music’s multi-position MVPs. He’s a singer, songwriter, guitarist and longtime leader of his band the Night Drivers. He’s also an award winning broadcaster with a long running show on Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction and this September he was named Writer of the Year for his humor column at Bluegrass Today. Writing is the theme of the title track of his new EP Pages In Your Hand, which made its first appearance on our show this week. We start with a different kind of sound, the throwback string jazz of the Forty Drop Few, and we segue into new songs by Rusell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, Jaelee Roberts, and the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys with Jim Lauderdale. I also want to draw your attention to the gorgeous ballad by dulcimer player and song interpreter Sarah Kate Morgan, one of my favorite recent discoveries.

Featuring Samuel Grey Horse, Stoll Vaughan & Afton Wolfe.

Cruz Contreras has been a key player in the East Tennessee music scene for twenty years, steering accomplished roots projects Robinella and the CCstringband and the Black Lillies. In 2019 he wrote and recorded his first solo album only to see the pandemic upend his plans for its big rollout. He made good use of the lost years, getting married, having a son and moving to a new place. But at last he thought it was time to release Cosmico, a sweeping, ambient country rock project that highlights his rich voice. Cruz and Craig spoke during AmericanaFest 2023.

She’s the hit Nashville songwriter who never moved to Nashville, staying instead in her hometown near Boston. She’s the power mom who wrote timeless country award winners like “Girl Crush” and “Humble and Kind” while raising five kids. Now she reflects on her own story more than ever before on her new album 1988. It’s the fourth in a row she’s made with producer Dave Cobb and a testament to the fact that while McKenna’s won three Grammy Awards, she’s the same humble and kind woman who got dragged to her first open mic back in the early 1990s.