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Featuring Mac Leaphart, Avocado Sundae & The Deltaz.

It’s an immigrant story like no other. JesseLee Jones pined for something bigger growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He got glimpses of American music and a guitar, and with that a long journey began. After landing in the states, and getting robbed by the way, he found his way to a family in the midwest who took him in and helped him build a life. In the early 90s, destiny brought him to Nashville and a ramshackle honky tonk and boot store that he would help turn into Robert’s Western World, the pivotal and most famous honky tonk in Nashville. On the 25th anniversary of owning and running this legendary club, Jones tells his story, including the formation of his own long-running band, Brazilbilly.

Losing fiddler Bobby Hicks on Aug. 16 at the age of 91 may have been the biggest passing in bluegrass music since last summer when Jesse McReynolds and Bobby Osborne died close together. Hicks, a Bluegrass Hall of Famer, is among the greatest fiddlers in the music’s history. He grew up in the 30s and 40s in Greensboro NC and won his first state fiddle championship at age 12. He became a Blue Grass Boy for Bill Monroe in 1953, and we can hear him in show #121 playing on the legendary “Wheel Hoss.” We hear from his time with the Bluegrass Album Band supergroup, and with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, a tenure that lasted from 1981 to 2004. He’ll be missed! Also this hour, new album releases from East Nashville’s Greenwood Rye, blues man Jontavious Willis, and labor-friendly songwriter Si Kahn.

For show #122 we lead off with Sister Sadie from the new multi-artist Bluegrass Sings Paxton album that’s finally out from Mountain Home. Artists including Alice Gerrard, Claire Lynch, Danny Paisley, and Tim O’Brien sing Tom Paxton songs, which have long found their way to bluegrass artists’ repertoires. The Sadie ladies offer perhaps his most famous, “Last Thing On My Mind.” Then we let the Earl Scruggs Festival inspire us for a block. From the Labor Day festivities in Rutherfordton, NC, we pulled tracks by artists the Earls of Leicester, Darrell Scott and his string band, The Steeldrivers, and young mando player Wyatt Ellis. Plus a bit of the immortal Flatt & Scruggs from their Carnegie Hall album, which the Earls and friends played at the festival in this year’s classic album hour. Also this show, blues from Jerron Paxton, new old time from Chris Coole, and a pretty folk anthem from Kentucky’s Sam Gleaves.

I attended the Earl Scruggs Music Festival for the third straight year to conduct some on-stage interviews, take in favorites like Marty Stuart and the Earls of Leicester, and hopefully discover some new artists who’d sound good on The Old Fashioned. Well, mission accomplished with The Wilder Flower, a western NC trio featuring Danielle Yother on guitar, Madeline Dierauf on fiddle, and Molly Johnson on banjo that formed in 2020. Their soulful and harmonious take on Appalachian music suggests that the traditions of the region aren’t lost on younger generations, but we knew that. We play their recent single “Rambling.” I also saw Shadowgrass, a gang leaning forward in bluegrass, and their string jam cover of the Dead’s “Mr. Charlie” sounds great. Chris Jones brings a new single about American paranoia and conspiracy mongering to launch the show. Brenna MacMillan continues to tease her next recording with the single “Black Bear.” And we reach back to the 90s with the brothers McCoury.

Featuring Wesley Dean, Liv Greene & Rachel Cole

While it’s one of the great music cities in the world, the story of Memphis, TN is generally told as one about Elvis, BB King, Isaac Hayes, and possibly Justin Timberlake - artists from the history books or well on in their careers. Roots music fans might know more contemporary talents like songwriters Amy LaVere and John Paul Keith. Many others simmer along in that city’s bars and clubs, but one has to go there to get up to speed on the talent pool. Southern Avenue is different - a breakout band from Bluff City with national acclaim, a renowned record label, and a musical voice grounded in native soil and native soul. It’s the band today’s Memphis has needed.

Performances from New Mexico troubadour Max Gomez, acclaimed New Zealand-born Jackie Bristow (pictured), and Shooter Jennings band alum Ted Rusell Kamp.

In a new Q&A at the Bluegrass Situation, Ali Vance, lead singer of Nashville’s DownRiver Collective, reveals that she was named after Alison Krauss, who in turn became her greatest musical influence. Ali has a powerful and supple voice, not like Krauss, but that’s a good thing. It’s just part of the signature sound that has this five-piece making waves in acoustic music, including their IBMA Momentum Band Of The Year award last fall in Raleigh. We were excited to see the new single “Come On Back” from the band, with promises of a full-length album this year. Jesse Smathers lights up the room with a celebratory opening song this hour. We also feature new singles form Asheville’s The Wilder Flower, Chris Jones, and Seth Mulder. Amy Alvey phones in a set from the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown. Our historic cuts come from Tony Rice and JD Crowe.

After the breakup of the legendary and scene-shifting Carolina Chocolate Drops around 2015, Rhiannon Giddens spread her wings as an artist, making wide-ranging albums to universal acclaim and winning both a MacArthur Fellowship and a Pulitzer Prize. Her identity as an old-time fiddle and banjo player was set aside for a time, even as her thought leadership changed the national conversation around race and country music. This April however, she brought back the string band sound that launched the Drops with co-founding member Justin Robinson on fiddle, with their album What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow? It came out on the eve of her new Biscuits & Banjos festival in Durham, NC, where the CCD got their start, which included the first reunion concert in ages. I’ll have a longer report about that weekend soon, but for now, we celebrate that event and album with several tracks in this hour. Also, new singles from Appalachian Road Show, Aaron Burdett, and the Kody Norris Show.