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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.

Since breaking out with his 1989 major-label album How Did You Find Me Here, North Carolina’s David Wilcox has been a consistently excellent practitioner of the new folk, fingerstyle guitar arts. The songwriter, known for his empathic writing and audience-embracing shows, is now 67 and still thinking deep thoughts about the world, compassion, art, and the arc of life. He stopped through Nashville last November to talk about maintaining a “visionary attitude” over time and his latest album The Way I Tell The Story.

Featuring Mike Miz, Tim Easton & Meels.

I’m reading the new biography Doc Watson: A Life In Music by Eddie Huffman, and it’s such a pleasure to get a close-up, beat-by-beat, account of Doc’s heroic, era-shaping career. As much as I’ve studied his music and read many liner notes (I even got to interview him once), there are details that only a devoted researcher could elucidate, and Eddie does a wonderful job. One of the areas he’s broken the most ground in is the dynamic between Doc and his son Merle, who truly comes alive in this chronicle. With that, I point you to Doc and Merle’s version of the Delmore Brothers song “Brown’s Ferry Blues” from the 1971 album On Stage. Also this week, new music from the Burnett Sisters, Andy Leftwich, and Oakland mandolinist Jesse Appelman from his new LP Where We Go. By the way I mis-speak in the episode in crediting the song Anna Lee. It was cut by Levon Helm, as I note, but it was written by NC’s great Laurelyn Dossett. I regret the error.

Della Mae has been on a heck of a journey since Boston fiddler Kimber Ludiker assembled a band of women to play bluegrass that shreds and defies limits in 2010. The cool thing is that their freshly rebuilt website acknowledges this with a crisp account of the band’s phases and stages – getting signed by Rounder Records, the global touring by way of the U.S. State Department, the IBMA Awards. Now, they say “Della Mae can boast their strongest lineup yet. Founders Kimber Ludiker and Celia Woodsmith are joined by guitarist and songwriter Avril Smith and vocalist and two-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year Vickie Vaughn.” And they’re coming in hot on Jan. 23 with their newest album Magic Accident, which “explores the complexity of being human and the drive to seize joy and possibility amid the sheer improbability of being here at all.” We spin the single “Family Tree” to launch this episode. Also, a special song cycle album from Valerie Smith and I play a batch of 1980s and 90s bluegrass I picked up over the holidays on CD at Nashville’s used record stores.

I wasn’t able to attend the recent Ryman Auditorium show featuring the Sam Grisman Project with Peter Rowan and special guests, but I went to last year’s debut of this important acoustic and bluegrass collaboration, and it was spectacular. David Grisman’s son Sam has come into his own as a leader, as I documented last year on The String. So imagine our surprise when he dropped a mighty 20-song double album just before Christmas. Working with banjo player Victor Furtado, mandolinist Dominic Leslie, and singer Logan Ledger, among others, Grisman steers with a steady hand through a rich mix of American songs. The sound is easy and natural. It’s a major statement, so we launch this show with two tracks, with more to come. Also this week, new music from LA’s Kenny Feinstein, Arkansas traveler Melissa Carper, and Nashville’s George Jackson. That last one? It's a little weird and we love it. Also, we say a sad farewell to banjo master Gabe Hirshfeld, who passed away too young.

Featuring Brit Taylor, Whitney Fenimore & EG Kight.