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Featuring Goldpine, Rachel Sage & Zach Russell.

John Leventhal is one of the quiet achievers of American roots music going back more than 30 years. Early on as a guitar player in his native New York City, he connected with Jim Lauderdale and Shawn Colvin, co-writing and producing their debut albums. He met his wife Rosanne Cash as they worked on the pivotal album The Wheel. He’s produced some epic albums since then for William Bell, Sarah Jarosz, and others, winning numerous Grammy and Americana awards in the process. At last, he lent his guitar and studio skills to making the solo debut album Rumble Strip. Rosanne is there for some duo vocals, but otherwise it’s warm and tuneful instrumentals that foreground some of the lovely textures and grooves that have been behind so many albums we’ve loved.

Featuring Coyote Motel, The Montvales & Stephanie Chapman.

Featuring Gwen Levy, Wandering Hearts & Rob Picott

Featuring The Coal Men, The Close & Amanda Cross

A few years ago I was talking to banjo player Kyle Tuttle at IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh and he was telling me about his vision for what I recall as some kind of world/rock/bluegrass fusion and I suggested calling it the “Monroehavishnu Orchestra” and that made him laugh. His new solo album Labor of Lust isn’t exactly John McLaughlin’s Inner Mounting Flame, but it’s an adventuresome bluegrass album spiked with enlightening ingredients and masterful picking. Kyle had a tremendous 2023 touring with Molly Tuttle’s Golden Highway (and landing another bluegrass album Grammy Award). He starts 2024 with his own statement, and we’re here for it. Also this week, new songs from Tray Wellington, Darren Nicholson and Daniel Ullom and a show debut from Chattanooga’s Randy Steele. Archival tape rolls with Lynn Morris, the Mississippi Sheiks, and the iconic Old and In The Way.

In just five years, including the pandemic shut-down, Nashville native Gabe Lee has grown from an unknown “hometown kid,” as one of his titles proclaims, to a debut last year on the Grand Ole Opry. Working independently with boutique Torrez Music Group, Lee has released four albums, earning the admiration of critics and a grassroots fan base that’s adding up to something special and sustainable. The most recent opus is Drink The River, which Lee took in a more acoustic and nuanced direction than his prior release, and which might be emerging as his career record.

Featuring Joyann Parker, Jake Ybarra & Sterling Drake.

Willie Nelson had 73 albums to his credit, but none of them had ever claimed to be bluegrass. At least none as boldly as his 74th, titled Bluegrass! The icon tracked a dozen of his own standards with a hot string band that includes Rob Ickes on dobro, Ron Block on banjo, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle and Barry Bales on bass. Buddy Cannon produced. And while the cover art doesn’t do the project any favors, it sounds great and Willie earned a Best Bluegrass Album nomination in the recent Grammy Award announcement. We get started this week with Woody Platt’s first single as a solo artist in his post Steep Canyon Rangers life, and he brings along Del McCoury. Also a newly released rarity – “Panama Red” from a 1973 concert from Sonoma State by Old and In The Way, just out on David Grisman’s Acoustic Disc label. Plus a double shot of Bruce Molsky.

That album we’ve been talking about and puzzling over – Cambium from Full Cord – finally arrived from Dark Shadow Recording, and they offer our leadoff track this week. The Grand Haven, MI band won the Telluride band contest in 2022 and the IBMA Momentum Band of the Year award this fall, so they’re off and running. They draw their band name and album title from the world of wood and timber and trees, and there’s woody tones to spare, along with some fine singing and original songwriting. Also this hour, German-born mandolinist Mark Stoffel (of Chris Jones and the Night Drivers) brings a hot and funky instrumental, while North Carolina’s Resonant Rogues, a great discovery by Amy, deliver a mournful and blue song from their new self-titled album. Historic tracks come from Rickey Wasson, Gillian Welch and the sometime duo of Dudley Connell and Don Rigsby.