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Bluegrass Jam Along

Matt Hutchinson
Bluegrass Jam Along
Latest episode

541 episodes

  • Bluegrass Jam Along

    Julian Lage on World's Fair, Playing Solo and the Art of Interpretation

    2026-09-16 | 31 mins.
    My guest this week is Julian Lage and we're talking about his extraordinary solo guitar album 'World's Fair'.
    Julian will be known to many of you as a jazz player but is also widely known in the bluegrass and string band world through his wonderful duet records with Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers and Mighty Poplar. In fact, Julian's first recording was an acoustic duet with David Grisman as part of the 'Dawg Duos' album.
    Julian talks about the challenges and opportunities of playing solo, how he approached making this particular record, why he threw away his first attempt and what he learned about his own playing from making 'World's Fair'.
    We also discuss the role acoustic music has played in his career, why being able to interpret song and tunes is so important and how playing music socially in New York with singer songwriters gave him the seed for what turned into 'World's Fair'.

    This was a fascinating conversation about a superb album, but also about some of the deeper questions about what it means to make music, both alone and with others.
    You can buy the 10th anniversary vinyl and CD reissues of 'World's Fair' and the accompanying songbook via Julian's store.
    Follow Julian on Instagram for regular updates and news.

    Support the show
    ===

    Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

    Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

    - Sign up to get updates on new episodes

    - Free fiddle tune chord sheets

    - Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

    - Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:
    Instagram
    Facebook
    - Review us on Apple Podcasts
  • Bluegrass Jam Along

    Bluegrass Briefing - September 2026

    2026-09-09 | 10 mins.
    Welcome to this month’s Bluegrass Briefing, a monthly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.
    Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.
    Pod news

    Sean Sullivan interview
    Lindsay Lou’s Bluegrass Women interview
    Julian Lage Australian tour dates

    News and announcements - church street news 

    Bela Fleck pre-order

    Releases (The Grass is New)

    Billy Strings - So Much For Goodbyes
    Lindsay Lou - Bluegrass Women
    Bryan Sutton - From Roots to BranchesBryan interview

    Mr Sun - The Idea Guys

    Other bits

    Full list of interviews
    Collings Guitars

    Happy picking.
    Matt

    Support the show
    ===

    Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

    Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

    - Sign up to get updates on new episodes

    - Free fiddle tune chord sheets

    - Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

    - Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:
    Instagram
    Facebook
    - Review us on Apple Podcasts
  • Bluegrass Jam Along

    Sean Sullivan - Capturing More Than Just Music

    2026-08-26 | 1h 8 mins.
    My guest this week is 5 time Grammy award winning engineer, mixer and producer Sean Sullivan.
    Sean has worked with dozens of artists, including Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, The Steeldrivers, The Del McCoury Band, Michael Cleveland, Andrew Marlin, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway and Mighty Poplar.
    We chat about his route into recording and how he only came to love string band music when he started working on it. Sean also talks about what he learned in his time at The Butcher Shoppe Studio, owned by John Prine and producer David Ferguson, and his current studio, The Tractor Shed.
    We also talk about what's really important in music, Sean's approach to working with artists and why, sometimes, the best sounding records just aren't the best records.
    Follow Sean on Instagram or check out www.seansullivanaudio.com to keep up to date with what he's working on. You can find out more about The Tractor Shed at www.tractorshedstudio.com

    Support the show
    ===

    Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

    Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

    - Sign up to get updates on new episodes

    - Free fiddle tune chord sheets

    - Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

    - Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:
    Instagram
    Facebook
    - Review us on Apple Podcasts
  • Bluegrass Jam Along

    Lindsay Lou - Bluegrass Women

    2026-08-19 | 35 mins.
    My guest this week is Lindsay Lou.
    I chatted with Lindsay a while back, about her record Queen of Time. This time we're talking about her brand new record Bluegrass Women. Lindsay reveals how the project came about and why she wanted to make a record celebrating the contributions of women to bluegrass. We talk about the musicians on the record - including Sarah Jarosz, Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle, Laurie Lewis and Alison Brown - and why mentorship and multi-generational music making are so important.

    Lindsay also discusses the origin of some of the songs on the record, many of which will be familiar to regular listeners to bluegrass, but not everyone will realise they were written by women (I certainly didn't).
    We also chat about the importance of vocal harmony and how Bluegrass Women was a natural progression from Queen of Time and its predecessor Southland.
    Here's some info on where to buy or stream Bluegrass Women
    You can check out the harmony singing lessons mentioned on Lindsay's Patreon page.
    Support the show
    ===

    Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

    Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

    - Sign up to get updates on new episodes

    - Free fiddle tune chord sheets

    - Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

    - Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:
    Instagram
    Facebook
    - Review us on Apple Podcasts
  • Bluegrass Jam Along

    Bluegrass Briefing - August 2026

    2026-08-13 | 11 mins.
    Welcome to this month’s Bluegrass Briefing, a monthly series of episodes taking a look at what’s going on in the world of bluegrass.
    Here are the links to stuff mentioned in this episode.

    News and announcements - church street news 
    Bluegrass Album Band reissue
    Blue Waters Bluegrass
    Dawg at 80 videos

    Releases (The Grass is New)
    Lindsay Lou - Bluegrass Women
    Mike Marshall Sings Bluegrass
    Ken and Brad Kolodner - Hand’s Cove
    New Acoustic Collective - Double Course

    Scroll on Buddy
    Telluride documentary
    Other bits

    Full list of interviews
    Collings Guitars

    Happy picking.
    Matt

    Support the show
    ===

    Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

    Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

    - Sign up to get updates on new episodes

    - Free fiddle tune chord sheets

    - Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

    - Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:
    Instagram
    Facebook
    - Review us on Apple Podcasts
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About Bluegrass Jam Along
"Bluegrass Jam Along is a great, great podcast" - Chris EldridgeThe IBMA Award winning podcast for anyone and everyone who loves bluegrass. Every week we feature interviews with musicians, writers, instrument makers and other key figures from the bluegrass and string band world, plus regular news and new releases.Guests include Alison Krauss, Sierra Hull, Tim O'Brien, Wyatt Rice, Jerry Douglas, Sarah Jarosz, Jarrod Walker and David Grisman.For more info visit https://bluegrassjamalong.com
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