Back Porch Bluegrass Free FM

Bluegrass legend, and one of my heroes, banjo player Ben Eldridge died very recently. On this show I feature just some of Ben’s magical banjo work with Seldom Scene and his prior work with Cliff Waldron & the New Shades of Grass. We’ve also got some music from Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, the All-Girl Boys, Bryan Christianson, and the Pleasant Valley Boys.

I’ve been digging deep into my shelves of CD’s, and I’ve come up some selections from familiar performers that I’ve not played on this show previously, as well as a few ‘favourites’ that leap out me saying ‘pick me, pick me’.
Among the performers featured are the Osborne Brothers, Donna Ulisse, Special Consensus, Doyle Lawson, Longview, the Bluegrass Cut-Ups, and Seldom Scene.

A new album from French bluegrass legend Jean-Luc Leroux, plus offerings from Travers Chandler, X-Train, the Price Sisters, and Dan Tyminski. We’ve got some old-timey banjo picking from David Holt, and a rare gospel song from the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band.

Some songs you may not have heard previously, some instrumentals, some NZ performers, some from the USA, all part of the wide variety that is bluegrass music.

Bluegrass from Wildfire, the Grascals, the Missy Werner Band, Lou Reid & Carolina, instrumentals from Seldom Scene, Sidesaddle and the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, and gospel music from Rhonda Vincent as an Easter ‘special’. Lots to like in this episode.

St Patrick’s Day has just been celebrated the world over. And there’s a lot of the Irish in bluegrass music. I searched my collection to come up with songs that give a nod to our Irish heritage, and have featured some songs and tunes in this episode. There’s also some ‘regular’ bluegrass too, of course, and you’ll hear from Dale Anne Bradley, Hot Rize, the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, Bill Monroe, J D Crowe, Tony Ellis and others.