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January 6 was the 100th birthday of Earl Scruggs, an event marked with a superb multi-artist concert at the Ryman Auditorium. Others are taking the centenary a few steps farther onto records and stages, and no one can do that for Earl with more thought and authority than Tony Trischka. We’ve been previewing his album Earl Jam for weeks, but now it’s here, a 15-song set inspired by a collection of home recordings from picking sessions by Earl and John Hartford that Trischka got hold of. With many top tier musicians and guests, it’s an inspiring and affectionate tribute. Also this week, a surprising new single from eccentric country soul artist Swamp Dogg, a superb cover of “Sixteen Tons” by Clay Hess, a take on The Band’s “Stage Fright” by fellow Canadians the Lonesome Ace String Band, and a call-in from Amy Alvey about her time at the Fire on the Mountain Festival in Wales.

Featuring Connor Daly, Grace Pettis & Emily Earle.

Featuring Monte Warden, Piper & The Hard Times and Sydney Sleadd

The conversation about Black influence on and presence in country music has been intense and restorative over the past decade, and nobody has a more authoritative or informed take on the subject than writer and scholar Alice Randall. She became the first Black woman to launch a career as a professional Music Row songwriter and publisher in the 1980s. She’s shared her incredible journey in her new memoir My Black Country, while a multi-artist collection of the same title features a dozen leading Black female voices in Americana singing her songs. Craig Havighurst visited Alice at her home to talk about it all.

Featuring Martha Spencer, Call Me Spinster & Madeleine Kelson

Thirty years into her late-blooming music career, Kim Richey feels like Americana music’s favorite aunt. She’s hip, youthful, incredibly kind and brimming with ideas and good words, much of which makes it into fresh songs. She’s been co-writing a good bit lately, with the likes of Don Henry, Ashley Campbell and Aaron Lee Tasjan. New work mingled with unrecorded catalog, hand-picked with producer Doug Lancio, led to her first new LP in six years, Every New Beginning.

Episode 292 of The String begins, as any introduction to Madeleine Peyroux should, with the story of Careless Love. Released in 2004, it became the pivotal album of her international career. Its fresh and beguiling blend of jazz, early blues, and country influences fell between the industry’s proverbial cracks, yet the album became a hit in a dozen countries, selling more than a half million copies (hard to do in the new digital age) for its roots-centered label Rounder Records. Peyroux’s voice and phrasing, with echoes of Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell, had more verve than the newly famous Norah Jones and more blues than Diana Krall. Her story was more remarkable than either.

Featuring Amy Speace, Mike Younger & Noel McKay

We open this week with historic tape from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival featuring its “house band” – Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, and Sam Bush – to note the imminent return of that peerless high-altitude festy this coming weekend. I realized the timing only after Amy and I inadvertently pulled four artists set to play this year, including Sierra Hull, Big Richard, Danny Paisley and the innovative duo of Larry & Joe. That’s banjo master Joe Troop of Che Appalache and Venezuelan harpist Larry Bellorín, who offer a preview of their upcoming album with the fiery “Runnin’ From The Weather.” Hope that’s not the case in Telluride! Also, new music from the Vestal Brothers, the Wood Box Heroes, and Stephen and Jana Mougin. Amy Alvey, still in Europe, pulled an epic new Twisted Pine track and built a set featuring all women string bands from across the decades.

In the fall of 2022, we were proud to have the duo of Mike Compton and Joe Newberry perform at the first Old Fashioned String Band Throwdown kicking off AmericanaFest, because they represent the heart of the acoustic roots tradition we seek to celebrate. Compton is an icon of Monroe-style mandolin and a true blues man from Mississippi who won awards with the Nashville Bluegrass Band. Newberry is a banjo player, guitarist and singer with an unerring feel for good time entertainment. They’ve been playing together for quite a few years with only one live album to their name. So we were thrilled to get word of a new album coming this fall, and the first single is here: “Cherry River Line.” We’ve also got new songs from Thomas Cassell and the Red Camel Collective. And Amy sent in an audio postcard and curated a set of music inspired by a festival she’s playing in Rotterdam.