“I have always said my weakness is food, sex, and music… but not necessarily in that order,” Dolly Parton, patron saint of Appalachia, wrote in her book, Songteller. The famous country singer-songwriter explores those themes in her songs, all while weaving in her experiences in Appalachia, growing up with 11 siblings in a one-room cabin. “Coat of Many Colors” and “My Tennessee Mountain Home” are written about her childhood in rural Tennessee. “I think my voice is best suited for the old mountain style and the bluegrass. I guess it's just 'cause I feel that so much,” she has said. Songs like “Jolene” and “Touch Your Woman” are sexy, intimate, and passionate. The latter was even banned from the radio for some time for being too explicit. As for food, Parton sings about eating a stale sweet roll in “Down on Music Row” and wrote “Two Doors Down” about fried clams. She has said she likely enjoyed comforting food like mashed potatoes or mac & cheese after writing two of her biggest hits, “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” back-to-back. Parton, an actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, wrote a few cookbooks, one of which is called “Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s: Love, Laughter, and Lots of Good Food.” The book features her personal collection of southern recipes, including her famous banana pudding, which is even used in her theme park, Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Many of the book’s recipes were passed down to Parton from her mother and mother-in-law. It also includes recipes for dishes from some of her favorite restaurants she has discovered while traveling the world performing. One of the recipes in her book is “Chicken and Dumplins,” which she proclaims to be her favorite Sunday supper. There are recipes for fried green tomatoes, gristmill cinnamon bread, walnut pie and more. "I still like to try new foods as often as I can. But when it comes to cooking for myself and my husband Carl and my great big extended family, which numbers into the multiple hundreds these days, what we really want to eat is what comforts us most: good, hearty food rooted in Mama’s cooking and those country gatherings of my childhood. It’s the food from those Mom and Pop joints that welcome you in as if you’re family. We really just want food that is lovingly made and joyfully served up. Around here, that’s what we call Dixie Fixin’s,” she wrote in her cookbook. She has also partnered with Duncan Hines to bring some of her recipes from the cookbook into our home kitchens. The dynamic duo has released a collection of cake mixes, frostings, and, most recently, savory mixes inspired by her favorite southern recipes: ● Sweet Cornbread & Muffin Mix: Moist and buttery, this features Dolly’s favorite recipe for Jalapeño Cornbread right on the packaging. ● Buttermilk Biscuit Mix: Made with real buttermilk, this mix features one of Dolly’s favorite recipes for Cheddar and Chive Biscuits on the box. ● Caramel Turtle Brownie Mix: A sweet way to level up Dolly’s famously delicious dessert, with an on-pack recipe for Dolly’s favorite Peanut Butter Brownie Skillet Sundae. ● Fabulously Fudgy Brownie Mix: Perfectly chewy and chocolatey, the box features a recipe for Dolly’s favorite Pecan Brownies. ● Southern Style Banana Flavored Cake Mix: This mix can be used for a decadent banana dessert. Her Southern Style Banana Cake Recipe is on the box. ● Southern Style Coconut Flavored Cake Mix: Dolly’s Southern Style Coconut Cake Recipe is on the box, which pairs well with... ● Creamy Buttercream Flavored Frosting: Dolly Parton's Favorite Creamy Buttercream Flavored Cake Frosting adds a creamy touch to treats. ● Creamy Chocolate Buttercream Flavored Frosting: Chocolate Buttercream Flavored Cake Frosting sweetens up creations. The queen of Appalachia has a decades-long career spanning various industries and subjects, yet she has remained relatable and down-to-earth despite her rise to fame. She often speaks to the disenfranchised through her work and brings people from all walks of life together. Food is just one more vehicle Parton has used to connect to her communities - whether through personal recipes or sharing culinary foundations for people to put their spin on. This, among many other reasons, is why Dolly Parton is more than just a cultural icon to Appalachia - she is an authentic, deep-rooted queen who proudly represents the region. Dolly Parton’s Banana Pudding Recipe Ingredients: ● 3 eggs, separated ● 1 cup sugar ● 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour ● 2 cups milk ● Dash of salt ● 4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) butter ● 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ● 1 (12-ounce) box of vanilla wafers ● 5-6 bananas, sliced Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. 2. Lightly beat the egg yolks. Combine 3⁄4 cup of sugar and the flour in a medium pot. Gradually stir in the milk, followed by the egg yolks and salt. Cook over medium heat 15 to 20 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove the pot from the heat and add the butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly. Arrange half of the wafers on the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish. Top with half of the banana slices. Spoon half of the pudding mixture over the bananas. Repeat with remaining wafers, bananas, and pudding. 3. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining 1⁄4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until they form stiff peaks. Spread with a rubber spatula over the pudding, sealing the edges. Bake until the topping is light golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve cooled.

