Got 'Grass?

Terry Eldredge: Monroe, Osbornes, Cordle, Grascals, Dolly: He's played with them all

Send us Fan Mail Terry Eldredge has had an illustrious 50+ year career in bluegrass, with everyone from Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton and The Osborne Brothers, to Larry Cordle, The Sidemen and The Grascals. One of bluegrass' best lead and harmony singers. A fascinating life in music, with some major ups and downs, including a near fatal car crash in 2001 and a long battle with alcoholism, he still has that lanky, gum chewing persona, and that high lonesome sound and energy. Recently married to Cindy Baucom, he's got great stories galore!

Frank Evans: Banjo ace, now w/ Bronwyn

Send us Fan Mail From Toronto, banjo star Frank Evans is now touring with Bronwyn, and her high energy band. A virtuoso on old time and bluegrass banjo, he's also a fine singer and composer. He was with the Slocan Ramblers before moving to Nashville, where he lives now. He and his talented friends have made East Nashville the center of most of the great bluegrass being played these days. He talked about growing up around the old time and bluegrass scene in Canada, his former band the Slocan Ramblers, The Nashvuille music world, and his road to success with one of the top bluegrass bands around!

Wayne Benson: Mandolin maestro w/ lllrd Tyme Out

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!

Tim Surrett: At The Heart of Gospel & 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!!

Ethan Setiawan: The Fine Ground Brew of Bluegrass

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.

Matt Flinner: Master of Mandolin Matters

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!

Zoe Guigueno: Queen of my Domain

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.

Sullivan Sisters: Soraya and Luciya, bluegrass rising

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!

Jeff Picker: 'With the Bass in Mind"

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.

Jimmy Gaudreau: Mandolin Maestro

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!

Tony Furtado: Banjo, Blues and Beyond

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!

Ronnie Reno: He's seen it all in country & bluegrass

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!

Heather Berry Mabe: Daughter of the Stars

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!!

Liam Purcell: Fueling the Future of Buegrass

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!

Blake Willams: Banjo Memories of Lester & Bill

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!

Darren Nicholson: Bringing North Carolina Bluegrass Home

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.

Ettore Buzzini: Re-imagining The Banjo

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.

Tim Stafford: The Song is The Story

Send us Fan Mail Tim Stafford is a master songwriter, guitarist and teacher. From Alison Krauss & Union Station, to 30+ years with Blue Highway, he's had his finger on the pulse of bluegrass. A wide ranging intellect, with special love for Tony Rice, we could have easily talked for another hour!

• Chapters

Andy Leftwich: Fiddle and Faith

Send us Fan Mail 4-time Grammy winner Andy Leftwich began playing fiddle at age 6, entered his first contest at 7, and won the National Championship for Beginners at 12. At age 19 he joined Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, where he played for 15 years. He's also one of Nashville’s most sought after studio musicians, for artists like Bruce Hornsby, Dailey & Vincent, Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, Ronnie Millsap, Craig Morgan, and many more. His third album "Aced" comes out April 17. Andy is an amazing musician, and a man of strong faith, and we discussed music and faith at length in this fascinating conversation.

David Benedict: Spreading Mandolin Joy

Send us Fan Mail David Benedict is Grammy-nominated mandolinist. After 3 years with Missy Raines, he joined Mile Twelve, who were 2017 IBMA Momentum Award winners. David was also 2018 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year, and a 2019 Grammy nominee. He might be even more well known for his You Tube channel, featuring his weekly series Mandolin Mondays, as well as his in-depth mandolin lessons. He talked at length about his musical story, the mandolin with all its quirks, favorite artists, and lots of ideas about new acoustic music.