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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.

Beyond his skills as a guitarist and singer, Clay Ross is what I like to call a Musical Instigator. Since heading to his current base in New York 20 years ago from his home town of Charleston, SC, he’s conceived and organized three brilliant groups that bring a new global consciousness to American roots music. First it was Matuto with its infusion of Brazilian melodies and rhythms. Then with old college-era friends from South Carolina he launched Ranky Tanky, a Grammy-winning outfit that reimagines African-American Gullah music for a world stage. His latest project is the American Patchwork Quartet, with members from three continents and a completely original way of updating classic folk songs. We go deep on his background and his approach to making creative space for diverse people to truly collaborate.

Featuring Madness & Melody, Brittany Ann Tranbaugh & Kenny P.

Lola Kirke got on America’s cultural radar as an actress - starring in the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle, along with roles in Gone Girl and Mistress America alongside Greta Gerwig. But during those years, she was also quietly nurturing her passion for songwriting and music - specifically country music. The pandemic brought her to Nashville where her album Lady for Sale was released by Third Man Records to great acclaim. Now she’s about to release the new EP Country Curious and make her debut on the Grand Ole Opry. She’s a bold, dynamic personality and this was a really fun conversation that bridges New York, Nashville and Hollywood.