In today’s popular music, the “biggest” acts are usually more “plugged in.” With mass appeal genres such as pop and hip-hop, electronic music is the thing du jour. Songwriting is often done by a “team” of many, instead by one or two genuine writers who live and breathe the music. That’s all just fine for Top 40 pop but not so fine for young people who appreciate the nuance of traditional forms, acoustic instruments, and the old-fashioned and heartfelt ways of composing and performing live music. As a younger group, Broken Compass Bluegrass has an answer to the questions associated with selecting bluegrass as their genre of choice. While bluegrass has grown to encompass more diversity – namely, the “progressive” side of the genre – more and more younger people are showing interest in presenting the tried-and-true to listeners. Broken Compass Bluegrass multi-instrumentalist Kyle Ledson has been making music since he was three years old; although he is still a pretty young guy, his performance career is already long. He can speak to the growing trend toward more stripped-down and organic roots music styles. “Our fans so far tend to be from the older generations,” Ledson explained. “We see a big pool of these familiar faces at our shows, and we’re growing amazing relationships with them. When attending bluegrass festivals, however, we see fans of all ages. And we were once those youngsters ourselves, running around with half-sized fiddles in our hands. We are starting to see peers our age attending our gigs, which is really rewarding. We’d really love to reach the ears of our age group.” In the end, he said, it’s not about who they are playing to but that there are people of any type who enjoy listening as much as the band enjoys playing. “Ultimately, we’re grateful to have fans of any age at our shows. We want to play for fans that love our art, and age is not a factor," he said, adding, "I do believe there is a resurgence of bluegrass – or jamgrass, if you will – with the fierce rise in popularity of bands like Billy Strings where again, all ages are welcomed. It sounds like Ledson and the band will be busy this fall. “Our cups are overflowing with music, and it’s a great thing,” he explained. “Our vinyl production of ‘Fool’s Gold,’ our debut album, is expected to be complete in late August, which is very exciting. We also should have our first live album completed by then…fingers crossed.” He said they have already started work on a second studio album and are looking forward to three big events happening in August and September: The Big BLUEgrass festival in Tahoma, Calif.; Camp Deep End in Navarro, Calif.; and the IBMA in Raleigh, North Carolina. “In between all that, our weekends are filled with local gigs,” he said. The band began as a trio formed during the pandemic shutdown, consisting of Ledson and multi-instrumentalists Django Ruckrich and Mei Lin Heirendt. The three musicians all grew up attending the California Bluegrass Association’s Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival, participating in their Kids on Bluegrass program. “From that, Django and I did some duo work when we were younger. School and sports parted our ways until the pandemic brought us back together for a virtual set online for the CBA,” Ledson explained. “I had been playing solo for a while, building local connections with venues, promoters, and touring bands, so we originally called ourselves Kyle Ledson & Friends. We had a lot of fun together and quickly realized we shared this similar passion, so we decided to book a few gigs.” Ledson said it didn’t take long to realize they were “onto something” good…they decided to change the band’s name to Broken Compass Bluegrass and bring on a fourth member, bass player Sam Jacobs. “We were lucky to find Sam, who was attending Chico State’s Recording Arts program with me,” Ledson said. Ledson said where his family lives – and how they live – contributed to his interest in more traditional styles of music. He and his bandmates all hail from the Grass Valley/Nevada City area in California. “I grew up just outside the area in a town called Camptonville,” he explained. “We lived off the grid, as my family has been building a log cabin on our property. Growing up off-grid on rural property completely drove my musical development. I didn’t have TV or video games distracting me. Instead, I put all that time into my strings, and it really paid off. We also had the time to attend lots of music festivals, which drove the inspiration.” Looking back, Ledson said, "I’m grateful for all that and wouldn’t change a thing if I could.

Prolific. Accomplished. Busy. None of these words fully relay the scope of what multi-instrumentalist Craig Duncan has done over the years. His output is so vast that it’s hard to find the phrases to describe it. Perhaps a summary is the best way to begin exploring a musician whose art seems to know few limits. Duncan has artist or producer credits on a whopping 106 CDs and a lengthy list of publishing credits for writing books – and composing music – for Mel Bay Publications. He’s worked with many artists and within many genres, ranging from old-time to Celtic to…The Beatles. Duncan is a North American Fiddler’s Hall of Fame member and winner of a 2018 Dove Award for “Instrumental Album of the Year.” Records he’s been a part of have sold upwards of five million copies, and his music has been heard on many television programs, including “Malcolm in the Middle,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” and more. The list of artists Duncan has recorded music for is long and includes names such as Randy Travis, Billy Dean, Kathy Mattea, Charlie McCoy, and Roy Clark. While fiddle is his primary focus, Duncan’s full roster includes hammer dulcimer, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, autoharp, Irish banjo, and dulcimer. Many of Duncan’s recordings were created for the gift shop market, an interesting niche where he found solid footing. “When I started playing hammer dulcimer, I talked with a friend, Jack Jezzro, who was producing recordings for a company that sold their products in vacation areas like the Smoky Mountains,” Duncan explained. “The gift shops in most areas sold music recordings featuring local music styles. Our first recording was a Christmas record using mountain instruments – hammer dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, and autoharp. This was followed by a hymn recording, and the ‘Smoky Mountain Hymns’ series took off.” He added, “This led to the opportunity to produce acoustic recordings for several companies in many different styles.” It seems like a long jump from hymns to The Beatles, but Duncan has made that leap and many more like it. He recently was part of a release that included songs by one of the most prominent groups in music history but created with instruments ordinarily heard in bluegrass. He said the unique record was very well received. “When I make a recording with bluegrass instruments in a genre outside the typical bluegrass world, the goal is to make the recording in the style of the genre, not to make the genre sound like bluegrass,” he explained. “So ‘Bluegrass Beatles’ should sound like Beatles music, ‘Bluegrass Swing’ should sound like big band, ‘Bluegrass Sinatra’ should sound like Sinatra music, including the way he phrases. ‘Bluegrass Homecoming’ should sound like Gaither Homecoming gospel, and ‘Bare Necessities’ should sound like Disney music.” Whew…the scope of all that is dizzying to even consider! Duncan is lucky; he says he enjoys many distinctive styles and gets the pleasure of eventually recording in most all of them. “I listen to many styles of music, and particularly like roots music…music of the people,” he said. “This includes bluegrass, traditional country, Irish, Scottish, Celtic, western swing, cowboy, Cajun, blues, classical….” He’s been at it for a long time. He started playing fiddle in his school orchestra in third grade, was in a boy’s choir from age eight to 12 and started out with electric bass at age 13. “I’ve always loved music,” he said. “My first professional job was playing the fiddle at Carowinds Theme Park in Charlotte, North Carolina, when I was 19.” Today, Duncan mainly records and performs at private events. A typical week is varied. On the day he told his story to The Bluegrass Standard, his calendar for the following week included “leading a French music band for a convention,” “playing fiddle with great local country artist Wendy Newcomer,” “playing a solo hammer dulcimer job, a Cajun duo with accordionist Jeff Taylor,” and “playing two bluegrass trio jobs with David Talbot on banjo and Mark Powelson on bass.” And, as if that weren’t enough, he said, “my dance band is playing a wedding reception on Saturday.” But even that’s still not enough…not just yet. “Most Sunday mornings, you can find me leading music at Faith Presbyterian Church in Goodlettsville, Tenn., just a few miles northeast of downtown Nashville,” he added. See? The word “prolific” barely scratches the surface. Those of us who aren’t music makers… songwriters…or teachers of music… sit back and watch in awe as Craig Duncan does what he does, filling more and more corners of the earth with sounds that soothe the soul.

