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Our opening theme this week tips our hat to the western swing side of fiddle music with a 1940s track called “My Life’s Been A Pleasure,” while our official first song is Sturgill Simpson’s bluegrass take on his song “Life Ain’t Fair And The World Is Mean.” We hope you personally feel more like the former than the latter, but then bluegrass is famous for taking the tragic and making it sound downright pleasant. Also in this hour of happy, we hear back-to-back tracks form the perfectly paired Honey Dewdrops, the husband and wife duo from Virginia, an old favorite plus “Heart Wants” from the brand new, guitar-forward album Light Behind Light. Multi-instrumentalist Andy Leftwich plays fiddle and mandolin on his new single “Kimper County.” The wonderfully named Swamperella updates the world’s first Cajun hit. And our throwback artists include Flatt & Scruggs and Michael Cleveland.

When Jim Miller died in March, it was mostly reported as a sudden tragedy affecting his beloved Americana/country band Western Centuries. But friend of trad music Devon Leger pointed out in a lovely tribute that Miller had an extensive resume in old-time and bluegrass as well. So in TOF #16, we devote a set to rare sides featuring Jim as guitarist and singer. His voice on “Little Satchel” with Louisiana’s Dirk Powell is fantastic, as is Ginny Hawker’s mournful “The Back Of Your Hand,” with Jim on harmony. We kick off with Peter Rowan covering Woody Guthrie from his fine new album. And we treat you and ourselves to heart-rending historic bluegrass from Keith Whitley.

Around WMOT we’ve started thinking about an important 50th anniversary that you may not have considered yet. 1972 saw the release of Will The Circle Be Unbroken, the epic 3-LP set of collaborative classic country and bluegrass made by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a cast of Nashville greats, including Earl Scruggs and Mother Maybelle Carter. We’ll be visiting that album as part of WMOT’s coverage of this important landmark, because it was a galvanizing event that brought traditional roots music back in vogue and set the template for the Americana movement. That’s how we continue to get great new music every week, including this show’s singles from Asheville band Unspoken Tradition, Volume Five and Tina Adair. We also hear old time from Sophie Mae Wellington and Amy’s band Tune Hash. Plus the Punch Brothers’ take on the old Jimmie Rodgers number “Any Old Time.” Take the time to listen. You’ll love it.

It’s the old lesson from economics - that something scarce becomes more valuable. And after September, Robert Earl Keen shows will be fewer and farther between. The iconic songwriter and alt-country showman told his fans in January that this year’s ongoing I’m Comin’ Home Tour will be his last. One of those sold-out shows will soon take place in Nashville, July 9, at the Ryman Auditorium.

We’ve proudly featured the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys recently as an exemplar of the old bluegrass ways playing out by young artists on a modern stage, but they’re not the only band sporting flamboyant vintage stage wear and a close-knit, hard-boned bluegrass sound. And that’s why we kick show #10 off with the new single from the Kody Norris Show out of East Tennessee.

When we think about the youth brigade in bluegrass and traditional music, we have to think about hyper-talented and hyper-enthusiastic Mason Via who recently moved from rural North Carolina to Nashville, where he became the newest and youngest member of Old Crow Medicine Show. Mason’s been the subject of much buzz for years in folkie circles and in episode #11 you can hear his single “Gettin’ Gone,” which he says is connected to the vibe of Jack Kerouac. Also very new is “How It Ends” from the album Narrow Line by the Halifax, Nova Scotia duo of Lisa Maria and Amy Lou Keeler. We’re way into their haunting and personal spin on old-time. From the classic past you’ll hear John Hartford and Reno & Smiley. And we kick it all off with Theo and Brenna bluegrass-ifying a girl group classic from the 60s.

Tray Wellington’s debut album Black Banjo has been one of the most anticipated releases of 2022, so we’ve got two tracks for you, the instrumental “Georgia Turnaround” and the vocal number “Wasted Time,” with a cool swing feel and guest singer Tim O’Brien. Tray can pick it in the old Earl Scruggs style but he’s also an adept jazz man who’s covered Sonny Rollins among others. Another artist we pulled out for a two-fer is old-time icon Bruce Molsky. You’ll hear him in his established fiddle mode with his band the Mountain Drifters as well as on a new solo guitar album, a first for him. And speaking of great fiddlers, we tap the new album by Mr. Sun, featuring the eclectic star Darol Anger. We’ve got new singles from oncoming band Stillhouse Junkies out of Colorado and the hard driving Alex Leach Band. Plus timeless tracks from Kathy Mattea and Tony Rice with Herb Pederson and Chris Hillman.

You’ll learn a bit about Round Peak fiddling in this episode, which we produced on the eve of the Mt. Airy, NC Bluegrass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention in the region where the style comes from. Amy suggested tunes by Tommy Jarrell, Benton Flippen, The Alum Ridge Boys with Ashlee and the New Ballard Bogtrotters. (Again with those great old time band names.) Craig’s opening bluegrass set kicks off with brand new music by friends and collaborators Justin Hiltner and Jon Weisberger, because they’ve just released an album of inclusive bluegrass gospel. Chris Jones celebrates his sixth number one bluegrass hit from the same album. Aaron Burdett from western NC offers his new single. And we throw back with Harry Choates and the perfect duo of Peter Rowan and Tony Rice.

The conversation in Episode 211 of The String concentrates on two albums released more than forty years apart and the artist who made a great deal happen for the American fiddle in the years between. Darol Anger is the cat in question, a composer, player and improviser who has obliterated the distinction between the fiddle and violin with insightful fusions of bluegrass, classical chamber music and jazz. His influence on roots music fiddlers under fifty would be hard to overstate, because of his far-reaching ideas about technique and his warm and youthful enthusiasm as a teacher and about music in general.

Monoflora, the fourth album from Asheville, NC quartet River Whyless draws on the musical values that have made them cult favorites since 2012 - complex harmonies, layered textures and worldly grooves, while letting their folk influences flourish as well. This conversation reveals an especially deep bond of friendship that's endured creative tensions to produce ultimately exceptionally enthralling music.