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.

The Devil Makes Three has been one of roots music’s outstanding if quiet success stories of the past twenty years. Formed in Santa Cruz, CA in 2001, they got out ahead of the O Brother phenomenon and built a unique, crowd-pleasing sound through a renegade admixture of early blues, hard country and gospel. In this hour, founding singer and songwriter Pete Bernhard reflects on a career that’s surprised him and the joyful process behind the rather dark and candid album Spirits, their tenths as a band.

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.

In one of the big surprise stories in roots music of the past six months, Georgia-based Russell Moore was named the newest member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, taking over the male vocal and guitar role held by Dan Tyminski for years. Moore is on the upcoming album Arcadia and set to go on extensive tours in 2025 and ‘26. It’s a big move for this fan favorite. Moore got his start with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver in the 80s and then started his own band - IIIrd Tyme Out - in 1991. Since then he’s been perhaps the most awarded male voice in bluegrass. This is the story of how he launched and managed his impressive and influential career.

When I met lifelong musician Red Young on board Delbert McClinton’s Sandy Beaches Cruise, I knew I had to interview him. He’s had one of those journeyman’s careers that ties together all the threads of American music, from pop to R&B to jazz. He’s a pianist, Hammond organ specialist, singer, arranger and producer, and at 76 years old, he’s seen it all. He’s worked with Kinky Friedman, Joan Armatrading, Dolly Parton, Sonny & Cher, Linda Ronstadt, Eric Burdon of the Animals, Marcia Ball, Janiva Magness, and of course Delbert McClinton himself, whom he met in his home town of Fort Worth, TX some sixty years ago. Sit back and enjoy the stories.

It would be hard to name any songwriter in Nashville’s long history whose work has been recorded by more stars across more genres of music than Gary Nicholson. The Texas native came to Nashville in 1980 after stints in Ft. Worth and Los Angeles, and not only did he amass an impressive string of country music hits with Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, and more, he became Music City’s go-to soul and R&B man, conjuring songs for Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, BB King, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and even Ringo Starr. Now at 74 he’s turned his own performing/recording life to songs of conscience and social protest, as on his new album Common Sense.

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.

For country singer Kaitlin Butts, 2023 was very good and 2024 was even better, with an Americana Award nomination, praise in Rolling Stone magazine, and festival dates she’d been dreaming of. Her reputation and acclaim grew on the strength of her feisty stage temperament, her bold and cutting voice, and her fearless songs. Raised in Oklahoma on theater and country music, the iconic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical set in her state became a touchstone. Years later, she’d take the bold step of writing and recording a concept album reacting to and enlarging on the themes of the show. It’s called Roadrunner!, and it was among the most impactful albums in Americana and country music last year.

It was 50 years ago this month that a 23-year-old Mickey Raphael felt his way through his first recording session with his relatively new band boss Willie Nelson. And it was no small thing, producing the iconic Red Headed Stranger. It was one event in a charmed life that set this Dallas musician on a path to the ultimate steady gig for more than 50 years, plus stature as the world’s most on-call harmonica player. Raphael’s played and recorded with Merle Haggard, Leon Russell, Don Williams, Emmylou Harris, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Norah Jones, Wynton Marsalis, and even U2 and Motley Crue. In a session taped at WMOT’s East Nashville satellite studio, we talk about it all.

This one’s personal. Eight years ago, when we launched the Roots Radio format on the historic signal WMOT 89.5 FM, a few of us knew we could have no better program director than Jessie Scott, and we were fortunate that she was in the right time and place to come on board. Her 50 years of on-air experience, her expertise in Americana music, and her warm and knowledgeable voice have become the core of WMOT’s sound. She governs the deep and excellent WMOT playlist and its mix of new and legacy music, plus she’s a fountain of enthusiasm on the air every weekday afternoon from 4 to 7 pm. So after all this time and hearing some of her career stories, it was time to invite her on The String for a special year-end episode.