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Feature Brother & The Hayes, Cimarron 615 & Thunder and Rain.

Sierra Hull brings a measure of small-town delight and innocence to roots and bluegrass that perfectly compliments her innate gifts and her formal schooling in high level music-making. The mandolinist, songwriter, singer, and band leader has emerged, since her youthful debut in 2008, as a star of her field and an inspiring figure in Americana. Her four IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year awards are part of the story. But so is her composing, her collaborating and her records. The first in five years - and her first independent release - is A Tip Toe High Wire, coming March 7. This episode complements a bio-oriented show in 2018, emphasizing Hull’s recent work with Béla Fleck, Cory Wong and others, and of course the thought behind and production of her newest release.

This week Amy Alvey did all the work, curating and hosting while I was out of town for a week. All I had to do was enjoy her mix of old-time and bluegrass, which runs the gamut from Deford Bailey to a new track from classic Americana trio The Devil Makes Three. But I wanted to spotlight Riverbend, a traditional-leaning quintet from the St. Louis comprising Aaron Muskopf (guitar, vocals), Blake Korte (dobro, vocals), Andy Novara (mandolin, vocals), Will Miscall (bass, vocals), and Alex Riffle (banjo). We’ve played these fellows before, and here, they’re teasing their upcoming album No More Will I Ramble with the single “Sawdust,” about putting in hard days’ work and seeing too little come of it. Also in the hour, a twist on the old Little Sadie story from Michael Corleto, fiddle and banjo from George Jackson and Brad Kolodner, and a new single from Amy’s own duo Golden Shoals.

One corner of old-time music we make sure to touch on time to time is pre-war jazz and blues, giving us a chance to feature new Old Fashioned artists like The Pear Blossoms, who offer the new tune “Tonight I’m Thinking Of You.” Alexander Jones (of Texas) and Dayna Pirso (of Ontario, Canada) joined forces as a duo in 2022, and these days they’re keeping up a robust tour calendar across North America and overseas. They’ve just released the album Going To San Antone, Vol. 1, so there’s more bluesy goodness where this came from. Also this week, we offer the first singles from upcoming albums by Sierra Hull and Big Richard, some of the hard hitting women in the bluegrass field. And we have a block of cover tunes of major league stars by the likes of Jordan Tice, The Wooks and (back in the day) The Dillards.

I’ve heard Tyler Grant play the frets off a Telecaster through a vintage amp ripping up country songs, but I feel like his natural habitat is as one of our finest bluegrass guitar players. He won the big national championship in Winfield some years back, and he played on the road with folks like Abigail Washburn, the Drew Emmit Band and his own ensemble Grant Farm. His chops will be on display in late March when he releases his seventh album, aptly titled Flatpicker, and we’ve got the new single this week, a speedy, thought-provoking desert train song called “Goat Canyon Trestle.” Also this week, a tongue-twisting “Auctioneer” from the Kody Norris Show, a Tom T. Hall cover from Chris Jones, and a new single from now-solo artist Laura Orshaw. Plus, we tip our hat to the bluegrass side of the recently departed Melba Montgomery.

Peter Rowan has been an enthusiastic collaborator for his entire career, and his latest is a tribute to the generation-spanning power of bluegrass. He’s 82. Wyatt is 15. But the match is mystical on their recent two-sided single. We played the B-side, a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Memories of You” a few weeks ago, but we needed to move some furniture around to accommodate the six-minute lead song “The Winds Of Rowan County.” It started as one of Ellis’s accomplished instrumentals, inspired by Rowan’s induction into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. Rowan said he heard lyrics, and they collaborated on this epic song. It’s not a metaphorical A-side either but a 45-RPM vinyl special release with gorgeous graphic design that you can buy here. In another partnership this week, Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland offer a new John Hartford Cover. Plus we talk about Russell Moore of IIIrd Tyme Out stepping in for Dan Tyminski in Alison Krauss and Union Station on the upcoming tour, with her anticipated single, fresh and hot.

Adam Wright is one of the most thoughtful wordsmiths in the Nashville songwriting community, one who’s seen all sides of the Music Row machine. Working for a dozen years with Carnival Music, he’s carved a niche for himself, scoring a couple of Grammy Award nominations and landing cuts by Lee Ann Womack, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Brandy Clark and Bruce Robison, among others. When he sets aside time to write songs purely for himself as an artist, remarkable things happen, and now he’s releasing an epic 18-song collection called Nature Of Necessity, a masterwork that could only have been realized in Music City.

Featuring Brontë Fall, Sara Jean Kelley & Dylan Zangwill.

Sam Grisman, the 35-year-old son of mandolin icon David “Dawg” Grisman, grew up in a unique and supercharged musical environment, to put it mildly. Jerry Garcia was coming over all the time to the family home to pick and record old-time folk music with the elder Grisman. Bluegrass legends came and went, rehearsing and recording, and giving Sam something to aspire to when he picked up the bass as a little kid. After a decade working and touring as sideman, he’s now based in Nashville leading his own collective, the Sam Grisman Project, which is nurturing the repertoire of the Grisman/Garcia partnership, with selected tunes from the Grateful Dead repertoire as well. With a remarkable concert at the Ryman Auditorium in January 2025, Sam stepped into a new phase of his musical life.

Featuring Tai Shan, Ben Chapman & The Doohickeys