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Featuring Danielia Cotton, Sam Morrow & Stephie James

Cris Jacobs has been tagged the “King of Baltimore rock and roll” by a leading local publication, but a quick look at his catalog and certainly his newest album suggests there's more. He made his name as a guitarist, songwriter and singer with The Bridge, a soulful jam band that toured the nation and overseas between 2000 and 2010. His solo projects have been well regarded, but he’s not been a force in Americana until recently. After a bit of a mid-life crisis, he turned to his first love - bluegrass - and pulled together a wonderful album called One Of These Days, with the Infamous Stringdusters as his band and Jerry Douglas as his producer. It landed Cris a debut on the Grand Ole Opry. How did he get here? We find out. Also in the hour, some of my recent catch-up with roots power couple Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams.

Featuring Heather Little, Lance Roark & Stephanie Sammons.

Featuring The Volcano Brothers, Crystal Rose & Alice Wallace.

Featuring Maya De Vitry, Muriel Anderson & Helena Hallberg.

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