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We have a cool breeze of artists coming in this week including brother/sister native Nashville duo Sibling Wars, husband and wife duo Golden Everything(pictured) and emerging indie Americana band Wily.

A bunch of experienced Kentucky-based bluegrass musicians who happened to be good friends (and vice versa) started getting together to jam on Thursdays during the Covid pause. So when they decided to put together a formal band, the name Throwdown Thursday came to mind. Newly signed to Mountain Fever Records, the group includes Kati Penn-Jenkins on fiddle and vocals, Justin Jenkins on banjo, Evan Maynard on mandolin and vocals, Ronald Mosley on guitar, Kyle Perkins on bass, and Austin Maynard on harmony vocals. We’re digging the much-loved and covered Shawn Camp and Billy Burnett song, “My Love Will Not Change,” a good showcase for Kati’s voice and fiddling. That arrives late in the show, but on the way, a block of music chosen by Amy (who hosts solo this week) features artists playing at the Mt. Airy, NC fiddle convention and contest. She was excited to see a new album out from the folk duo Mama’s Broke. And she brings New Orleans band The Clover Valley Boys to the Old Fashioned for the first time.

Nashville band Greenwood Rye has made some changes, adding fiddler Ruth Shumway for example, and moving their residency from the late Jane’s Hideaway (we miss it terribly!) to the downtown hotel venue called the Countrypolitan. Guitarist and singer Shawn Spencer started the group just as the pandemic eased up, and the band has been a staple on the local scene ever since with its stacked harmonies, tight instrumentation and creative mix of originals and covers (Taylor Swift night was always popular). We’ve played songs from their debut album Hideaway in the past, but this week, they bring a wacky and hard-driving new single, co-written by Spencer and Mason Via. Vince Herman and Vickie Vaughn also lend their voices to this literal barn burner of a song. Also this week, we’ve got the first single from the first-ever instrumental Punch Brothers album, a teaser from the Susto Stringband’s Vol. 2 album, and a brilliant new take on “East Virginia Blues” by the duo of Jed Clark and Nathan Beaumont.

Even with the draws of Nashville and Boston, some bluegrass and string band musicians choose to settle in New York City, where the folk boom of the 1950s never died. When I asked mandolinist Jacob Jolliff why he bases in the biggest city in the USA in a String interview this winter, he gave the same answer many artists do – New York has energy, variety and musicianship like nowhere else. That includes bluegrass standout Michael Daves, an astonishing old-school singer and guitar player. The two surprised us with the release of the new covers album We Like Jim And Jesse!, the most clearly articulated tribute concept ever. That’s how we kick off this week’s show, but we’ve also got a hot track from a new live album by Blue Highway celebrating 30 years of classic songs. And we feature several artists who made the Bluegrass Situation’s recent article “Ten Fiddlers We Know You’ll Love” by our pal Rachel Baiman. Amy Alvey is one of them!

Most virtuoso mandolin players don’t get to make friends with new audiences by the tens of thousands, but Jarrod Walker has done so touring for years with Billy Strings, from sold out arenas and the occasional broken ankle. Now Jarrod is rolling out a debut album. Called Nighthawk, it’s due May 8, and we’ve got the title track in this hour. Walker plays guitar and mandocello too, and he’s joined by Christian Ward (fiddle), Jake Stargel (guitar), Royal Masat (vocals, bass), Cory Walker (banjo), and Mr. Strings as well. We’re excited to hear this full project. Walker says: “I find that with trad bluegrass it’s best to keep things close to home or else you risk losing the essence of the song. I say that now, but ask me how I feel next year.” Also this hour, Sierra Hull goes neo-classical, Nashville banjo man Frank Evans drops a single from his upcoming solo LP, and Darin and Brooke Aldridge deliver upbeat new gospel.

A nice WMOT confluence happened this month around the emerging band Upstream Rebellion. Just as we heard their debut album Headwaters and picked their song “Lonesome Wind” for this week, our program director Jessie Scott independently booked the band for our April 11 WMOT event 895Fest. Which meant I got to find out in real time if the show measured up to the record, and friends, it was at least as good. The guys came together at Western Carolina University in way-out-there Cullowhee, NC, and their mission is specific: “our goal is to carry this tradition forward with heart, honesty, and high energy — creating spaces where everyone feels like part of the family.” Nice. They write original music and they play together really well, knowing their strengths and limits. They will only grow from here. Special notice for their group harmonies; they can really sing. We’ll keep listening. We spin new music from the Lonesome River Band, Thomm Jutz, Unspoken Tradition, and Rick Faris. Also this week, we mark our 200th show, not with any special feature or theme but with a lot of pride and excitement about the years ahead.

Last fall at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival I saw an early performance by a new trio made up of some of western North Carolina’s outstanding traditional musicians: Billy Cardine on dobro and slide instruments, Anya Hinkle on vocals and guitar, and Mary Lucey on vocals, upright bass, and clawhammer banjo. And at that moment I began to pine for an album we could play on The Old Fashioned. Well, it’s here, the self-titled debut of TANASI, pronounced TAH-nuh-see (even if I get that wrong in the broadcast), billed as a “worldgrass trio channeling global folk traditions through the drive, textures, and close harmonies of an Appalachian string band.” We’ve played a song or two before, but to celebrate the album’s May 8 release we spin “Sweetest Breeze.” Also this week, the title cut from the Steep Canyon Rangers’ new album, a new single featuring Billy Strings from Full Cord, a first-time artist here in North Carolina’s Redbud, and good ole good ‘uns from Jimmy Martin and Cliff Waldron.

Folk rocker John R. Miller can be dry and understated, but get beneath the surface and you’ll find an artist keen to write music that helps people be better people. Inspired by John Prine and others, the Nashville based West Virginian has earned widespread acclaim and released three albums for the prestigious Rounder Records, the latest being the sweeping and fiery The Great Unknowning. He spoke with Craig at his Madison home studio.