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The Pacific Northwest has a vibrant traditional music scene, but the artists and bands out there don’t cut through as easily to us in the southeast, if only because it’s super expensive to tour to all the places they deserve to be heard. Our newest discovery in this vein is Kristen Grainger and True North, a bluegrass and acoustic Americana band from Oregon led by Grainger and her husband Dan Wetzel. Grainger has earned media buzz from the likes of the Bluegrass Situation, and done well in songwriting contests across the country. But it’s time to put this band front and center now that their album Fear of Falling Stars comes out Nov. 10. We offer the single “Across The Mountains.” We also have new stuff from a renewed Seldom Scene and key veteran folk singer Alice Gerrard. A block with Cristina Vane, Brenna Mc Millan, Willi Carlisle and Hillary Klug touches on some younger artists who’ve become super skilled at reaching folks on social media. Historic tracks from Don Reno and the Johnson Mountain Boys.

A package arrived in my mailbox from a small re-issue label I’d never heard of called Liberation Hall in Massachusetts, and what a welcome surprise it was. They’ve released Clarence White: The Lost Masters (1963-1973) on CD, featuring what its well-done liner notes by John Delgatto call a “brief overview of Clarence’s acoustic and electric guitar playing.” There are tracks with Eric Weissberg and members of the Byrds and even The Everly Brothers on the 14-song collection. We’ve gone with “Alabama Jubilee” backed by Herb Peterson (bass), Alan Munde (banjo) and Byron Berline (fiddle) from 1973 to show what a master of flatpicking White was just before his tragic and untimely death. Also in the show, another reissue as Americana Vibes has released a 20th anniversary edition of Cabin In The Hills, the lone album from Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band, a collection of monster Colorado pickers who weren’t as famous then as they are now – Travis Book, Anders Beck, Andy Thorn and Jon Stickley. New singles come from Nefesh Mountain and Amanda Cook.

Asheville, NC is one of the most important hubs for bluegrass and mountain music in the country, and Songs From The Road Band are among the favorite bands hailing from the area. Seems like only yesterday they were fiddling with early lineups and a bold new sound. But now they’ve released eight albums! Where did the time go? The lifers in the band include mandolinist Mark Schimick and bass player Charles Humprhries III, who is a two-time IBMA songwriter of the year nominee. They released the album Pay Your Dues earlier this year, but we’ve got their new single “Where Lonely Lives.” Also new this week, Carly Arrowood’s lovely “Moondancer,” and a cool one from Wilson Banjo Co. called “Nightbird.” Our throwback tracks include music from Bill Harrell and the Virginians, plus a stone classic by Norman Blake and Tony Rice.

Rosanne Cash says she’s a forward-looking artist and thinker, not prone to looking back. But when she regained control over the master recording of her 1993 album The Wheel, it prompted an idea. She’s launched the new label Rumble Strip Records with John Leventhal, the producer and guitarist she fell in love with while working on it with him. Cash, one of the most fascinating and sophisticated roots musicians and a founding figure of the Americana movement, calls The Wheel a “watershed” for her in many ways beyond her new life with Leventhal. She’d moved to New York where she’s lived ever since. And she branched away from the country mainstream. The re-issue of The Wheel, now out for the first time on vinyl, prompted a riveting conversation. Also in the hour, Colorado-reared newcomer Jobi Riccio.

Featuring India Ramey, The HawtThorns & Webb Wilder

Featuring Rees Shad, Ned Hill & JK Mabry

In an episode that revisits the netherworld between Americana and jazz, I speak with two extraordinary female drummer/composers who are at the peak of their creative powers. My featured guest is Allison Miller, a renowned New York artist who's led her own band Boom Tic Boom and joined in with the supergroup Artemis. For her newest album Rivers In Our Veins, she studied rivers and their ecosystems to inspire a 12-song cycle for jazz ensemble and tap dancers. It's utterly original and enthralling. Also with water on her mind is Sofia Goodman, a Nashville-based jazz leader whose growing by leaps and bounds as she explores contemporary sounds without limits. Secrets of the Shore uses aquatic sounds as a starting point, but it's the serene and complex harmonies she writes for her brass and wind instruments that really makes this collection sparkle.

Featuring EmiSunshine, Sarah & Shannon and Thunder And Rain.

When bluegrass icon Doyle Lawson retired from the road at the end of 2021, his band Quicksilver regrouped as Authentic Unlimited. So when the band won New Artist of the Year at the 2023 IBMA Awards, it was a little bit ironic because these fellows are well known and appreciated on the scene. Other honors followed though, including an AU debut on the Grand Ole Opry and some very recent SPBGMA Awards for Gospel Group and Vocal Group Of The Year. This week, I spun their new fast-rolling single Big Wheels, a tale of a fellow trying to outrun his heartbreak by hitching a ride on an 18-wheeler, written by bass player Jerry Cole. Their album So Much For Forever is set for release on March 29. Also new, the swift and fluid “Will You Ever Be Mine” by Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and “Weary Town” from NC’s Unspoken Tradition. Inspired by recently writing a feature about Jerry Garcia for Bluegrass Unlimited, which comes out in advance of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame’s special exhibit, I have a block of Jerry-grass, including Old And In The Way and classics from his collaborations with David Grisman.

It’s a week of album premieres, one long awaited and one kind of a surprise. The latter comes from Brit Taylor, the wonderful and versatile singer from Kentucky who reminds us of a modern day Patty Loveless. She’s so versatile that she took her Kentucky Blue album of 2023 and rearranged some of its songs – and added some new ones – to give us Kentucky Bluegrassed, a magical acoustic collection, and we’ve got the title track. But I buried the lead. Ten-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year and beloved industry veteran Missy Raines has released Highlander, her first traditional, banjo-driven album as a band leader. Her band Allegheny, which has been touring since last year, includes Ben Garnett on guitar, Eli Gilbert on banjo, Ellie Hakanson on fiddle, and Tristan Scroggins on mandolin. It’s a treat to play the opening cut “Listen To The Lonesome Wind.” Also this week, new stuff from Larry Stephenson and the Skaggs and Rice kind of duo Shawn Lane and Richard Bennett. Historic tracks come from Peter Rowan and Red Smiley.