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Featuring Lore, Melody Walker & Katie Cole

Featuring Mary Gauthier, Jeff Plankenhorn & Jamie Harris

Last week we played a throwback duet between West Coast bluegrass icons Kathy Kallick and Laurie Lewis. Then we discovered that Kathy Kallick was releasing new music in advance of her first new album since 2018. The record will be called The Lonesome Chronicles, as it processes some of the ennui and isolation of the 2020s. Still it’s great to have Kallick’s lovely voice back on record, and she has a sharp band that includes fiddler Annie Staninec, whom we featured recently, plus Greg Booth (dobro, banjo), Tom Bekeny (mandolin), and Cary Black (bass). Other new music this show comes from Donna Ulisse, Sister Sadie and The Henhouse Prowlers. And we say happy birthday to Nashville’s Shawn Camp with a couple of his fine songs.

I was inspired this week by gearing up for the Earl Scruggs Music Festival in Polk County, NC. That meant pulling some Michael Cleveland, some Emmylou Harris (she headlined Sunday), and of course some Earls of Leicester. The band with the elaborate pun for a name was conceived in 2013 by dobro star and producer Jerry Douglas to pay tribute to the songs and sound of Flatt & Scruggs, arguably the most impactful and influential bluegrass band of all time. The Earls, who won four IBMA Awards including Entertainers of the Year and a Grammy Award, include magnificent vocals by Shawn Camp and Jeff White and the powerful fiddling of Johnny Warren. Also this week, Amy brought in tunes from Sami Braman, Joseph DeCosimo and the wonderfully named Corn Potato String Band. Throwback tracks come from Lynn Morris and the Nashville 80s supergroup the Dreadful Snakes.

Darrell Scott emerged in the late 1990s as one of Nashville’s most complete folk/roots artists. He had the butter of James Taylor and the grease of Lowell George in his voice. He could pick numerous instruments like a practiced master. And his songs were stunning from the get go, including his widely-recorded “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” and his crowd favorite “Great Day To Be Alive” on his debut project. Now, Scott lives mostly on a farm two hours from Nashville tending the land and playing 60-80 dates a year. Recently he issued Old Cane Back Rocker, his first studio album since 2016 and his most bluegrass leaning project ever. I road tripped to Darrell’s farm to record this week’s atmospheric conversation.

Featuring Dan Navarro, Russ Cooper & Billy Don Burns

Lindsay Lou grew up surrounded by community folk music in Michigan, and when she connected with a scene and a band in East Lansing where she completed college, she set her plans for a career in medicine aside to hit the road and connect with her original dreams. But it’s pretty clear from her ravishing voice that she was born to sing, and she made quite an impression, especially in western newgrass circles, as the leader and songwriter of Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys. Living in Nashville since 2015 though, change was inevitable, and she processes some big life shifts and stylistic evolution on her new album Queen of Time. It’s the most ambitious and enthralling release of her career, and there’s a lot to talk about.

Featuring Natalie Price, The Sea The Sea & Kelley Family Christmas

Featuring Looms, Charlie Mars & Al Backstrom

Featuring Christopher Wright, Emily Earle & Brother And The Hayes