Every week, over 10,000 listeners tune in for the latest episode of their favorite podcast. Some are mandolin players. Some are beer drinkers. Most of them are music lovers. The popularity has amazed the podcast creator, who knew about both mandolins and beer, but had to educate himself about journalism and editing. Evidently, he learned well because the Mandolins and Beer podcast is a hit. Daniel Patrick, a native of Michigan, played drums as a kid. “I had a few gigs here and there.” When he bought a Nickel Creek CD because he liked the album cover, a switch was flipped for Daniel. “I heard the first song, ‘The Smoothie Song’ and it blew my mind. I called a buddy of mine who worked at a music store and asked him if they had a mandolin, and the hold music was New Grass Revival.” He took up the mandolin and practiced, mastering the instrument. Daniel posted a “lick of the day” on Instagram and gained one thousand followers over time. “I was also doing YouTube videos talking about beer. I love beer. I like trying different beers, and for a while, it seemed that craft breweries were popping up all the time in Charleston, South Carolina, where I live now.” Daniel says that stores also carried many craft beers from other states, and he enjoyed trying new ones. Without really understanding the dynamics of podcasts, Daniel started his in August 2019. “My Instagram name was mandolinsandbeer, so that’s what I called the podcast. I felt that if a hundred people were listening each month, I would be happy.” But to his great surprise, hundreds, then thousands, of people found and listened to the weekly podcast. He became serious about it, focusing on the music more than the beer. “Now I wrap up each show by asking my guest what their favorite beer is, and if they don’t drink, I ask what their favorite fiddle tune is to play on the mandolin.” Daniel had a lot of spare time as a full-time mandolin player after becoming a full-time musician. “I thought about interviewing people I enjoyed listening to.” That idea came to fruition when he received an email from Mike Marshall, who found the podcast on mandolincafe.com. “Scott Tischner is great about putting each new episode on his home page each week,” says Daniel. “Mike Marshall said he would love to do an interview on the podcast.” That interview gave the show even more credibility and helped open doors for Daniel with other artists. While Daniel was an accomplished mandolin player with a good knowledge of beer, he readily admits he was not a journalist. “I had no idea what I was doing. I recorded the interviews as a phone call, like a conversation between two people. I’m sure it was awful. I can’t go back and listen to those first few shows, but then again, I never expected the podcast to have the popularity it does.” Daniel said some very kind listeners with journalism backgrounds began emailing him with constructive criticism. “I welcome that kind of criticism,” he says. “I paid attention to what they were telling me, and that’s how I learned. I think it all comes down to editing. If someone is tuning in to hear Sam Bush, they don’t want to hear my stories; they want to hear Sam Bush’s. So while we may talk back and forth, I edit out a lot of what I said to make the show more concise.” Editing is essential for the timing of the show as well. While podcasts aren’t held to a specific time restraint, Daniel observes that people begin to lose interest and drop off if it is over 70 minutes. “I try to edit to around sixty minutes.” If the guest has more experience, Daniel will sometimes divide the episodes in half, creating two shorter episodes from one interview. While most of the guests on his show are mandolin players, Daniel will deviate from interviewing only mandolin players from time to time. “I interviewed Brittany Hass, a fiddle player who has recently joined the Punch Brothers. I also interviewed guitarist Chris Eldridge. I try to find common ground. As long as a mandolin player can get something from it, then it works.” When asked who his “dream interview” would be, Daniel said, without hesitation, Chris Thile. “If it weren’t for me buying that Nickel Creek CD and hearing Chris Thile play, I wouldn’t be here today. It was pure luck that I bought that CD, and it changed my life.” Hear all of the nearly 200 episodes of Mandolins and Beer at www.mandolinsandbeer.com.

Since 1982, the Lonesome River Band has entertained audiences with original tunes. Under Sammy Shelor’s direction, the band has stayed relevant for decades, breaking new ground while maintaining its trademark sound. “We do a lot of our own material – songs that have never been done before,” says Sammy. “Some may think we’re just stupid for staying in the business for so long, but we love it, and our fans seem to love what we are doing.” Sammy serves as the band leader, booking manager, road manager, bus driver, and even bus mechanic and came on board with Ronnie Bowman. “Ronnie and I kept the band together.” When Ronnie left in 2001, Sammy took ownership of the band. “It takes a lot of work to run a band,” Sammy says. “Probably way more than people might imagine. I may not be the best banjo player, but I’m good at driving a bus.” Actually, Sammy is a fine banjo player. He played with the Virginia Squires for six years before joining the Little River Band. He was voted in as a member of the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame, awarded the IBMA Banjo Player of the Year five times, and received the Steve Martin Prize for excellence in bluegrass and banjo in November 2011. Martin himself presented the award on The Late Show with David Letterman. Following the presentation, the Lonesome River Band performed as the show’s musical guest, joined by Steve Martin. Banjo players around the world look to Sammy’s banjo expertise. Serious pickers study Sammy’s tab books and watch his instructional DVD from AcuTab. The band has released 23 albums since Sammy joined the band in 1990. “They had released four albums prior to me coming on board.” To stay current, Sammy says that the band works to release a new album every twelve to eighteen months. “We had an album come out in January of this year, and we are working on songs for our next album, which we will record next January or February.” When the Bluegrass Unlimited chart came out in 1991, the Lonesome River Band had the first bluegrass album at number one. Carrying the Tradition, released on the Rebel Records label, stayed on the chart for six months. The band is based in Floyd, Virginia, close to where he was raised, in Meadows of Dan, Virginia. Covid was a challenging time for the band. “We went from 80 to 85 dates a year to nothing overnight,” he says. “We are now up to 70 dates this year. So, we are not quite back up to 100 percent, but we are hoping we’ll be at full speed next year. That schedule works great for us. It keeps us on the road a lot, but we are still home half of the year.” Sammy says that Sirius XM helped them a lot during Covid. “They made sure bands that toured for a living were played in rotation. We are grateful for that.” One thing that helped pay the bills during that time for Sammy was selling his prized banjo. “I hated to do it, but it helped me to be debt free.” Sammy’s driving banjo style helps keep the Lonesome River Band consistent. “We have had a few band changes here and there, but honestly, I think right now we have the most talented people who have ever worked in the band. It’s fun to go on stage with them.” The touring and playing never get old for Sammy. “We love meeting new folks and visiting with old friends. It’s a way of life that we all enjoy. We are fortunate to have great fans. We honestly feel blessed every day to have the opportunity to do what we do.”

