Anya Hinkle is one of the standout folk artists of the past few decades in Western North Carolina, making her own space and sound in the overlap of old Appalachian, singer-songwriter and bluegrass. I just saw her perform at Scruggs Fest with a trio she’s rolling out next year called Tanasi. But she’s also one of so many victims of Hurricane Helene, which slammed our beloved mountain region with incomprehensible rainfall and tropical storm winds, leaving countless victims of flooding, landslides and wind damage. We turn our attention to the region in this episode, and Hinkle’s “Hills of Swannanoa” already a favorite song of mine, hit really hard, so it’s part of a block of artists from the Asheville area. Hinkle herself is safe, but a 100-year-old tree fell on her house. There’s a lot to do. Please visit Blue Ridge Public Radio for updates and options for sending aid.

The bluegrass family was shocked in mid September to get the news that mandolinist and singer David Davis, leader of the Warrior River Boys, had died in a car crash at the age of 63. Inspired by Bill Monroe at an early age, he worked with band leader Gary Thurmond until Thurmond retired and handed the reins of the WRB over to Davis. He lived his whole life in his native Alabama, but he toured the nation and recorded for Rounder Records, including the must-own 2018 album Didn’t He Ramble, covering songs from the catalog of Charlie Poole. We offer Davis singing the classic “Blues Stay Away From Me.” Also this week, two exciting album releases: Rebecca Frazier leads off the show with “Hurricanes” from her new Boarding Windows In Paradise (unnervingly prescient given the news) and the first formal project by Mike Compton and Joe Newberry called Home In My Heart. Amy brought in new music from her duo Golden Shoals. And there’s a nice run of neo-old-time from Showman and Coole, Water Tower from LA and The Devil Makes Three.

It is so very good to see old-time and folk hero Jody Stecher so engaged and fruitful at age 78. The Brooklyn native and two-time Grammy nominee became an influence on a legion of roots heroes, including Jerry Jeff Walker and Jerry Garcia. Now he’s collaborating with Boston bluegrass band Mile Twelve, releasing two LPs in about a year. The newest is charmingly titled Instant Lonesome and The Twinkle Brigade and we’ve got a tune from that. From the bio: “The band is on fire, ignited by the spark of Jody’s impassioned singing and guitar. The format is recognizable as old-style blues-tinged, old-time flavored bluegrass but nothing here is generic or predictable.” Also this hour, Nashville’s Thunder And Rain, Rhonda Vincent, Willie Watson and Larry Cordle singing a Bob Seger song from a new bluegrass compilation.

I attended the Earl Scruggs Music Festival for the third straight year to conduct some on-stage interviews, take in favorites like Marty Stuart and the Earls of Leicester, and hopefully discover some new artists who’d sound good on The Old Fashioned. Well, mission accomplished with The Wilder Flower, a western NC trio featuring Danielle Yother on guitar, Madeline Dierauf on fiddle, and Molly Johnson on banjo that formed in 2020. Their soulful and harmonious take on Appalachian music suggests that the traditions of the region aren’t lost on younger generations, but we knew that. We play their recent single “Rambling.” I also saw Shadowgrass, a gang leaning forward in bluegrass, and their string jam cover of the Dead’s “Mr. Charlie” sounds great. Chris Jones brings a new single about American paranoia and conspiracy mongering to launch the show. Brenna MacMillan continues to tease her next recording with the single “Black Bear.” And we reach back to the 90s with the brothers McCoury.

For show #122 we lead off with Sister Sadie from the new multi-artist Bluegrass Sings Paxton album that’s finally out from Mountain Home. Artists including Alice Gerrard, Claire Lynch, Danny Paisley, and Tim O’Brien sing Tom Paxton songs, which have long found their way to bluegrass artists’ repertoires. The Sadie ladies offer perhaps his most famous, “Last Thing On My Mind.” Then we let the Earl Scruggs Festival inspire us for a block. From the Labor Day festivities in Rutherfordton, NC, we pulled tracks by artists the Earls of Leicester, Darrell Scott and his string band, The Steeldrivers, and young mando player Wyatt Ellis. Plus a bit of the immortal Flatt & Scruggs from their Carnegie Hall album, which the Earls and friends played at the festival in this year’s classic album hour. Also this show, blues from Jerron Paxton, new old time from Chris Coole, and a pretty folk anthem from Kentucky’s Sam Gleaves.

