The String

Ray Benson on Asleep At The Wheel at 50

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 150: As a teenager, Philadelphia native Ray Benson fell hard for traditional American roots music and by 1970 he'd become the founding leader ...

Randall Bramblett plus Brennen Leigh

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 149: Randall Bramblett is a powerhouse journeyman and veteran of southern roots and soul music, with a dense and deep resume working for other...

Dirk Powell plus Maeve Gilchrist

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 148: Dirk Powell has build a Grammy-winning career by standing out in all aspects of folk and roots music. He's an outstanding fiddler and ban...

Waylon Payne plus The Danberrys

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 147: As a literal child of the 1970s country outlaw movement, Waylon Payne had access to opportunity and temptation, and for most of his 48 ye...

Wendy Moten plus Granville Automatic

12 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 146: Wendy Moten is one of Nashville's most versatile and accomplished singers. She's been a solo R&B artist, a jazz singer, a duet partner wi...

Elizabeth Cook plus Jeannie Seely

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 145: Elizabeth Cook was welcomed with celebration into the Nashville country music fold in the early 2000s, because of her charm, her fascinat...

New Grass Revival

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 144: New Grass Revival showed the world new ways of playing and thinking about bluegrass music between 1972 and 1989. Founded and led by fiddl...

Matt Rollings plus Shannon LaBrie

14 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 143: Matt Rollings says his role as the leading studio piano playing sideman in Nashville from the late 1980s onward made it hard for him to f...

Daniel Donato and Jake Blount

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 142: Ah, to be 25 again. Old enough to have a direction. Young enough to not know or care that the road ahead is steep and hard. This week, tw...

Heidi Newfield and Mac McAnally

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 141: Two guests this show who both have careers straddling Nashville's hit-driven Music Row and art-driven Americana scenes. Heidi Newfield ha...

Chuck Prophet

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 140: Chuck Prophet is a lifer who at 57 says he's just getting the hang of it - it being crafty, intelligent songs that feel good even when th...

Joshua Ray Walker plus Emma Swift

12 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 139: Reaction to Joshua Ray Walker's debut album was as strong and swift as any to come along in country music and Texas songwriting in quite ...

Adia Victoria

03 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 138: Adia Victoria taps the lineage and resolve of the early Blues queens with a sound made for the now on her 2019 album Silences. Her journe...

Chatham County Line

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 137: Raleigh NC's Chatham County Line started at the dawn of the new millennium in a surge of passion for bluegrass music, with an old-school ...

Becca Stevens

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 136: Just beyond the fuzzy boundaries of roots and Americana music, we find Brooklyn Based singer-songwriter Becca Stevens. And I hope you hav...

Corb Lund plus Henry Hicks

06 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 135: With ten albums and 20 years under his belt as one of the finest and wittiest songwriters working the Western end of country music, Alber...

Brandy Clark plus Eliza Gilkyson

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 134: In an era where women are marginalized on country radio, Brandy Clark is at the top of most people's list of women who should be on the a...

David Bromberg plus Kingfish

16 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 133: David Bromberg is one of the most fascinating and multi-faceted figures in roots music, a pioneer of the Americana idea decades before th...

Jaime Wyatt and Jesse Daniel

10 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 132: The timing was right to split the hour between two exceptional emerging artists making hard country music in the outlaw tradition. As you...

Steve Earle and B.J. Barham

01 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode #131: Two of the most exceptional and provocative songwriters of their respective generations take on America's political divide and inject so...

Pam Tillis plus Joe Diffie

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 130: She's a daughter of Grand Ole Opry royalty, but Pam Tillis found her own way to the music business and the top of the country charts in t...

Lilly Hiatt plus Gabe Lee

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 129: Lilly Hiatt put in a lot of work at the local and regional level, including releasing two albums, before her third, Trinity Lane, met the...

Katie Pruitt plus Jenee Fleenor

06 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 128: Katie Pruitt has been known as a phenom ready for big things in Nashville for a few years now. With patience and enough maturity to get t...

Paul Burch plus Thomm Jutz

27 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 127: Paul Burch moved from Indiana to Nashville in 1994 when his friend Jay McDowell (BR549) told him about the burgeoning indie country music...

Jessi Alexander and Jill Andrews

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 126: This Spring, many of the outstanding women of roots music have released new albums, and here we catch up with two of them. Jessi Alexande...

Producers Rick Clark and Neilson Hubbard

07 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 125: Recording producers are often the best people to speak with to gain extra insight into what makes some music more effective than others. ...

Caleb Caudle plus Adam Chaffins

30 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 124: Caleb Caudle grew up in rural North Carolina outside of Winston Salem, captivated by music far beyond what his school peers cared about -...

Ron Pope and Welcome To 1979

23 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 123: Ron Pope is a case study in good indie art and commerce. He's an admired songwriter with an avid following for his cathartic, detail-lade...

Nora Jane Struthers and The Mastersons

17 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 122: Living the road life makes for tight musical couples. And in this split episode, I speak with a new mom who tours and duets with her husb...

Music City Postcard: Asheville

08 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 121 is a field trip to Asheville, NC, which Rolling Stone last year touted as one of the best music scenes in the country. We who visit regula...

Leftover Salmon

24 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 120: Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt met in 1985 on Vince's first night in Boulder, CO and formed a lifelong musical bond. With banjo player Mark...

Hawktail plus McKay & Leigh

18 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 119: Four virtuoso string band musicians well known for their work with other bands are taking instrumental acoustic music to new heights in t...

Marcus Finnie and Mabel Pleasure

10 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 118: Marcus Finnie is one of Nashville's most admired drummers, with a background spanning gospel, roots, pop and jazz. Mabel Pleasure is a li...

Beth Nielsen Chapman

27 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 117: Often when songwriters talk process, we hear the same few nuggets about craft on repeat. Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Beth Nielsen...

Michael Doucet plus Yvette Landry on Warren Storm

21 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 116: Fiddler, songwriter, singer, bandleader and folk music scholar Michael Doucet is synonymous with Beausoleil the neo-traditional Louisiana...

John Hiatt

13 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 115: To start the new year, a full-hour with one of the certified icons of roots/Americana music and Nashville songwriting, John Hiatt. We cov...

The McCrary Sisters

25 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 114: They grew up in Nashville in the home of the legendary preacher and singer Rev. Sam McCrary, a key member of the Fairfield Four and a maj...

Allison Moorer

16 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 113: Allison Moorer emerged around the year 2000 as one of the most profound and beautiful voices in true country music. As she grew in statur...

Michaela Anne and Ickes/Hensley

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 112: Michaela Anne went to New York City to study jazz vocals and emerged a full on convert to country music. She built a career in Brooklyn t...

AmericanaFest 2019 #2

25 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 111: This week, one last round of visits with great artists visiting Nashville to showcase during AmericanaFest 2019. My guests include two so...

Andrew Combs plus Erin Enderlin

19 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 110: Ideal Man, the fourth full-length album from Nashville songwriter Andrew Combs has been praised by major outlets including Rolling Stone ...

The Bluegrass Episode 2019

06 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As I browsed World of Bluegrass in Raleigh last September, I caught up with four artists who make for a pretty good cross section of the genre circa 2...

Shawn Colvin plus Logan Ledger

29 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 108: The album Steady On in 1989 marked the pivot in Shawn Colvin's life between playing bars to make the rent and being a leader in the singe...

AmericanaFest 2019

21 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 107 features three conversations held on the run during AmericanaFest 2019 in Nashville, Sept. 10-14. Billy Strings represents the cutting edg...

Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show

14 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 106: Ketch Secor is the fiddler and front man of the uncanny success story Old Crow Medicine Show. As they enter their third decade as a band,...

Kelsey Waldon and Foggy Mountain Breakdown

08 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In her new song "1988," Kelsey Waldon tells the story of the year she was born in Western Kentucky and what happened after that. What music fans know ...

Del McCoury, Jim Lauderdale and IBMA 2019

22 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Del McCoury is a bluegrass hall of famer and repeat host of the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. Jim Lauderdale is a beloved Nashvill...

Aubrie Sellers and Brian Wright

09 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 103 features two artists who are showcasing at AmericanaFest 2019 with new albums ready for early next year. Brian Wright has lived and made m...

Kendell Marvel plus Aaron Lee Tasjan

02 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 102: Kendell Marvel, native of rural southern Illinois, is a veteran professional Music Row songwriter whose work has been recorded by Gary A...

Amy Speace plus Marty Stuart

28 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 101: Songwriter Amy Speace was entirely absorbed in theater, studying to be a Shakespearian actress in NYC. Then some fates and muses interven...

Molly Tuttle and Ep. 100 Highlights

19 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The String turns 100 Episodes old with a focus on one of the most celebrated and dynamic young artists in Americana music, a singer/songwriter who has...