Jamon Scott isn’t one to restrict himself to rules. Whether he’s juxtaposing bluegrass against rock or 80s New Wave against Celtic, he grabs novelty by the horns and refuses to let go, however unexpected the result. If the expectations are about what he can or can’t do with music, he tosses them out the window. His affinity for unique cross-genre marriages of sound struck a few years ago when he began to work on assembling music he’d written over his lifetime. He’d already spent a decade (2005-2015) with Americana/rock outfit The Toluenes, and after a brief break from the biz, came back to it for that project. That album was a real exploration. He was amassing quite a bit of songwriting, assembling it into a substantial 18-track record titled Strange Devils. It included pop, rock, country, jazz…you name it. Part of the development of that project included work on a bluegrass song called “The Fall.” His sojourn into exploring bluegrass with that single song actually resulted in the spinoff bluegrassy companion album, American Cemetery. That one song appears on both releases. “I was trying to explore genres I never explored before. I did this one bluegrass song...I just had so much fun,” he recalled. He played that first song for friends and family and said, “They were like…this makes me like bluegrass music!” It inspired more; he continued in that vein and said the entirety of American Cemetery has a bluegrass vibe. Songs intended to be recorded as rock or country took on new life, perhaps relying on some of what he gleaned while growing up in southern Kentucky and listening to artists such as Ricky Skaggs, of whom he has always been a fan. He applied “traditional arrangements” to his “contemporary and sometimes quirky songwriting style.” That record was recorded with backing band Chadwell Station, but Scott said most of his live shows – which happen primarily around his current home in eastern Tennessee, places such as Gatlinburg and Knoxville – are solo affairs. He describes the studio rendition of the American Cemetery project in humorous terms. “You could probably describe it [Chadwell Station] as the Steely Dan of bluegrass,” he laughed, likening it to the group known for its studio-only orientation. “It was kind of a studio band.” More recently, Scott and Chadwell Station added another country/bluegrass record to the discography. “One Hillbilly Place” features six tracks of original music. Scott said, “At last count,” his music was on rotation at over 50 radio stations, at least that he is aware of. An upcoming project is as unique as they come, with even more contrast and elements of the unexpected. He said it will be a collection of all-original music that’s “a real concept album,” as it will be an “80s New Wave and Celtic amalgamation.” It will also contain features of Biblical history. “I’m gonna take this 80s music and blend it with a more Appalachian sound,” he said. Not content to restrict himself to one way of making music, he’s as interested in the influences of Duran Duran and Bryan Adams as he is in that of Johnny Cash and Ricky Skaggs. “I like all those things,” he added, confessing he finds it “sad” when people limit themselves. He’s been lucky. His love of music started when he was just a tiny kid, and he’s parlayed it into a way of making money and art. Through a story told often by his mother, he describes himself as a tiny tot absolutely enamored with music. “It was back when a stereo was a piece of furniture, and you played records,” he said. When he was “two or three years old,” he would prop his chin atop the family stereo console and listen while watching the vinyl turn. “I would go to sleep standing up, watching the records,” he said. It wasn’t long before he penned his first song at age eight. Today, he considers himself lucky to live a creative life over which he has complete control. It sounds like he loves it and where he is right now. “I’ve made most of my living making music for a number of years,” he said. “Being able to make a living with your hobby…what could be better than that?”

