Welcome to the June 2026 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)

• Craft Recordings Boone Creek reissue (preorder)
  • CD
  • LP
  • Download
• Gabe Witcher's Gig Ledger Pro app
• 51st Annual Father's Day Bluegrass Festival
• Marcel Ardans' Winfield Documentary
• Fly in Festival
• Often Herd tour dates

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• Punch Brothers play Star Wars

Other bits

• Full list of interviews
• Collings Guitars

Happy picking.

Matt

Support the show

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Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

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My guests on the podcast this week have an astonishing 24 Grammy awards between them and they represent two musical world I love - the first is bluegrass and string band music and the second is opera.

Renée Fleming and Béla Fleck join me to chat about their wonderful new collaboration The Fiddle and the Drum, a project which explores Renée's long-held love of American folk and Appalachian music. The album includes guest appearances from several musicians from in and around the string band world, including Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Aoife O'Donovan, Sierra Hull and Sarah Jarosz.

We chat about the role folk music played in Renée's upbringing, the similarities and differences between roots music and the classical world, how the record came together, why folk songs are so powerful and what it means to be an eclectic artist over the course of a long career (plus much more).

This was a wonderful conversation to get to be part of. Thanks to Renée and Béla for taking the time to chat and particular thanks to Collin Citron for helping make this happen.

You can find out more about the project and order copies of the record at reneefleming.com, along with info on live dates for The Fiddle and the Drum and the project Renée mentions, Music and the Mind

You'll find info on Béla at www.belafleck.com, including BEATrio and the collaborations with Toumani Diabaté, Zakir Hussain and Chick Corea mentioned in the episode.

Support the show

===

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Tim O'Brien and he joins me to chat about 'The Tim O'Brien Songbook', a handpicked selection of 40 of his songs, complete with notation, chords, Nashville number charts and thoughts from Tim on singing and songwriting.

We talk about Tim's journey from being an instrumentalist, to a singer, then a songwriter, and some of the key points along the way, as well as how he set about choosing the songs for the book. He shares his thoughts on co-writing and why songs don't always need an introduction, plus some insights into his process and what he's learned over several decades as one of the best loved singers and songwriters in the acoustic world.

You can buy the songbook (along with many of Tim's recordings) via Tim's website, where you'll also find tour dates and links to his social channels.

Support the show

===

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Sierra Hull and we're chatting about her instrumental project The Movements.

We talk about how the piece came about, as the result of a FreshGrass Concerto commission, how she approached writing the piece, with and for her current band (Avery Merritt, Erik Coveney, Mark Raudabaugh, and Shaun Richardson), and the challenges presented by releasing a project like this.

We also discuss how the piece has developed since it was first written and how she and the band incorporate it into their live shows, as well as what it was like going back into the studio to record live, filmed performances of the tracks.

It's a wonderful piece of music and, as always, it was a treat getting to chat with Sierra.

Find out more and order copies of The Movements at sierrahull.com

Check out Sierra's YouTube channel to watch live studio performances of The Movements

For more on FreshGrass you can hear Oli Chanoff talking about the FreshGrass commissions program and some of the wonderful music it's produced.

To hear my previous interviews with Sierra, check out these episodes:

• Sierra Hull - A Tiptoe High Wire (2025)
• Sierra Hull Interview (2023)
• Sierra Hull Returns (2024)

Support the show

===

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is John Reischman and we're talking about his fantastic record The Salish Sea, recorded with his band The Jaybirds.

We chat about the band's long history together and the journey behind this record, including the Freshgrass Concerto Commission that led to the title track. John also shares his memories of first meeting Tony Rice and how he came to play with The Tony Rice Unit in the 1980s, including recording the albums Still Inside and Backwaters.

You can find out more about John and buy copies of his records at www.johnreischman.com

Backwaters is now available as a remastered vinyl and download through Craft Recordings

Support the show

===

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest on the podcast this week is fiddle player Andy Leftwich and we're chatting about his new album Aced.

Andy talks about his love for instrumental music, including how hearing Mark O'Connor's The New Nashville Cats as a child inspired him. He also talks about contest fiddling and his 15 year stint with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, alongside Cody Kilby, who features on Aced as well as its predecessor The American Fiddler.

After a decade and a half with Ricky, Andy chose to step away from Kentucky Thunder to focus on music in the ministry. We talk about the role that plays in his life and the records he made during that period, as well as the project that eventually turned into The American Fiddler and how that then led to Aced.

For more on Andy, including details of how to buy any of the albums we discuss, head to andyleftwich.com

Support the show

===

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

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.

Podcast news

• Recent interview episodes
  • Apple
  • Spotify

News and Announcements (Church Street News)

• Todd Phillips fundraiser
• North Carolina Guitar Celebration
• Craft Recordings Tony Rice reissue

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Punch Brothers - New Bike video
• Jarrod Walker - Nighthawk
• I'm With Her - Sing Me Alive

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• Sierra Hull Movements videos
  • Movement 1
  • Movement 2

Support the show

===

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

In early April I got the chance to go and hang out at SoreFingers, the UK bluegrass and old time camp, for a night. I'd recently interviewed John Wirtz about Sore Fingers' 30 year history for the podcast (link below) and he invited me along to meet the staff and tutors, hang out and watch some music.

While I was there I got to interview Michael Daves and Tony Trischka (links to their episodes also below), but I also took the opportunity to wander round, mic in hand like a roving reporter, and just chat to people.

In this episode you'll hear from John Wirtz about Sore Fingers' recent venue move and how they're settling into their new home, as well as from other members of the team, including some of the people who facilitate the camp's wonderful scratch band programme.

I also talked to some of the tutors, including Tony Trischka, who's taught at Sore Fingers a couple of times before, and Michael Daves and Stephen Mougin, who were both first timers.

I couldn't miss the opportunity to chat to some students too, including Sore Fingers veterans and first timers.

For more info on Sore Fingers, check out www.sorefingers.co.uk

Here's my earlier interview with John Wirtz

Here are the interviews I did at Sore Fingers with Michael Daves and Tony Trischka

This is the Stephen Mougin episode on band coaching

You can find out more about Paul Armer via his Instagram

Support the show

===

Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts