Bluegrass Jam Along Interviews

Welcome to this month’s Bluegrass Briefing, a monthly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.News and announcements - church street news Chris Thile’s AcousticampTony Trischka’s New York Banjo NightBruce and Darol’s Great Big Fiddle HangSore FingersRockygrassReleases (The Grass is New)Bryan Sutton/Billy Strings videoAlasdair Fraser & Natalie HaasTony Trischka Earl Jam 2 (preorder)Della MaeScroll on BuddyWillie Nelson (preorder)Other bitsFull list of interviewsCollings GuitarsHappy picking.Matt

My guest this week is sound engineer Dave Sinko, who returns to chat about The David Grisman Quintet.We've talked about that record a lot on the podcast, but this is less about the story behind the album and more about how it influenced Dave and informed the way he approaches recording. In his words 'it changed my life.'We chat about his subsequent work with members of the DGQ, including Grisman himself, and recording Tony Rice for a project with Alison Brown. We also discuss how that first DGQ record set the standard for what acoustic instruments could and should sound like, the contributions Bill Wolf and Bob Shumaker made to recording acoustic music and how Dave approaches miking instruments, based on what he learned from the first DGQ album, including on Chris Thile's latest Bach album, an extraordinary and challenging project to work on.I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

My guest this week is Tony Trischka, who returns to chat about the New York bluegrass scene in the early 1970s.New York and the surrounding area played a huge role in the development of bluegrass and in the genesis of what would become known as New Acoustic music. Tony talks about the early days of his career, including the bands Country Cooking and Breakfast Special and the overlap between that scene and the birth of Rounder Records. We also chat about some of the musicians who came out of the New York scene in the 1960s and 70s, including David Grisman, Andy Statman, Stacy Phillips, Russ Barenberg and Bela Fleck, and how those players began to collaborate with the musicians emerging from the San Francisco Bay Area and Nashville scenes.Tony also talks about his early solo albums, including Banjoland, Hill Country and (a personal favourite of mine) A Robot Plane Flies over Arkansas.It was, as always, a treat chatting with Tony. I hope you enjoy this one.If you missed the David Grisman Quintet episodes we mention, you'll find them here:Part 1 (Darol & Mike) - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/celebrating-50-years-of-the-david-grisman-quintet-part/id1556697198?i=1000711133817Part 2 (Todd) - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/celebrating-50-years-of-the-david-grisman-quintet-part/id1556697198?i=1000712407689Part 3 (David) - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/celebrating-50-years-of-the-david-grisman-quintet-part/id1556697198?i=1000713402530

My guest this week is Kristina R. Gaddy, who returns to chat about her new book, a collaboration with Rhiannon Giddens, called Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas for Fiddle and Banjo.The book picks up on the research Kristina did for her previous book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History (you can hear our conversation about that here). Crucially though, this volume doesn't just present a series of tunes as research pieces, it includes both banjo transcriptions and standard music notation, so people can play the music and give it a place in the current repertoire.We talk about why so little music was collected from black people in the Americas (fewer than 10 songs before 1861 were collected in the United States that we definitely know are from Black musicians); why these tunes were collected and how; how the way they were collected (and who did the collecting) shaped what was gathered and much more.As always, it was fascinating talking to Kristina.You can find out more about Go Back and Fetch It (and buy the book) via the University of North Carolina Press.For more on Kristina and updates on her research, follow her on Instagram and Substack

Welcome to this month’s Bluegrass Briefing, a monthly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.Pod newsHighlights from the first 500 episodesInspiration for Musicians episodeNews and announcements - church street news Dawg at 80 on NugsBilly Strings Tiny Desk ConcertNPR Tiny Desk ContestOld Settler’s Music FestivalReleases (The Grass is New)Sam Grisman ProjectCarolina Chocolate DropsAlasdair Fraser & Natalie HaasMichael Daves EPScroll on BuddyIs Bluegrass Too Fast?Other bitsFull list of interviewsCollings GuitarsHappy picking.Matt

If you were listening last week, you'll know that my interview with Trey Hensley about Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall was the 500th episode of Bluegrass Jam Along.To celebrate I thought I'd put together an episode with a few of my highlights and favourite moments from those first 500.You'll hear from:Alison Krauss, on two different car journeys with Tony RiceWyatt Rice, on recording Church Street BluesBryan Sutton, on the journey all musicians go onGabe Witcher, on leaving Punch BrothersBrittny Haas, on joining Punch BrothersChris Eldridge, on Bela Fleck's Drive albumBryan Sutton (again), on Doc Watson and his influenceSarah Jarosz, on her album Blue Heron SuiteSara Watkins, on I'm With Her's Wild and Clear and Blue and Mike Marshall, on playing with Tony Rice and what he learned from other musiciansThis journey has been a lot of fun and I can't wait to get stuck into the interviews I already have lined up for the next set of episodes.Thanks to all my guests and to all of you who've listened over the past four and a half years.If you want to hear a bit more about my journey with the podcast, check out this interview I did with Daniel Patrick from the Mandolins and Beer podcast.Finally, if you know anyone who you think would like this episode, please share it with them!Matt