Some may call Elizabeth Cotton a late bloomer. After all, the singer/songwriter didn't start performing publicly or recording until she was in her sixties. That may not have happened at all had it not been for Elizabeth being in the right place at the right time. In the early 1950s, Elizabeth was divorced and working in a department store in the Washington, DC, area. When young Peggy Seeger, the child of composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, was lost and wandering through the aisles of the store, Elizabeth helped reunite the young girl with her mom. Ruth was grateful, and soon she and her husband, Charles, hired Elizabeth to work as a maid. She then became the couple's nanny, helping to care for their four children and Pete Seeger, Charles' son from a previous marriage. To entertain the children, Elizabeth (or "Libby," as they called her) remembered the guitar she played as a child forty years prior. E lizabeth was born into a musical family like the Seeger children she cared for. She was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1893. Her parents encouraged Elizabeth as she played with her brother's banjo as a child. But times were hard for the Nevill family, and Elizabeth, the youngest of five children, quit school when she was nine years old to work as a maid. When she was twelve, she worked as a live-in maid for a family in Chapel Hill, earning one dollar a month. Her mother saved the money for her and used it to buy the child a guitar from Sears and Roebuck. No one taught Elizabeth to play the guitar; she figured it out on her own and became so accomplished on the guitar that she developed an extensive repertoire of dance tunes and rags, songs typically composed for and played on the piano. When Elizabeth was in her early teens, she began writing original songs. One of her most recognized songs, "Freight Train," was inspired by a train she heard daily near her childhood home. While working for the Seeger family, Elizabeth picked up the guitar again. Since it had been decades since she played it, she taught herself to play again from scratch. People were fascinated when they watched her play – Elizabeth was left-handed and played her guitar upside down. During the latter half of the 1950s, Mike Seeger, the oldest of the Seeger kids, began making reel-to-reel recordings of Elizabeth's music in the bedroom of her house. The recordings were released on an album, "Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar," on the Folkways Records label. The album hit at the right time—the onset of the American folk music explosion. Many of the day's popular folk artists not only listened to the album but recorded "Freight Train" and other songs from the album. These artists include Peter, Paul and Mary, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Laura Viers, Taj Mahal, Doc Watson, and Ester Ofarim, who recorded a French version of the song in 1965. The Seeger family impacted Elizabeth's life and musical career significantly. Peggy Seeger, the child Elizabeth found in the department store, grew up heavily influenced by her musical parents. She took Elizabeth's song, "Freight Train," to London. The song became popular with folk musicians there, and two British songwriters, Fred Williams and Paul James, claimed the song as their composition, and they copyrighted it. When "Freight Train" was recorded by Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whiskey in England in 1956, the song became a major hit. Some said the song was one of the main influences for the popularity of skiffle, a blend of blues, country, bluegrass, folk music and jazz that was all the rage in the UK in the early 1950s. Skiffle inspired the music of several bands, including The Quarrymen, a band formed by John Lennon that evolved into The Beatles. The band played "Freight Train" in their early gigs, with John Lennon singing. The Seeger family wanted to ensure Elizabeth got her due, and they used their influence to get the song's copyright returned to her. The Seeger family also helped launch Elizabeth's performing career. After the release of her first album, Elizabeth played in a concert with Mike Seeger at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. It was 1960, and it was the first time, except for singing in church, that Elizabeth had performed on a stage. She was 67 years old. She would perform many more times on stage, playing in concerts with some of the big names in the blossoming folk music revival. She played with Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. She played on stage at the Newport Folk Festival and the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. Elizabeth was encouraged by the interest in her music and wrote more songs to perform. In 1967, in collaboration with her grandchildren, she released a record, "Shake Sugaree." The title track featured her great-grandchild, Brenda Joyce Evans, who was twelve then. Elizabeth toured and released records well into her 80s and received many awards and honors for her music. In 1984, she received the National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment of the Arts, the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts bestowed by the United States government, and the GRAMMY award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording. At age 94, Elizabeth Cotton died in June 1987 in Syracuse. Her music is still relevant today - she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just last year. Re: Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train - Bing video Elizabeth Cotten - In the Sweet By and By - Bing video Elizabeth Cotton Playing Spanish Fandango - Bing video Rhiannon Giddens - Shake Sugaree (Last.fm Sessions) - Bing video

It may sound confusing, but Phillip Steinmetz’s great-uncle was Grandpa. Grandpa Jones, that is, the beloved banjo-playing Country Music Hall of Fame member who earned widespread recognition as one of the cast members of the Hee Haw television series. Now Steinmetz, fronting his band the Sunny Tennesseans, sings his great uncle's songs and plays the banjo in the same rollicking style in appearances on stage across the nation. “You could call our show old-timey,” Steinmetz says, explaining his many influences. “My show takes you back 50, 60 years ago to an Opry show where you would have somebody like String Bean, and then you'd have the Carter Family come on. And then Sam and Kirk McGee would come on, and then Grandpa Jones would come on. It's a variety show. Our foundation is old-time mountain music, and that’s how we fit into a festival.” Steinmetz grew up in rural Florida, and the opportunities to be around his famous great uncle and his wife, Ramona Jones, were special. “If he had a show near us, he'd come stay with us. And he and Ramona always played music while they were there. When I was little, he played ‘Froggy Went a Courtin'’ for me. And I asked him, ‘Would you teach me to play?’” Grandpa sent Steinmetz a banjo in the mail and, on his next visit, showed him the right-hand clawhammer motion and told him to practice that. “Grandpa wouldn’t show me anything up on the neck. He said the next time we come, we'll teach you some songs. And he said, ‘Sit there in class and thump on your knee under the desk, you know, thump, thump, thump, thump.’ And I can remember doing that just like it was yesterday. “But the next time they came down, my cousin Mark (Grandpa Jones’s late son) took me out into their tour bus, and he taught me my first two songs: ‘Boil them Cabbage Down’ and ‘Cripple Creek.’ I learned both songs in two days.” Though Steinmetz learned to play the banjo when he was about ten, Grandpa Jones was in his twenties and already on the music circuit before he took up the instrument. “There's a lot of different ways to play clawhammer,” Steinmetz explains. “Grandpa would drop his thumb down and hit any other string he wanted, mainly the second string. This method came from Cousin Emmy--Cynthia May Harper. She was from Bowling Green, Kentucky. That's who he learned from back in the mid-40s when they were both on the radio in Wheeling, West Virginia.” Growing up in the country, Steinmetz didn’t have anyone to play music with, but he listened to his father’s record collection and came to love and emulate the music of old-time artists such as Sam and Kirk McGee, The Carter Family and Uncle Dave Macon. In addition to introducing him to traditional music, his father also introduced him to performing. “As soon as I learned how to play around 10 or 11 years old, Dad got me on at the Central Florida Fair. In between acts, they'd get me up there to play for 15 minutes. I wore a big Stetson hat, and I sat on a stool, and I just put my head down and played as fast as I could. I had a set list of about six songs. I figured if I play 'em fast, I'll get through 'em sooner, and I can get off of here. So that was my first experience with being on stage. And I hated it.” Fast forward several decades. Performing has grown on him. Now he’s on stage with The Sunny Tennesseans--the band he named for the introduction Grand Ole Opry host George Hay always gave Steinmetz’s favorite act: “And now Sam and Kirk McGee, the boys from Sunny Tennessee: Let her go, boys!” “I didn't count on it being probably the longest name in bluegrass: ‘Phillip Steinmetz and his Sunny Tennesseans.’ If you put that on the back of a festival t-shirt, it really stands out.” The band also stands out because their old-time music is different from what other festival bands are playing. “Some sound like Bill Monroe, some sound like Jim and Jesse, and some sound like Ralph Carter. It's the same style. And no matter how good and how talented, the audience's ear gets burned out on that. And then here we come, and it's so different that it's kind of like a breath of fresh air that lets you reset yourself. We try to entertain people. I tell a lot of the old stories that Grandpa used to tell. He was an entertainer. He didn't just get up there and play one song after another. He would make you laugh. “I got to play with Grandpa on stage twice when I was 19 and 20. Both times Grandpa would come up in the middle of the second song I was playing, grab his band, and then we started picking together.” In 2005 Steinmetz became a three-time Old Time Banjo National champion. Also, being named national champion in 2000 and performing as part of the Grand Ole Opry’s 75th-anniversary celebration are special memories for him. “Grandpa had passed away in 1998, and to play there just a couple of years later was bittersweet,” Steinmetz remembers. “I wished he had still been there. But that was a highlight that I'll never forget. To help celebrate the Opry’s birthday is just something that not a lot of people can say they've done.” The Tri-State Bluegrass Festival in Kendallville, Indiana, runs Aug. 31 through Sept. 3. Also appearing along with Phillip Steinmetz and his Sunny Tennesseans are Cabbage Road Bluegrass, Lincoln Highway, Bluegrass Pythagoras, The Edgar Loudermilk Band, Sammy Adkins and Sandy Hook Mountain Boys, Tony and Blackwater, and Nu-Blu.