Losing fiddler Bobby Hicks on Aug. 16 at the age of 91 may have been the biggest passing in bluegrass music since last summer when Jesse McReynolds and Bobby Osborne died close together. Hicks, a Bluegrass Hall of Famer, is among the greatest fiddlers in the music’s history. He grew up in the 30s and 40s in Greensboro NC and won his first state fiddle championship at age 12. He became a Blue Grass Boy for Bill Monroe in 1953, and we can hear him in show #121 playing on the legendary “Wheel Hoss.” We hear from his time with the Bluegrass Album Band supergroup, and with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, a tenure that lasted from 1981 to 2004. He’ll be missed! Also this hour, new album releases from East Nashville’s Greenwood Rye, blues man Jontavious Willis, and labor-friendly songwriter Si Kahn.

The other musical Nashville is in Indiana, where for years a concert series called the Little Opry was a midwestern destination for fans and artists in country and bluegrass. Kim Robins was one of them. She grew up singing there and elsewhere, opening for major country stars and aiming for a music career. That paused for a time as she raised a daughter, but she’s back on the scene with a couple of IBMA Momentum Award nominations as encouragement. We play her new single, “Train Tracks and Trestles" from her upcoming project, Know Your Worth due out in early 2025. We’ve also got a new one from Nedski & Mojo as the guys tackle Buck Owens’s “Act Naturally” as well as a track from Rhonda Vincent’s new album. Amy Alvey sent in an audio postcard from Saskatchewan’s Northern Lights festival, with song choices inspired by same.

Aaron and Adam Bibelhauser are identical twin brothers from Kentucky who I hope we see touring and recording more widely in the years to come. They don’t sound like anyone else, and they have a knack for songs. Aaron is a respected bluegrass DJ and songwriter who’s got cuts with the Del McCoury Band, Dale Ann Bradley, and Michael Cleveland. Their new single, teasing an unnamed upcoming album, is by Nick Dittmeier however, and we kick off this week’s show with that. Also, a fresh new one from banjo player and singer-songwriter Gina Furtado and album drops from Norman Blake and Friends, the Honey Dewdrops, and Addie Levy, a Virginia native whom I just saw kill it at FloydFest. She’s living in Nashville now Amy Alvey informs me. Classic voices this hour include Maria Muldauer, Flatt & Scruggs, and Doc Watson.

Due to my travels to FloydFest, Amy Alvey flew solo this week and stacked up a remarkable journey that leans on old-time from the traditional to the experimental. Mandolinist Jacob Jolliff gets a double shot with cuts from his 2024 album Instrumentals, Vol. 2: Mandolin Mysteries. Jolliff has been making mysterious magic on his mando since growing up in Oregon, studying at the Berklee College of Music and joining the innovative string band Joy Kills Sorrow in the early 2000s. He’s won the Winfield, KS national mandolin championship, toured with Yonder Mountain String Band, and made some brilliant albums as a leader or featured artist. I can’t recommend his 2022 duo album with guitarist Grant Gordy enough. Also in the hour, more from Jack McKeon’s new album, a lovely instrumental by NC’s Andrew Marlin, a quirky, fabulous song by the band called Dug, and regional goodness from Los Texmaniacs and Jordan Thibodeaux.

In February, Amy Alvey and I had the pleasure of introducing two of the greatest traditional fiddlers in America as they launched into performing duo style in the charming, resonating central hall of the Violin Shop on Eighth Ave. South in Nashville. That’s Darol Anger, the inventive jazz and bluegrass musician whose career really got going with the David Grisman Quintet in the late 1970s. And Bruce Molsky is among the honored elders of old time music, with a long track record of recordings and collaborations, and in recent years he’s taught the tradition at the Berklee College of Music. The two have worked together before, but now there’s the new duo recording Lockdown Breakdown to savor, and we’ve featured the tune “Ain’t That Trouble In Mind.” And that’s not the only old-time influence fiddle record of this week, as we debut The Snake from Brittany Haas and Lena Jonsson. On the guitar side of things, I was inspired and excited upon discovering the solo fingerstyle music of Kentucky’s Nathan Salsburg. I hope you are too.