Start Spreading the News: A Podcast from THE Bluegrass Borough
Mike Willner got some advice in 2024 when he retired after a career fighting anti-money laundering for a global financial institution.
“My wife, Ruth, said, ‘You better find something to do because you're going to drive me crazy, and you're going to drive you crazy,’” Willner remembers.
A lifelong musician whose first instrument was the bassoon, Willner had only recently discovered bluegrass music.
“I was quite struck by how much bluegrass activity there was and resources there were just in Brooklyn, much less the city or the region. So I said, ‘Why don't I get some of my friends on a podcast?’”
Now, nearly two years later and approaching 200 episodes, the Bluegrass BKLYN Podcast has a thriving listenership and has featured interviews with bluegrass A-listers such as Jerry Douglas, Laurie Lewis, Bronwyn, Dom Flemons, and Tim O’Brien.
The podcast also explores musicians in his home borough.
“We call them homegrown, locally-known, great, incredible musicians who you'll never hear of because they live and play in Brooklyn. Maybe they just play around the jam circle because they're professionals, and they do it for fun. But they're incredible.”
Willner had little experience with podcasts and interviewing before he launched his retirement project. But he had plenty of moxie.
“One of the things I learned in corporate America, which I spent about 30 years in, is I just have no hesitancy reaching out to people. So I sent out like ten Instagram messages or Facebook messages, or emails. ‘Hey, Jason Carter.’ ‘Hey, Missy Raines. I’m starting this podcast, and I would love to have you on as a guest.’
“And much to my shock, about eight of them got back to me almost immediately and said, “‘Sure!”
There were so many people to interview and so much information to share that Willner revised his plan for a weekly podcast.
“We decided on Mondays to do more thematic stuff. Thursdays are more artist focused, but that's very loose. Then it became clear that sometimes things just can't wait. If there's a festival coming up or something I'm really interested in, I'll do a short episode and just release it off-cycle. So it could be as many as three episodes a week.”
Willner also realized he needed help.
“I listened to one of my episodes, and it's me introducing it, it's me doing the intro, me doing the interviewing, me doing the second segment, and I'm like, ‘Just how much of Mike talking are people really going to want to hear? I think I need to bring someone along with me on this journey.’
“I said, ‘Okay, I think I want a co-host, and I think it would be great if there was a woman.’ So I knew Liz Wolfe from around the jam circles of New York. She's a very experienced jam leader. She hosts events. She's a big promoter. She's got her heart in it.
“She brings a different perspective. She introduced the whole women in bluegrass theme, where we talk to a lot of women in bluegrass. Why aren't there more women? What challenges does a woman face sitting down in the jam circle where she's the only woman? All of that kind of thing.”
Besides offering artist interviews and information about festivals and workshops, in nearly every episode, either outright or implicitly, Willner makes the case that Brooklyn is the bluegrass borough of New York.
“First of all, we have any number of professional, world-famous bluegrass musicians who either live here or have lived here. Currently, we have Michael Daves, Jacob Jolliff, Andy Statman, and others who live here. Chris Thile used to live here.
“And then there's at least one, often two, sometimes three, really, really, really good thriving bluegrass jams every night of the week here.
“And also, there are dozens of small and medium venues which host bluegrass music, such as the Brooklyn Bowl and the Brooklyn Paramount, which are full scale stages which will have national acts, as well as more local acts.” He points out that The Jalopy Theatre and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music are iconic institutions.
It was only a few years ago that Willner discovered the local jam scene, which he found welcoming despite him being older than most participants. Willner is passionate about the fiddle, which he recently began devoting the majority of his playing time to. Cajun music is among his other varied interests. In short, he’s had no trouble filling time in retirement.
“I would caution anybody who wants to do this and make it stick that it's going to take a couple of hours per episode between gathering content, planning the episode, recording everything necessary, assembling it, writing up the program notes, writing up the social media promotions, and getting all that out into the wild. It takes a bit of work.”
Bluegrass BKLYN has completed residencies at two major festivals in the last year. The audience is growing and the podcast has regular sponsors. But Willner says there’s another payoff.
“People come up to me and say, ‘Hey, you're Mike Willner from the show!’ Many say, ‘I really enjoy the show,’ but more say, ‘Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for what you do.’”
