This week we feature banjo player Jim Mills. We are calling December 2022 banjo month since Earl Scruggs is on our cover and we feel fortunate to have the opportunity to talk about Earl with some of the best Scruggs style players in the country this month. We are going to kick it off this week talking with Jim about his career in bluegrass, Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe, and his vintage Gibson banjo business.
This week we feature guitar player and band leader Jon Stickley. Jon and banjo player Andy Thorn met in high school and performed in a number of bands together prior to Jon joining the Biscuit Burners and then later forming his own band the Jon Stickley Trio. We talk to Jon about his career in music and you’ll hear a few cuts from the Jon Stickley Trio.
This week we feature mandolin player Joe K. Walsh. Our November issue features an article about Darol Anger and Joe is currently in a band with Darol. We’ll talk with Joe about that band, his early career performing with the Gibson Brothers, his teaching position at the Berklee College of Music and his new solo album. You’ll also get a chance to hear some cuts off of that album.
This week we feature John Carlini. John was involved with the original David Grisman Quintet, as its musical director, and from that time forward he continued a close relationship with Tony Rice. Although known primarily as a guitar player, John is also a skilled banjo player and was close with legendary fiddler Tex Logan, who he considers his bluegrass mentor. In this podcast we talk with John about his long, varied and vast career in music.
This week we feature bass player and vocalist John Cowan. John, along with Sam Bush, was a member of both configurations of the New Grass Revival. We talk with John about his New Grass days and also about all of the many musical endeavors he has been involved with post-New Grass Revival.
As our podcast listeners will know, we produce a new podcast every week, but on occasion we will put out a special podcast in addition to our weekly offering. This is one of those special occasions because our October 2022 issue was a tribute to Keith Whitley and after that issue came out our friend, radio host Orin Friesen, sent us an interview that he had conducted with Keith back in October of 1984. If you enjoyed our Keith Whitley tribute issue, here is Keith himself telling his story to Orin Friesen. We thank Orin for providing this special edition of the Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine Podcast.
This week we feature Curtis Burch, one of the founding members of the New Grass Revival. Curtis and I talk about his early days in bluegrass music and his time spent working with our November 2022 cover story artist Sam Bush in the New Grass Revival.
This week we are featuring Ron Thomason, founding member of the Dry Branch Fire Squad. In our October 2022 issue we reviewed a new DVD titled Bluegrass Court Jester: Ron Thomason—An Unusual History of Bluegrass Music. In this podcast we talk with Ron about his career in bluegrass and the new video project.
This week we feature bass player Steve Bryant, who played music with Keith Whitley in J.D. Crowe’s band in the late 1970s and early 80s. Steve remembers his time performing and recording with Keith and talks to us about his years as a studio musician in Nashville and his current project teaching bass lessons online.
This week we feature bass player Mike Gregory. The October 2022 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine celebrates the bluegrass career of Keith Whitley and in this podcast Mike remembers his time playing music with Keith as a member of J.D. Crowe’s band in the late 1970s.
This week we feature banjo player Max Wareham. Max is the banjo player for Peter Rowan’s band and he has just published a new instructional book for banjo titled Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five String Banjo, which we reviewed in the October 2022 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. After talking with Max about his background with the banjo, we talk about the details of Rudy Lyle’s life and banjo playing that are presented in the book.
This week we feature Kenny and Amanda Smith. We talk with Kenny and Amanda about how they met, their careers in bluegrass music, song selection, songwriting, and their newest album. You will also get to hear a couple of cuts from that album.
