Advertise on podcast: Got 'Grass?

Send us Fan Mail Wayne Benson has been mandolinist for the legendary bluegrass band Russell Moore and lllrd Tyme Out for 30 years. He has a large following on his YouTube channel, and is married to 5-time IBMA banjo player of the year Kristin Scott Benson, with whom he often performs as a duet.  A fascinating conversation about all things bluegrass!

Send us Fan Mail Tim Surrett is a North Carolinian through and through. From high school he began a musical career as a bassist, singer and dobro player, that led him to the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall and the Ryman Auditorium. He's played and recorded with everyone from Tony Rice and Doyle Lawson to JD Crowe and Ralph Stanley, He is a gospel singer of note with The Kingsmen, The Inspirations, Squire Parsons, and many more. He started Mountain Home Music Company, is celebrating twenty years with Balsam Range, with 30 #1 bluegrass songs, he runs a bluegrass festival, was the director of IBMA, is a staff producer for Pisgah Ridge Records and Organic Records, and has a long career as an active studio player. Not much he hasn't seen and done!!

Send us Fan Mail Ethan Setiawan won both National Mandolin Championship and Rockygrass Mandolin Championship. After attending Berklee, he's become a leading voice of the mandolin, through traditional bluegrass, classical, and jazz. His 2025 release “Encyclopedia Mandolinnica” explored the mandolin through duets and trios with friends, mentors, and heroes includinh John Resichman, Matt Flinner and Jacob Joliff. His current band, Ethan Setiawan & Fine Ground, with BB Bowness on banjo, Julian Pinelli on fiddle, Alex Rubin on guitar, and Brittany Karlson on bass, releases its first album, “Little Storms”, on October 2. He's a force in acoustic music, and a thoughful observer of the music world.

Send us Fan Mail Grammy-nominated mandolinist Matt Flinner has made a career out of playing bluegrass and American roots music in new ways. Hailed by Downbeat Magazine as "one of the best mandolin players ever," Flinner has established a reputation as one of the most respected composers and innovators in modern American acoustic music.  In a fascinating and wide ranging conversation, we talked about his musical pals from Darrell Scott and David Grier to Joe Walsh and Peter Rowan, his heroes Tim O'Brien, Hot Rize and Miles Davis, as well as lots about bluegrass groove and the mandolin's role. Now living in Vermont, he's been one of our favorite performers and guests at GuitartownCT over the years!

Send us Fan Mail Zoe Guigueno is a Canadian bassist & singer/songwriter, now living in Eugene, Oregon. Her music has been described as having “the smartness and delivery of early Suzanne Vega with the structure and musicality of Elvis Costello” (Melissa Farrick). Zoe studied jazz bass at Humber College in Toronto. She has been touring internationally for 20 years in a variety of acoustic projects, including Broadway, Steve Martin & Martin Short, The Faux Paws,  the Grand Ol’ Opry, and most famously playing bass for 4 years with Della Mae. She has 2 new projects coming out in spring of 2027, emphasizing her songwriting and singing. We talked about her growing up on a small Canadian island, her musical journey, heroes, playing bluegrass bass, among many topics.

Send us Fan Mail Soraya and Luciya are the heart of The Sullivan Sisters bluegrass band. Raised in North Carolina, living in Chicago, and now both at Berklee School of Music, they were just profiled in Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine.  With strong sister harmony, great musical chops, and fine original songs, they are a young five piece band on the rise, with unlimited potential, produced by Stephen Mougin. They talked about growing up listening to classical saxophone, the journey to bluegrass, songwriting, performing as a child duo, bluegrass heroes, and their goals as a band, with an upcoming debut album. You will be hearing a lot from this band, and hopefully in Hamden, CT, soon!

Send us Fan Mail Jeff Picker is a star bassist in Nashville. Married to 6-time Grammy winnner Sarah Jarosz, he's played with everyone from Ricky Skaggs and East Nash Grass to Nickel Creek and the Grand Ol' Opry house band. After many years in NYC playing jazz, he has a unique perspective on bluegrass, as a sideman, bandleader and studio ace. Really nice guy too, tells it like it is.