For most bluegrass band members, double duty means playing an instrument and driving the bus. Banjoist Grace Van’t Hof not only contributes to the sound of Chris Jones and the Night Drivers; she’s responsible for the band’s latest album cover. Indeed, she’s worked with numerous artists, festivals, and organizations to create compelling posters, album art, logos, and other visual elements. Her work has earned her the distinction of being the International Bluegrass Music Association Graphic Designer of the Year for the last two years. “My mom's a very talented artist, and she said I showed a proficiency for it at a young age,” Van’t Hof recalled. “Art’s always been a thing for me.” Growing up in Holland, Michigan, a science fair-styled event called Science Olympiad introduced Van’t Hof to the banjo. With her father’s help, she constructed a banjo to participate in a category called “Sounds of Music.” “The banjo we ended up building was a little complicated and not super playable, but the sound just really got me. Once I heard that sound, I was really hooked.” There wasn’t much bluegrass music near Holland. Van’t Hof would travel two and a half hours to jam. And since that group had a banjo player, she switched to Dobro. Van’t Hof studied art and biology at Calvin University in Michigan when she got a public performance scholarship in Dobro at East Tennessee State University. A friend introduced her to fiddler Kimber Ludiker, who would become the founder of the groundbreaking all-female band Della Mae. Van’t Hof was one of the original members. “Everybody who's been through that band is incredibly talented,” Van’t Hof said. “It was really inspiring, if not a little intimidating. I appreciate the time I got to spend with them.” Van’t Hof had relocated to Boston when she joined Della Mae. After two years, she left the band and eventually returned to East Tennessee, where she was a founding member with Kris Truelson of Bill and The Belles. “I've always been into early, pre-bluegrass country music, especially some of the 30s and 40s country, but especially, the music of Jimmie Rodgers and sort of adjacent characters like Clayton McMinchen and some of those blues and jazz guys that overlapped with Jimmie. And Bill and The Bells was really into that kind of music. And that was awesome.” During this time, Van’t Hof apprenticed with an artist and began working as a graphic designer and illustrator. After leaving Bill and The Belles, Van't Hof returned to Michigan. That’s when Chris Jones called and asked her to join his band. She’s prominently featured in the Night Drivers on banjo, baritone ukulele, and as a vocalist. She did the cover art for the band’s Make Each Second Last album. “It's not part of my duties as a band member to do the artwork,” she explained. “I just prefer to do it because whatever artwork comes out with that band, people are going to assume I did it.” Van’t Hof studied national park posters from the 30s for the Make Each Second Last cover. The various shapes that formed landscapes intrigued her. “They're really color-blocky and beautiful and supersaturated,” she observed. She described the cover as a “get out of town with your family” kind of poster. The speeding car she drew is modeled after one the band had posed with in a promo photo. Van’t Hof’s graphic design work includes covers and posters for artists and organizations such as Mile Twelve, Twisted Pine, Frank Solivan, and Bluegrass Pride. Her portraits of banjoists BB Bowness and Charlie Poole are included in a set of Banjo All-Star Trading Cards. She created illustrations for the recently published book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History. She’s also excited about recently completing her first vinyl cover. “That's like the berries for someone like me because it is so much more space, and you can include a ton more detail.” In addition to her design work, Van’t Hof does live graphic capture during conferences, meetings, and other events, such as the recent String Band Summit at East Tennessee State University. The notes and illustrations she creates are shared with participants in real time. She sees parallels with playing in a band. “It's very improvisational. You hear something, and you have to translate it into something else. So, a lot of it is like in a bluegrass band when you are listening to the song, playing along with it while you're sort of learning and then thinking about the solo you're gonna make. And when I'm successful playing and when I'm successfully doing this graphic capture live-scribing thing, it's a similar flow state. It feels the same.”

