The Shoats or the Wild Shoats, depending on which thing you read about them, formed in 2023 and then immediately won the Appalachian String Band Music Festival’s Neo-Traditional Band Competition that year. Now the quartet is out opening dates for bluegrass band Big Richard. The personnel is West VA natives Mary Linscheid and Alex Heflin, and Pennsylvanian brothers Gus and Huck Tritsch. They’ve just released their debut album called Yell In The Shoats, and we’re sure to be tapping it in the coming weeks. We start with one of my favorite versions of the old folk song “Moonshiner” I’ve ever heard. You’ll have to wait to the end of the show to hear it, because it’s that good. On the way, we salute Jason Carter on the news that he’s retiring from the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin’ McCourys. And we offer new tracks from Unspoken Tradition and Graham Sharp, plus the return of fiddling Rhiannon Giddens, in a new duet with Justin Robinson.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Noah G. Fowler is a welcome addition to the Nashville roots music scene. He’s a Pennsylvanian who’s performed at Americanafest, FloydFest, our beloved Jalopy Theater in New York, and of course good old Dee’s Lounge in Madison. What I’d heard of him was squarely in country territory, but on his new single “Stranger,” he calls in the banjo brigade for a sweet bluegrass track. We’ll be watching for updates in case a string band album may be in the works. Elsewhere this episode, we feature the newest from Becky Buller, her take on New Grass Revival’s “Reach” for an upcoming covers album. Wyatt Ellis partners with Peter Rowan for a two-sided single, and we offer up the Bill Monroe ripper “Memories Of You.” More new stuff comes from Dale Ann Bradley and Joe Mullins. And the historic bells get rung by Jimmy Martin, the Highwoods String Band, and the Coon Creek Girls.

We held 2024 over for one more week with this week’s broadcast, a catalog of the albums we thought had the most to say about bluegrass, old-time and traditional folk in the outgoing year. We enjoyed: Veteran Missy Raines trying a bold new sound with her band Allegheny; breakout years and records from rising stars Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and AJ Lee; a striking concept album from Tony Trischka and friends celebraring Earl Scruggs and John Hartford; neo-trad blues from Jerron Paxton and old-time from the Down Hill Strugglers, both from New York. Of course we’ve played music from these records all year but I realized there was one we had not, because it got play on WMOT at large, and that’s the collaboration of Aoife O’Donovan and Hawktail playing songs from Aoife’s All Of My Friends album. So we salute that impressive work of composing and execution and hope that they keep making music together; she’s the perfect voice for that instrumental band.

Friends, our holidays were lovely except for one thing. Our carefully hand-crafted Christmas/Happy Holidays edition of the Old Fashioned for 2024 was all cued up and ready to go, like a stocking hung by the fireplace. But we had a miscommunication, and the show, set for Dec. 21 and for Christmas Eve, didn’t air as scheduled. So we ran it on New Year’s Eve, and maybe you heard it! Anyway, this year’s music was all new and quite wonderful. The Rock Hearts delivered a new version of Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper.” The Osborne Brothers sang about University of Tennessee football in “Christmas Time On Rocky Top.” Our mandatory “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” came from none other than Dolly Parton. But I’d love to direct your attention to a song that would sound amazing any time of year, the new single “Don’t You Hear Jerusalem Moan” from Boston-based, Jewish-centric newgrass band Jacob’s Ladder. Their interpretive power and vocal harmonies on this one give me goosebumps every time I play it. There’s a magical video on YouTube. We’ll be watching for more from them.

I think we’re going to be hearing the name Max Wareham a lot more in 2025. I first heard of the Boston-based musician playing banjo in the Peter Rowan Band, and Amy Alvey told me he’s related to Peter through his dad, Peter’s cousin. Max is also an author, having released Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five String Banjo to much acclaim in 2022. It’s a deep dive into a musician who worked with Bill Monroe and who was an important influence on the players who knew him. In February, Max will release his debut album Daggomit! featuring Chris Eldridge and David Grier on guitar, Laura Orshaw on fiddle, Chris Henry on mandolin, Mike Bub on bass and Larry Atamanuik on snare drum, Peter Rowan producer. Here we lead off with his single “Hard Times Are Far Behind” whether that’s true or not. Also in the hour, show debuts from western folk singer Bar Jay Bar and South Carolina’s Retro 78. Historic tracks from North Carolina’s Blue Sky Boys and Bill Keith, who gets jazzy on his banjo.

“Last Time I Saw Him” is an interesting song that demonstrates how close soul and country music have always been, and now there’s a bluegrass angle. White songwriters from the Motown orbit Michael Masser and Pam Sawyer composed it, and it became the title track of Dianna Ross’s fifth album in 1973. Soon after it reached the Hot Soul top 20, Dottie West reached the country top ten with her cover. So I was charmed and impressed to hear a great new version with banjo backing by Red Camel Collective, the side project of the band that plays on the road with Junior Sisk, including lead singer and IBMA Momentum Award winner Heather Berry Mabe. She is joined on this single by the legendary Sharon White and Suzanne Cox. Also in the hour, singles from the Stillhouse Junkies, Jordan Tice, Danny Paisley, Jaelee Roberts and the Songs From The Road Band.