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Due to my travels to FloydFest, Amy Alvey flew solo this week and stacked up a remarkable journey that leans on old-time from the traditional to the experimental. Mandolinist Jacob Jolliff gets a double shot with cuts from his 2024 album Instrumentals, Vol. 2: Mandolin Mysteries. Jolliff has been making mysterious magic on his mando since growing up in Oregon, studying at the Berklee College of Music and joining the innovative string band Joy Kills Sorrow in the early 2000s. He’s won the Winfield, KS national mandolin championship, toured with Yonder Mountain String Band, and made some brilliant albums as a leader or featured artist. I can’t recommend his 2022 duo album with guitarist Grant Gordy enough. Also in the hour, more from Jack McKeon’s new album, a lovely instrumental by NC’s Andrew Marlin, a quirky, fabulous song by the band called Dug, and regional goodness from Los Texmaniacs and Jordan Thibodeaux.

Aaron and Adam Bibelhauser are identical twin brothers from Kentucky who I hope we see touring and recording more widely in the years to come. They don’t sound like anyone else, and they have a knack for songs. Aaron is a respected bluegrass DJ and songwriter who’s got cuts with the Del McCoury Band, Dale Ann Bradley, and Michael Cleveland. Their new single, teasing an unnamed upcoming album, is by Nick Dittmeier however, and we kick off this week’s show with that. Also, a fresh new one from banjo player and singer-songwriter Gina Furtado and album drops from Norman Blake and Friends, the Honey Dewdrops, and Addie Levy, a Virginia native whom I just saw kill it at FloydFest. She’s living in Nashville now Amy Alvey informs me. Classic voices this hour include Maria Muldauer, Flatt & Scruggs, and Doc Watson.

The other musical Nashville is in Indiana, where for years a concert series called the Little Opry was a midwestern destination for fans and artists in country and bluegrass. Kim Robins was one of them. She grew up singing there and elsewhere, opening for major country stars and aiming for a music career. That paused for a time as she raised a daughter, but she’s back on the scene with a couple of IBMA Momentum Award nominations as encouragement. We play her new single, “Train Tracks and Trestles" from her upcoming project, Know Your Worth due out in early 2025. We’ve also got a new one from Nedski & Mojo as the guys tackle Buck Owens’s “Act Naturally” as well as a track from Rhonda Vincent’s new album. Amy Alvey sent in an audio postcard from Saskatchewan’s Northern Lights festival, with song choices inspired by same.

The big news this week was the return of Amy Alvey from almost eight weeks away, most of it touring Europe and the UK, plus a deserved vacation in Greece. Good to be back in the studio together! But also new is another special album from Durham, NC-based folk interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell. When I’m Called came out July 12 and it gets more elaborate in its production than his past efforts with ringer guests including singer Joan Shelley and guitarist Blake Mills. Jake’s approach to old songs is subtle and may ask close attention and repeated listening, but I assure you it’s worth it. We’re honored to feature the standard “One Morning In May” in our final block. Also this week, another cut from the major new release by AJ Lee & Blue Summit, the charming NY mandolinist Alan Epstein, and tracks from the two newest Bluegrass Hall of Famers, Alan Munde and Jerry Douglas.

Formed in Dallas in 1992, Old 97’s became one of the seminal bands of the alternative country movement, alongside Whiskeytown, Son Volt, the Bottle Rockets and BR549. At its heart was the longtime friendship of bass player Murry Hammond and guitarist/songwriter Rhett Miller. Remarkably, across 13 albums and millions of miles, Old 97’s remains the same quartet that broke out on Bloodshot Records three decades ago. They’re still having fun and keeping company with their large base of lifelong fans. Craig made a field trip to Lexington, KY this summer to catch a show and sit down with Miller to talk about the long road and the newest album American Primitive.

With Americanafest landing in Nashville this week, Craig Havighurst looked over the many artists breaking out of Music City and got especially excited about Baltic Street Hotel by rocking songwriter Sophie Gault. It’ll be released this Friday, but Craig’s been listening for a few weeks and finds it rich with personal details, sharp melodies, and an old school Americana spirit that evokes Lucinda Williams or Kathleen Edwards. The show features exclusive teasers of several songs from this LP, produced by Ray Kennedy at his request. Also in the hour, a rising star of acoustic Americana, 15-year-old mandolinist Wyatt Ellis, who recently released his solo debut with guest turns by some of today’s best mandolin players, including Marty Stuart.

Featuring Liza Lo, Appalachian Road Show(pictured) & Colton Bowlin.

He was an East Tennessee country guitar prodigy who was invited on the Grand Ole Opry at age 11 by Marty Stuart, and Trey Hensley has made good on that promise by emerging as one of the finest singers and pickers in contemporary roots music. His national profile took shape after forming a super-flexible duo with dobro master Rob Ickes around 2016. Now, after four albums, collaborations with Taj Mahal and a Grammy nomination, Hensley has revved up his songwriting and made Can’t Outrun The Blues, which is not his first solo album but the one he regards as his true artistic debut.

Kristina Train is a singer and songwriter who should be on more people’s radar. Her remarkable resume was built in the jazz world (Blue Note Records and touring with Herbie Hancock), but the Savannah, GA native has always shown a seductive strain of country soul. That goes explicit on the powerful yet subtle 2025 album County Line. Craig speaks with Train about her critically acclaimed albums of the 2010s and her decade or so as a Nashvillian.

Featuring Mic Harrison, Mark Erelli & Connor Daly.