When Ruth Shumway taught her classmates at Berklee a bluegrass tune by Steve Rosen called Nail that Catfish to a Tree, they were enthralled with the name of the song. So much so when they officially formed their band, they used a riff of the song’s title for the band’s name. Ruth, a North Carolina native, has been playing fiddle since she was three years old. Like most young children who play the violin, she started with music lessons using the Suzuki method. Ruth took to the fiddle like a duck to water. “When I played my first recital, I loved it so much I didn’t want to leave the stage. I just kept bowing to the audience with my little violin.” Her violin teacher suggested that Ruth’s parents take her to a fiddle contest at Fiddler’s Grove, which was near their home. “I loved everything about it. My parents actually got into bluegrass because of my love for it. I dragged them all over to hear bluegrass music. I still go to Galax whenever I can.” When she was eight years old, Ruth went on a trip to Boston with her parents, and she saw the Berklee School of Music. “I knew then that’s where I wanted to go to school someday.” Now Ruth is in her second year at Berklee. She met the other members of Catfish in the Sky as a freshman. “We all lived in the same dorm and became friends.” Owen Miller, a Massachusetts native, is the percussionist for the band. He plays the Cajon, an instrument of Peruvian origin that resembles a big wooden box. The player sits on top and hits the front of the box, and depending on where or how it is hit, different sounds are created. “Although my Cajon is made in Peru, the type of Cajon I have is called a Flamenco Cajon, which originated when a Spanish guitarist saw the instrument and added guitar strings to the inside.” Owen is studying to be a music therapist. “He has a singer-songwriter background,” says Ruth. “Owen is very talented. The songs he writes are really wonderful.” Sammy Wetstein is a multi-instrumentalist from Connecticut who plays cello in the band. He began playing classical cello in the fourth grade. He plays mainly classical, jazz and fiddle/folk music and enjoys learning about various types of traditional music and its role in cultures around the world. Sho Humphries, from Connecticut, rounds out the band on the ukulele. A world champion ukulele player, Sho’s mission is to play the ukulele in a way that has never been done before while spreading smiles and infectious melodies. “Sho brings a fun energy to the band,” says Ruth. In fact, Ruth describes the band as having incredibly high energy. “We couldn’t stand still on a stage if we had to,” she laughs. Because everyone in the band has a different musical background, the band plays a variety of music, from Celtic and bluegrass original tunes, and jazz. “Of course, jazz,” says Ruth. “We are, after all, from Berklee.” Putting songs together in an artistic way is what makes the band unique. “We always try to put a unique spin on whatever we are playing. We do a lot of fun covers of songs that aren’t necessarily bluegrass, but because I’m a bluegrass girl at heart, we give them a lively bluegrass feel. It always seems to work. Everyone is a stellar, off-the-chart musician.” Catfish in the Sky can be seen playing in venues around the Boston area, in bars and other venues. “We also play in shows throughout the school. And when the weather is nice, we all enjoy busking. We love any opportunity we have to play.” Folks attending IBMA in Raleigh last fall had an opportunity to hear Catfish in the Sky play in a showcase. “I have been to IBMA several times, but the others in the band had never been.” It was a perfect way for them to be immersed in the music that had so heavily influenced Ruth’s musical tastes. “We drove from Boston to Raleigh, twelve hours, to play at IBMA.” Ruth recalls that Sammy’s cello wouldn’t quite fit in Owen’s car, which they drove from Boston to Sammy’s home in Connecticut. “Sho and Sammy rode the whole way in the back seat with the cello in their laps.” They switched cars in Connecticut for the rest of the journey. As difficult as that was, the trip back to Boston was almost derailed. “The night before we were going home, I had a fever of over 100 degrees,” says Ruth. “Sammy stayed up until 5:00 am and we were supposed to leave early that morning. Sho didn’t have a driver’s license, and no one wanted Owen behind the wheel. “I was a danger to myself and others,” he adds. But in the end, they were able to make the trip. “We had a great time at IBMA,” says Ruth. “We plan on going back again next year.” The band is currently in the studio working on an EP. “It will have five songs,” says Ruth. “We are fortunate that Berklee has great recording studios available, and students who are learning production. We have some wonderful friends helping us.” The EP’s working title is “We’re a Wreck.”

Trying to put The Lone Bellow into a restrictive little box would be about as effective as trying to grasp a handful of water or telling a sound exactly what it’s supposed to mean and expecting it to abide. Most will place this trio into the Americana genre, where varied roots expressions are embraced. What this Brooklyn-formed but now Nashville-based outfit delivers year after year is so multifaceted, though, any pigeon-hole feels like some unfair diminishment. From one song to the next—or one moment to the next—you’ll hear rousing, tight gospel harmonies; bluesy country; straight-up folk; indie rock; and, more recently, a lean into a mellow pop orientation, at least with the studio versions of their newest music. Their first album appeared at #64 on the Billboard 200. People magazine selected that record as #8 in its top 10 albums of 2013, and Entertainment Weekly heralded it as one of the “top reasons to love country music in 2013.” In the decade since, The Lone Bellow has toured with performers such as Kacey Musgrave, has received consistently high rankings for singles on Billboard’s AAA (Adult Alternative Airplay) charts, and has been nominated by the Americana Music Association for Duo/Group of the Year. The Lone Bellow is currently touring the U.S. in support of its fifth album, the November 2022 release, Love Songs for Losers. The group offers meaningful songwriting and a musicality that’s at its best when witnessed live, where listeners can fully appreciate the trio’s visceral connection to the music and one another. The three bandmates – Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist and Kanene Donehey Pipkin – sometimes seem to communicate with each other onstage as if they were a single organic unit, sharing a common fervor for something deeply-felt. For this tour, they’re fully unplugged, grouped around a single microphone and creating harmonies capable of eliciting misty eyes and spine-tingling frisson. Their voices feel huge, and that immense simplicity is no less than compelling. While it is admittedly more difficult for an act to market itself when refusing tight definitions, maybe searching too hard for that would clip their wings. The band itself (thankfully) does not clear it up all that much. “It’s basically trying to pull these different influences in, but make it sound like it came out of the ground,” said The Lone Bellow vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Brian Elmquist. His early background in music didn’t come from a place of tradition, but like all good musicians, he evolved. “I was in, like, punk bands when I lived in Nashville,” he said. “I would only write country songs as an exercise before