Send us Fan Mail Mandolinist Jimmy Gaudreau tells wonderful stories of Charlie Waller, David Grisman, John Duffey, and has especially fond memories of Tony and Wyatt Rice, with whom he played for 10 years. That band had a rhythm section "Like a wall of sound." Lots of fun, nicknames, etc... Jimmy is retired, but has lots to say about bluegrass, playing mandolin, and the stars he has played with. He also has a wonderful new website, jimmygaudreau.com, worth checking out for all bluegrass fans!

Send us Fan Mail A wonderful conversation with this soulful and thoughtful singer, songwriter, and virtuoso on banjo and slide guitar. He won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas in 1987 and 1991.  He recorded 18 critically acclaimed albums, with master musicians like Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Stuart Duncan, Kelly Joe Phelps and Mike Marshall. He has toured with Gregg Allman, David Lindley, Derek Trucks, and Sonny Landreth. Tony, also a sculptor, is married, and lives in Portland, Oregon. A fascinating interview!

Send us Fan Mail Ron Reno retired in 2019, after 60 years in bluegrass and country music. He started at age 7, with his dad Don Reno, and Red Smiley. He recorded ten albums during his 9 years with Merle Haggard, and played five years with the Osborne Brothers. He played with everyone from the Louvin Brothers and Ray Price to the Stanley Brothers and Johnny Cash.  A prolific songwriter, producer and TV host, there's not much in the country and bluegrass world he hasn't experienced!

Send us Fan Mail Every once in a while, I interview someone who is so natural and open that it feels like a chat with an old friend. That was the case with Heather Berry Mabe. In 2024, Heather won IBMA's Momentum Vocalist of the Year award. In 2025, her band, Red Camel Collective, won IBMA New Artist of the Year, and she was just chosen 2026 SPBGMA Female Vocalist of the Year.  Her band, Red Camel Collective, with her husband Tony on banjo, was Junior Sisk's band for many years, but they are making huge waves in bluegrass on their own, since their 2025 debut album.  She's a very spiritual person, with a golden voice and a personality to match. You will be hearing a lot from her!!

Send us Fan Mail Liam grew up just down the road from Doc Watson's home in Deep Gap, North Carolina. A child prodigy on several instruments, he surprised everyone by sweeping the 2022 RockyGrass instrumental contests in guitar, mandolin and banjo, the first person to ever do so. He attended Berklee College of Music, and leads the band Cane Mill Road, which won IBMA's Momentum Band of The Year award in 2019. Age 24, he is already an experienced  bluegrass pro, thoughtful and insightful. He talked a lot about Billy Strings, Doc Watson, and the trials and pleasures of leading a bluegrass band!

Send us Fan Mail Blake Wiliams played banjo with Lester Flatt and Nashville Grass, before his ten year stint with Bill Monroe and his Bluegrasss Boys. He was the longest tenured banjo player ever with Monore, and has some amazing stories to prove it! During his career, Blake has toured 48 states and 7 countries, played Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. He recorded 2 albums with Lester Flatt, and 6 albums with Bill Monroe, including the Grammy winning Southern Flavor. You won't want to miss his wonderful memories, some never told before!

Send us Fan Mail Darren Nicholson has played mountain music since his youth in Western North Carolina. A great mandolinist with Alecia Nugent, and seventeen years with Balsam Range, he’s also an introspective songwriter, a harmony singer, lead vocalist, and guitarist. These days, he's a man on a mission, to bring North Carolina roots music back to the local community.

Send us Fan Mail Ettore Buzzini is an eighteen year old banjo prodigy from North Carolina. Winner of Fresh Grass 2025 Banjo Contest, he’s a strong songwriter, instrumentalist, and vocalist, whose dream is to "bring as much of the human experience to our music as possible.” His banjo work is very melodic and sounds like no one else in bluegrass. I think he's a force to be reckoned with. Check him out.