The legendary bluegrass mandolin and guitar player Roland White passed away late last week (April 1st, 2022). After Roland’s passing, a radio host from Kansas, Orin Friesen, generously sent us a recording of an interview that he conducted with Roland White in September of 1982 when Roland was a member of Country Gazette. We thank Orin for sharing this wonderful archival interview.
Saddly, last week the bluegrass world lost one its true legends—Roland White. Recently bluegrass banjo player, and former Blue Grass Boy, Bob Black wrote a book about Roland White’s life, which will soon be released by the University of Illinois Press. In this podcast we will talk with Bob about his career in bluegrass and then we will discuss his writing of the Roland White biographical book.
This week we feature banjo master Butch Robins. Butch has had a very long and distinguished career in bluegrass music and was famously a member of Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. Butch will share with us his always insightful perspective about Bill Monroe and bluegrass music.
This week we feature the extremely talented multi-instrumentalist Ron Stewart. Our March 2022 issue features J.D. Crowe on the cover and Ron spent a number of years performing with J.D. Crowe and the New South. We talk with Ron about how he got his start in bluegrass, his days working with J.D. Crowe, his work with Tony Rice, and his current job as a member of the Seldom Scene.
This week we talk with guitarist Richard Bennett. Our March 2022 issue features J.D. Crowe on the cover and Richard spent a number of years performing with J.D. We talk with Richard about his early career, his days with J.D., his friendship with Tony Rice and work with Tony’s brother Wyatt, and Richard will also tell us about what he has been doing musically in recent years.
This week we feature mandolin master Jimmy Gaudreau. On the cover of our March 2022 issue we are honoring J.D. Crowe. Jimmy was a member of J.D.’s band in the 1970s, he also performed with Bill Emerson in the Country Gentlemen and he was a member of the Tony Rice Unit. In this podcast we talk with Jimmy about his work with all of these legendary bluegrass musicians who have recently passed.
This week, we feature Kim Fox. Kim is well know for her work with her family band, The Fox Family, which later became 3 Fox Drive. Currently she is working with our February 2022 cover story artist Dale Ann Bradley. We talk with Kim about her career in bluegrass, her songwriting, and her work with Dale Ann.
This week we feature Mike Simpson. Mike is currently the Chairman of the Board of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). Since our February 2022 features bluegrass organizations, associations, societies, and clubs, we will talk with Mike about the mission of IBMA, its current activities, and its plans for the future.
This week feature Matt Leadbetter. Matt is the son of Dobro master Phil Leadbetter who we sadly lost last year. He is also currently playing the Dobro in Dale Ann Bradley’s band. I will talk with Matt about the loss of his father and about his work with various bands throughout his career, including our February 2022 cover story artist Dale Ann Bradley.
This week we feature with Paul Brewster. Paul spent about a decade performing with the Osborne Brothers and was also with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for twenty five years. Paul talks about being on the road with the Osborne Brothers and will also talk about the mentoring program he is working with Wyatt Ellis, one of our feature artists in the February 2022 issue. We also talk with Paul about what he is doing now that he is no longer touring with Kentucky Thunder.
This week we talk with Dick Spottswood, a music historian, record collector, and radio programmer who has written several books and hosts The Dick Spottswood show on bluegrasscountry.org. Dick was also one of the founders of Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine. Dick shares with us some great stories of the early years of the magazine and talks about his radio show.
This week we feature John Lawless of Bluegrass Today. We talk with John about the column that Sonny Osborne wrote for the Bluegrass Today website and we discuss John’s work with AcuTab publications and videos and how he got started at Bluegrass Today.