I moved to New York.” There, he and Pipkin came on board with lead vocalist Williams, who had at that time been performing as a solo act. “Maybe because New York is just like a concrete jungle of technology…we just wanted to unplug a little bit.” That “unplug” seems to have included a big “plug-in” to bluesy gospel harmonies. “We all were raised up in church,” Elmquist explained. “Zach [Williams] grew up in a big ole Baptist church in Atlanta. But…you don’t have to be religious to feel this stuff.” The lyrics don’t usually reference Christian themes…but the feeling of something deep-down and spiritual is there, for sure. “We need more than ever to figure out how to connect to our soul,” Elmquist said. “Some of our fans call us ‘church for heathens,’... and I love that because I feel like that is it.” He said the ‘spiritual’ side of the music is inspired by the primacy of his family and friends. It sounds as if he loves the fact that they’ve been able to tap into a reservoir of harmonic emotion that’s usually the purview of a more strict religious paradigm. “It’s an insane privilege, and we don’t take it lightly,” he said, of the fact that fans connect so much to the church of The Lone Bellow. “I see us trying to connect with humanity, still trying to find the common thread, and still trying to push to new limits,” Elmquist said of their future goals. The implication is that they strive to be as genuine as possible and hope it has meaning to listeners. “People who are 100-percent themselves…everybody can identify with it,” he added. Elmquist zeroed in on the reason The Lone Bellow seems so heartfelt. Perhaps, it’s because it really, really is. “You can’t make art and worry about the outcome,” he summarized. They went their own way for Love Songs for Losers, producing this record themselves. “We found Roy Orbison’s old pool house and turned it into a studio for eight weeks,” Elmquist said about where it all happened. “We’ve worked with some incredible producers [in the past], so we got to be in the room to see how the sausage is made,” he said. For previous records, they’d worked with notable producers such as Aaron Dessner of The National, and eight-time Grammy Award-winner, Dave Cobb. This time, they wanted to take a dive into deeper, more risky waters. “We’ve always done better when we’re kind of on the edge of the sound people are expecting,” he said. “You want to make records where your chin is in the water, where it’s almost dangerous.” Photos by Eric Ryan Anderson

While some people take music very seriously, sometimes it’s just about being fun. Bluegrass music is fun. Hip-hop music is fun. Combining the two? Yeah, that would be fun. At least, that’s what Brooklyn-based, Emmy-nominated, Billboard charting musician and producer Rench thought. “I could only imagine what it would sound like. I knew if I ever had a chance to do it, I would call it ‘Gangstagrass.’ I had been listening to Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys and some early Union Station. I couldn’t tell if it was blues or country or what. But I couldn’t stop imagining what it would sound like with some rap vocals and beats.” When he met banjo player Dan Whitener (Man About a Horse), Rench could feel his Gangstagrass idea come to life. Rench produced Dan’s folk-soul album, Crossover, and one of the tracks from the album was used in the Spike Lee film Black KKKlansman. The two musicians talked about the idea, and Dan was on board. The result was an album Rench put on the internet for free: Rench Presents: Gangstagrass, and people took notice. It wasn’t long before the producers of a new show on FX Networks, Justified, called upon Rench. “They wanted that sound for the show,” he says. The show’s theme song, “Long Hard Times to Come,” garnered an Emmy nomination in 2010. Dan was born and raised in Washington, DC and is active in the music scene in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. B.E. Farrow came on board in a roundabout way. He played jazz and classical on the upright bass and unexpectantly happened upon a bluegrass band playing in a punk bar. They called him up when they needed a bass player, and he played with them at a big bluegrass festival. B.E. was friends with Gangstagrass’s manager, and she encouraged him to check out their music. “I was already a hip-hop fan, and the lyricism convinced me to give it a try for a while.” He has been with the band ever since. The interesting thing about Gangstagrass is that it is both genre-bending and a conversation starter, and the conversation can be challenging to some folks. “We work hard to blend this into a kind of soup that is the most genuine blend of all our backgrounds,” says Dan. “We are combining stuff that has never been combined. When you try to pin us down to a certain genre, it’s impossible. The whole idea of genre is a historical invention. B.E. says that he really isn’t a bluegrasser. “I’m more of an old-time musician, but I can hang on to a bluegrass tune, probably because I know jazz. All music is just twisted branches from the same tree. Dolio is more Southern hip-hop. R-Son, the Voice of Reason is from the Philly scene.” Culture comes from broadly sourced materials. “I used to raid my parents’ record cabinet when I was a kid,” recalls Dolio. “I grew up with a juke joint behind my house. We watched Soul Train on Saturday night and Hee Haw on Sunday. You can’t tell me ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ isn’t cool.” As off the beaten path as they may seem, Gangstagrass has received a large share of mainstream attention. The band has played in Owensboro and on the PBS Bluegrass Underground series. They were a massive hit at the Folk Alliance International conference a few years ago and last year at IBMA. “We did America’s Got Talent in 2021,” says Dan. “They weren’t sure what to do with us. It was great to see the surprise on their faces. It’s better to experience it than to explain it.” The band members have realized that the musical genres, and their audiences, seem to have more in common than not. Music can be a powerful unifier; through their music, Gangstagrass is helping people share their roots and experiences as Americans. Gangstagrass has produced four studio albums and one live album, and their popularity continues to grow. Their biggest challenge came during the Covid epidemic. They had to make it work. “We set everyone up with a home studio,” recalls Rench. “I think we all picked up recording skills along the way.” Everyone sent their files to Rench, who said he was jealous of the duos some sent in. “We did live streams via Zoom, and we did pre-recorded things. We just made it work.” The result was an album called No Time for Enemies. Dan said the album made during that time was a testament to the group’s strength. “We had all been going non-stop for years, and then we came to a dead stop. We had already recorded three songs and were rehearsing more, so that was helpful to us.” Dolio says the time was therapeutic. “We all missed each other. We were fueled by what the album became – it was topping the Billboard charts. When we were able to inch back into touring in 2021, we all got Covid.” Dan added that it taught them balance. “We had to learn how to be safe.” The future is bright for Gangstagrass. They released a holiday album last year, and more projects are on the horizon. Rench believes there will always be an audience for genre-bending music. “There are more people out there with both Jay-Z and Johnny Cash on their iPod than you might imagine.”