Charley Crockett plus Lillie Mae

12 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

 Charley Crockett has a story that's difficult to imagine playing out in the 21st century - he's hoboed around the country, lost loved ones, scuffle...

Odessa Settles plus The Steel Wheels

29 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The lineage of Nashville's Fairfield Four thrives and resonates in Odessa Settles, this week's guest on The String. The daughter of singer Walter J. S...

Chuck Mead plus Courtney Hartman

22 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The decade-plus since the conclusion of his era-shifting band BR549 have been a case study in creative evolution for Chuck Mead. He's still a stalwart...

Keb' Mo' plus Dara Tucker

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode #96. Launching a career in the blues in the mid 1990s seems in retrospect a bit audacious and foolhardy, but when LA songwriter and studio mus...

Caroline Spence plus Lee Roy Parnell

08 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode #95. Caroline Spence moved to Nashville eight years ago fresh out of college with a "vague dream" of writing songs, probably she thought for o...

Buddy and Julie Miller

17 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 94: They've each had distinguished careers as songwriters and musicians in American roots music, but together they're especially sublime. Budd...

Nick Lowe plus Dylan LeBlanc

10 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 93: In the 1970s Nick Lowe carved out a place on the thoughtful side of punk and pop in England, landing "Cruel To Be Kind" on the charts with...

Byron Berline and Andy Statman

04 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 92: This week's show is split between two string instrument masters who have little in common save for a lifelong commitment to nurturing trad...

Ricky Skaggs

20 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Only five artists or acts have been inducted into both the Country Music and Bluegrass Music halls of fame, and only one is actively touring and shapi...

Dale Watson plus John Smith

13 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

No. 90 - Honky tonk maestro Dale Watson grew up in Pasadena, TX, just on the Galveston Bay side of Houston. With a father and brother who played count...

Will Kimbrough plus Steve Earle

07 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Will Kimbrough, 30-year veteran of Nashville TN is up to so many musical projects, it took a whole segment to cover them all. He's in three bands and ...

Music City Postcard: TULSA

28 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tulsa, OK has an important musical past but also a dynamic present built on the legacies and impact of Bob Wills, Leon Russell, J.J. Cale, Woody Guthr...

The Managers Episode

09 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In this special hour, a roundtable talk with two outstanding managers from the world of roots and Americana music. Denise Stiff went from college eve...

Seth Walker and Steve Conn

01 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Two gentlemen of Americana who share a soulful feel and a chill vibe while writing songs that cut to the bone. Seth Walker talks about his years in Au...

Michael Cleveland and Nefesh Mountain

18 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 85 offers two remarkable stories from the always-dynamic world of bluegrass music. Michael Cleveland is the record-setting, 11-time winner of ...

Yola plus Bluebird On Film

11 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The British singer songwriter known as Yola made her first significant stateside impression at the 2016 AmericanaFest in Nashville. She returned the f...

Colin Linden plus Bob Clement

05 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Colin Linden - guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer - is one of Nashville's most interesting musicians. You may have seen him in the Americana A...

Mindy Smith plus Adam Wakefield

19 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Fifteen years ago, Mindy Smith rocketed from local sets in Nashville to the national stage in a matter of a few months on the strength of a duet on "J...

Bill Lloyd plus Rhiannon Giddens

12 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Episode #81: This week, the long, diverse career of Nashville's Bill Lloyd. From country hits as a writer and artist to collaborations with leading li...

Ruthie Foster plus Rob Baird

29 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If Americana values all American roots forms and the fusion thereof, then nobody's more Americana than Austin singer/songwriter Ruthie Foster. She gre...

Missy Raines plus Danny Burns

21 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Missy Raines grew up in rural west VA deeply immersed in bluegrass culture. And when she started playing professionally in her collegiate years, she w...

Rodney Crowell plus Maya DeVitry

15 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The String launches a new year with a conversation with Rodney Crowell, one of the legit icons of Americana music. The Texas born, Nashville based so...

Single Lock Records and Muscle Shoals

18 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

How and why this humble collection of towns hugging the Tennessee River in northern Alabama became a historic musical hot spot is an improbable, wonde...

The Gibson Brothers and Ruby Boots

11 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week, an evenly split hour with very different artists who have a lot to say about change and growth. The Gibson Brothers took their experience ...

Talking Dylan and Blonde On Blonde

04 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Bob Dylan's transition from solo folk troubadour to electric roots rocker was as important a precursor to the idea of Americana music as any other. An...

