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=1000711133817

Part 2 (Todd) - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/celebrating-50-years-of-the-david-grisman-quintet-part/id1556697198?i=1000712407689

Part 3 (David) - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/celebrating-50-years-of-the-david-grisman-quintet-part/id1556697198?i=1000713402530

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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

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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 news

• Highlights from the first 500 episodes
• Inspiration for Musicians episode

News and announcements - church street news

• Dawg at 80 on Nugs
• Billy Strings Tiny Desk Concert
• NPR Tiny Desk Contest
• Old Settler’s Music Festival

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Sam Grisman Project
• Carolina Chocolate Drops
• Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
• Michael Daves EP

Scroll on Buddy

• Is Bluegrass Too Fast?

Other bits

• Full list of interviews
• Collings Guitars

Happy picking.

Matt

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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 Rice
• Wyatt Rice, on recording Church Street Blues
• Bryan Sutton, on the journey all musicians go on
• Gabe Witcher, on leaving Punch Brothers
• Brittny Haas, on joining Punch Brothers
• Chris Eldridge, on Bela Fleck's Drive album
• Bryan Sutton (again), on Doc Watson and his influence
• Sarah Jarosz, on her album Blue Heron Suite
• Sara 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 musicians

This 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

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Welcome to the 500th episode of Bluegrass Jam Along!

My guest this week is Trey Hensley, who joins me to celebrate the very first record he bought - Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall.

This historic album was a pivotal moment for bluegrass and also served as a personal intro to the music for many fans.

We chat about why Flatt & Scruggs' performance at Carnegie Hall, on December, 1962 was groundbreaking, the initial skepticism from the press, the audience's enthusiastic reception and some of the famous (and soon to be famous) face in the crowd on the night.

We also talk about the pivotal role Lousie Scruggs had, not just in getting this performance recorded, but in putting Flatt and Scruggs (and bluegrass music) in front of a new, younger audience.

This one was a real treat!

For more info on Trey check out www.treyhensley.com

===

If you're a Flatt and Scruggs fan and missed the Earl Scruggs 100th birthday episodes I put together last year (including Trey as a guest!) you'll find them here:

Earl Scruggs 100th Birthday Tribute:

• Part 1 - Tony Trischka, Kristin Scott Benson and Alan Munde
• Part 2 - Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown and Tim O'Brien
• Part 3 - Trey Hensley, Kyle Tuttle (Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway) & Willow Osborne
• Jim Mills on Earl Scruggs and pre-War Gibson banjos
• Jerry Douglas celebrates Earl Scruggs' 100th Birthday

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This week's Bitesize episode celebrates one of the most important dates in bluegrass music - December 8th.

The main reason this date is so important is that it marks the first time Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe at The Opry, on December 8th 1945, leading many people to describe it as 'the birth of bluegrass'. That makes 2025 the 80th anniversary of bluegrass!

Fast forward to December 8th 1962 and we have another Flatt and Scruggs milestone - their performance at New York's Carnegie Hall, which was released the year after as Flatt and Scruggs Live at Carnegie Hall, a record that went on to become a firm favourite of bluegrass fans the world over.

To celebrate that record, I'll be joined by Trey Hensley in the next episode of the podcast...which is also Bluegrass Jam Along's 500th episode!

If you missed the Earl Scruggs 100th birthday episodes I put together last year, you'll find them here:

Jerry Douglas celebrates Earl Scruggs' 100th Birthday

Earl Scruggs 100th Birthday Tribute:

Part 1 - Tony Trischka, Kristin Scott Benson and Alan Munde

Part 2 - Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown and Tim O'Brien

Jim Mills on Earl Scruggs and pre-War Gibson banjos

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

• European Bluegrass Summit registration
• Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live - vinyl reissue
• Bela Fleck Jingle All the Way tour dates and vinyl reissue
• IBMA Webinar
• -- Thursday, December 4, from 12-1PM EST
• -- From the Table to the DSPs and Back Again: How To Make Money Without Selling Recordings
• -- Zoom link to join

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Hildaland (Bandcamp)
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist (Spotify)

Scroll on Buddy

• Béla Fleck's My Bluegrass Heart & Punch Brothers - Holiday Medley (live)
• Watch

Other bits

• The Grass is (mostly) New 2025 playlist
• Full list of interviews
• Collings Guitars

Happy picking.

Matt

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My guest this week is David Grier, who joins me to celebrate the classic album 'The White Brothers - Live in Sweden' (recently remastered and reissued in an expanded form as 'The New Kentucky Colonels - Live in Sweden').

We talk about what makes this recording special, including the fact it was recorded live and never intended for release, and why Clarence and Roland had such a unique approach to music, particularly when it comes to their joint sense of timing.

David also shares his thoughts about why bluegrass picking should be about more than just playing licks over chords and why true artistry often gets lost, as well as calling out some of the current players he loves.

This was a fascinating conversation that started as a celebration of a classic album but widened out to being about what making music is really all about.

If you want to hear my previous interview with David, which came from a two episode special to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Clarence White's death, you'll find it here.

To buy the reissued CD, and for lots more info on Clarence and Roland, visit rolandwhite.com

Don't forget to check out www.davidgrier.com for more info on David and to buy his CDs.

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