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For twenty years, Duluth, MN troubadour Charlie Parr has been touring every corner of the nation, sleeping in his van and living lean, to bring his unique take on the country blues to the people. Reserved, cerebral and devoted entirely to his own vision, he’s one of our finest folk artists and a lyricist well worthy of a certain other Minnesota songwriter who so famously blended poetry and the blues. He took a new tack with his latest album on Smithsonian Folkways, tapping producer Tucker Martine and his studio friends for a contemplative and immersive album of ruminations, pictorials, and stories. For someone who’s not comfortable in interviews, he spent a convivial hour at my studio and left behind a remarkable conversation.

Banjo player Terry Baucom was everywhere that mattered in bluegrass in the late 20th century. In the 1970s, the North Carolina native co-founded Boone Creek with Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas, a band whose impact on the music was bigger than its two albums would suggest. In the 80s, the so-called “Duke of Drive” was an original and longstanding member of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. Then in the 1990s, he co-founded IIIrd Tyme Out with Russell Moore. That’s an astonishing track record. He passed away last December and when mandolinist Ashby Frank issued the single “Knee Deep In Bluegrass,” a Baucom tune as a tribute, we made a block around it with some key Terry Baucom performances. He will be missed. Also this week, a new Donna Ulisse album, an understated David Grier instrumental, and the great Black fiddler Earl White.

As we approached our 100th show, I got the goofy idea of festooning our 99th episode of The Old Fashioned with songs about Nines. After all, bluegrass seems to bring that number up often, starting with “Nine Pound Hammer,” so I pulled Tony Rice’s iconic version from the great Manzanita album. Then we were off to the races with the “Wreck Of The Old No. 9” by Doc and Merle Watson, a great version of “99 Year Blues” from the Rock Hearts and Amy’s pick, the hard driving band Hard Drive with “49 Cats in a Rain Barrell.” Because why not? There IS new music, from Thomas Cassell and Crandall Creek, plus a show-closing block of great banjo led bands featuring Cory Walker, Alan Munde, Jeremy Stevens and Kristin Scott Benson.

Look at us! 100 episodes of The Old Fashioned, done and dusted. And as we approached this self-congratulatory landmark and thought about how to mark it, we got struck by the idea of celebrating bluegrass and old-time in an even more focused way – by spinning selections from the GOATs of the string band genres – or at least one impulsive stab at the greatest of all time. We start of course with Bill Monroe and then we check out the first great fiddler of the Grand Ole Opry, Arthur Smith. Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers had to be here, as did Jimmy Martin and the Osborne Brothers. Amy pulled in Hazel and Alice, and Ola Belle Reed and John Hartford. I needed to play Bela Fleck’s “Whitewater” as a way to get into the era of bluegrass that seduced me. And we end with Ricky Skaggs, the dominant bluegrass patriarch of our time. Of course we missed other legends and another attempt at an hour of GOATs might look quite different. But that’s the beauty of it. We’re back next week with all the latest releases!

Live from Tennessee Brew Works in Nashville. Ana Lee celebrates The Local Brew Hour's 5th anniversary with performances from Sophie Gault, Golden Everything & The Tennessee Warblers.

It's taken decades for the nature and impact of Jerry Garcia’s formative years as a musician and band leader to emerge and become semi-common knowledge, because for many, his devotion to old-time string band and bluegrass music between 1961 and 1964 doesn’t square with the quantum jams he’d be leading just a few years later. But because of the Dead, we have jamgrass, a popular branch of the family tree where instrumental interplay coexists with preservation of classic songs. And at last, this connection is made, and this story is told, in a new museum exhibit set for a two-year run, Jerry Garcia – A Bluegrass Journey, at the Bluegrass Music Hall Of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, KY. Episode 280 of The String takes you there with sound and voices from its grand opening weekend in late March.

Greg Blake grew up in West “By God” Virginia and quietly assembled one of the most distinguished careers in today’s bluegrass scene. He proved his picking acumen by winning the Winfield Flatpicking Championship. He spent ten years with the progressive band Jeff Scroggins and Colorado. And for the past three years, he’s been the big lead voice in the iconic Chicago-based band Special Consensus, with whom he’s won or shared numerous awards. He’s also maintained a solo career as a songwriting recording artist, and we grabbed a semi-recent single to single him out with “Tennessee Rain.” Also this hour, the first new music in a while by superb guitarist and singer Rebecca Frazier and a new artist TOF premiere to kick things off as Kentucky’s Kenny D. Thacker sings of “Hillbilly Dreams.”

Carley Arrowood was a touring fiddle player before she was a band-leading artist, so we’re celebrating the release of her second album Colors with her crack fiddling in the original tune “Molasses Ridge.” Young and ready for her time in the spotlight, Arrowood is a western NC native who did five years pulling the bow for Darin & Brooke Aldridge before throwing her mix of musicianship, singing and songwriting into 2022’s debut Goin’Home Comin’ On. Meanwhile she’s won IBMA Momentum Awards for her fiddling and singing. Watch for her on the charts and on the road. We’ve got more albums dropping as well, from Cris Jacobs, Adam McIntosh, and Authentic Unlimited. What a year so far. Bask as well in historic tracks from the Bluegrass Album Band, Cajun fiddler Luderin Darbone, Doc Watson, and the iconic Jim & Jesse.

Becky Buller grew up in a bluegrass-picking family in the midwestern environs of Minnesota, and over the past decade, she’s built on that base to become a beloved leader in the genre. As far as I can tell, she’s the only artist to ever win IBMA Awards as an instrumentalist (fiddle), vocalist and songwriter. Now she’s taken on her most ambitious and vulnerable act of songcraft yet, composing a concept album about her long battle with depression. The album Jubilee comes out May 17, and we preview it again this week with the single “Alone.” New music also comes this week from Liam Purcell and Cane Mill Road and the duo Brand New Box Of Matches, making their Old Fashioned debut.

Featuring Judy Paster, Nicolette & The Nobodies & Imogen Clark.