Kathy Mattea

21 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 74: Kathy Mattea's new album Pretty Bird is her first release in six years. In the time between, she's struggled through some problems with he...

Talking Tradition at the World of Bluegrass

06 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What is tradition in music? It turns out that's a tricky but illuminating question, and this week Craig puts it to a range of folks at the World of Bl...

AmericanaFest Revisited: Amy Helm, Kaia Kater and Robbie Fulks/Linda Gail Lewis

23 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week circles back one final time to AmericanaFest 2018, where a global community dedicated to American roots music gathered and networked and lis...

Field Trips w/ Rayland Baxter, Nora Jane Struthers and Gary Louris

15 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode #71: This week we get out of the studio for three radio field trips with some remarkable songwriter/artists. First I visit with Rayland Baxter...

Shemekia Copeland and Band of Heathens

10 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 70: Shemekia Copeland was born to sing, raised by blues royalty. Her dad, Johnny Clyde Copeland, took his Louisiana and Texas roots to the New...

AmericanaFest 2018 w Cedric Burnside, Kris Truelsen and Birdtalker

25 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 69 is the first in a series of shows reporting on artists who performed at AmericanaFest 2018, the most wide-ranging and diverse convention in...

Brittany Haas plus Leah Blevins

11 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 68: At 31 years old, Brittany Haas has been in high level touring string bands more than half her life and she's already regarded as one of th...

Webb Wilder plus Layman Drug Co.

05 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Since the 1980s and a golden age of Nashville pub rock and alt-country, Webb Wilder has been The Last of the Full Grown Men, a crowd-rousing, semi-cam...

Steve Cropper, Live at City Winery

28 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode #66: At 76 years old, Steve Cropper is in ideal position to reflect on an abundant, history making life in music, and he does so in this week'...

Cordovas

20 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 65: To understand the unique and intricate Nashville based quintet Cordovas, you've got to flash back to the early 2000s when a songwriter fro...

Gretchen Peters plus Ben Glover

07 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We're spending much of this hour with someone who's as thoughtful and articulate about her art as the art itself. Gretchen Peters is a lover of langua...

John Scott Sherrill and Saving Music Row

31 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week's episode of The String (#63) is about a sense of place and how we stand up for the places we cherish. Nashville has thrived as the epicent...

Erin Rae plus NMAAM

24 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Erin Rae came of age in Nashville and dropped out of college to get serious about music. She is a pure product of Music City's richly rewarding commun...

Wayne Moss at Cinderella Sound

09 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 61: Craig H. and sometime producer companion Gina Frary Bacon sit down with iconic Nashville Cat Wayne Moss. Raised in Charleston WV, Moss was...

Lera Lynn: Plays Well With Others

05 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Her recording career began in 2011 with an alt-country album whose title asked: Have You Met Lera Lynn? We hope you've met her by now because in the s...

'Outlaws & Armadillos' w/ Michael Martin Murphey

25 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Episode 59 of The String we dive deep into the Austin/Nashville dynamic captured in the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum special exhibit O...

The Travelin' McCourys plus the Opry in NYC

08 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Travelin' McCourys began as a side project - an outlet for Del McCourys sons and their bandmates to pursue experiments and collaborations. Over th...

Rev. Sekou plus John McEuen

06 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Rev. Sekou is an activist, writer, theologian and community organizer with a dense resume stretching back to before the 2000s. He says he found his ca...

Jeff Hanna and Matraca Berg plus Ashley Campbell

22 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week, two conversations with country music families at their heart. First, up a feature interview with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band co-founder Jeff Han...

Guthrie Trapp plus Tommy Womack

07 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Nashville, the greatest guitar town in the world, Guthrie Trapp is at the top of the mountain. He can range across every style, improvise with endl...

Kim Richey plus Tim Easton

01 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kim Richey launched her career later than most, after her old friend and college band mate Bill Lloyd (of Foster & Lloyd) urged her to move to Music C...

Tyler Mahan Coe of Cocaine & Rhinestones, plus Gibson's Woes

24 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If nothing else was left behind about America in the 20th century but the lyrics to all the country songs written by the famous and the obscure, you'd...

The Secret Sisters plus Becky Buller

12 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Two years ago, Lydia and Laura Rogers, the Alabama siblings who harmonize together so enchantingly as The Secret Sisters, looked like they had it all ...

The Wood Brothers plus Ear Trumpet Microphones

27 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

With the aggressive acoustic bass, second-line intricate drumming and soaring brotherly harmony, the Wood Brothers have become a mainstay of roots and...