bluegrass

The Infamous Stringdusters emerged out of Nashville’s world-class but somewhat undiscovered bluegrass scene of the 2000s. Six guys with different professional pathways into the music and wide ranging tastes in other genres got to know each other at gigs, picking parties, and the IBMA World of Bluegrass. And their first gesture as a band - the 2007 album Fork In The Road - was a triumph, winning three IBMA Awards. Since those days and after a couple of early personnel changes, today’s quintet has become a huge force in jamgrass music with a fierce and in-demand live show. Yet they turn back to some of the simpler and more blues-based elements of their core heritage on their new 20th anniversary release, 20/20.

He was an East Tennessee country guitar prodigy who was invited on the Grand Ole Opry at age 11 by Marty Stuart, and Trey Hensley has made good on that promise by emerging as one of the finest singers and pickers in contemporary roots music. His national profile took shape after forming a super-flexible duo with dobro master Rob Ickes around 2016. Now, after four albums, collaborations with Taj Mahal and a Grammy nomination, Hensley has revved up his songwriting and made Can’t Outrun The Blues, which is not his first solo album but the one he regards as his true artistic debut.

Just days after one of his storied shows at the Station Inn with some of the leading lights of bluegrass music, singer and songwriter Ronnie Bowman was killed in a motorcycle accident, leaving music-lovers and music-makers across Nashville and the national bluegrass community shocked and saddened. He died on Sunday afternoon at 64 years old.

The soundtrack to the Depression-era movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? came out in the final weeks of 2000 and was certified Platinum by February of 2001, making this the 25th anniversary of the year that the multi-artist masterpiece shook up country music and became the biggest boost for old-time folk, blues, and bluegrass in decades. With a recent Grand Ole Opry special celebration as a backdrop, Craig Havighurst revisits the album’s story, its songs, and its impact on American culture.

To say that a lot has happened since Molly Tuttle last appeared on The String in 2019 would be an understatement. She’s won two Grammy Awards and been nominated for two more. She won her first IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Award, to go along with her two groundbreaking Guitar Player trophies. But most important, she’s been through two entire stylistic swings in her musical vision and recording career. And she got engaged to Ketch Secor. So we cover a lot of ground in our latest conversation.

As the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys emerged as one of the most in-demand and important bluegrass bands of the past 10 years, its founding mandolinist C.J. Lewandowski didn’t focus only on the group’s art and career. C.J., now 38, became an avid collector and caretaker of music history, a board member of the International Bluegrass Music Association, and a record producer. All of those pursuits informed his latest project, a special one for the genre, because Keep On Keepin’ On is the final studio album by bluegrass Hall of Fame singer and mandolin player Bobby Osborne.

In a time when bluegrass is surging with young talent and mainstream dreams, Danny Burns and Shelby Means offer two profiles in making the string band business work in 2025. Burns is an Irish immigrant who brought his trad training and hearty work ethic from his native County Donegal. Even before releasing North Country in 2018, he’d made a name and reputation among roots music elites, and he shows his flair for cover songs on the new Southern Sky. Shelby Means played bass for Della Mae during their breakout years and became stylishly famous working with Molly Tuttle’s Golden Highway Band. When that came to an end this year, she had her debut solo album ready to go.

In Chattanooga, TN last week, Billy Strings wrapped up an intimate duo tour with guitar hero Bryan Sutton and launched another stretch of his ongoing mega-tour with his versatile jamgrass band. Amid that, he delivered a keynote address to the IBMA World of Bluegrass that solidified his position as a leader and an ambassador of the music’s core traditions. Craig Havighurst was there and has this analysis.

Arena-filling guitar star Billy Strings won his fourth Entertainer of the Year prize at the 36th annual IBMA Awards, which were held for the first time in Chattanooga, TN. While fiddlers Michael Cleveland and Jason Carter’s collaborative album took three trophies. Women enjoyed historic success in the night’s instrumentalist of the year categories.

After 12 years in Raleigh, NC, the International Bluegrass Music Association is moving its long-running World Of Bluegrass industry convention to the East Tennessee city of Chattanooga, where it will take over the convention center, music venues, and city parks between Sept. 16 and 20, just one week after Americanafest. Ask the IBMA, and they’ll say there are no big shifts or surprises in the structure and nature of the convention. It’s the same idea in a new town. Except there is a big new dynamic, and his name is Billy Strings.