Bluegrass Jam Along
The IBMA Award winning podcast for anyone and everyone who loves bluegrass.
Free fiddle tune backing tracks and interviews with amazing people from the world of bluegrass.
For every tune we give you four brand new tracks:
- Backup 4 times through (you play the tune or improvise breaks)
- Tune 4 times through (you play backup)
- ‘Jam Along’ (4 complete run throughs, alternating backup and tune)
- Full performance
For more info and chord charts, visit https://bluegrassjamalong.com. Hope you find these tracks useful (and thanks for listening!) - Matt
Episodes
489 episodes
Alison Brown - Celebrating 30 Years of Compass Records
My guest this week is Alison Brown.Alison was the first woman to win an IBMA award in an instrumental category, winning Banjo Player of the Year in 1991. She's also a sought after producer, with credits including Dale Ann Bradley, Peter ...
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Episode 487
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57:47
Ethan Setiawan's Encyclopedia Mandolinnica
My guest this week is Ethan Setiawan.Ethan's new album Enyclopedia Mandolinnica is a collection of duets and trios featuring some of Ethan's mandolin heroes and contemporaries, including Mike Marshall, Caternia Lichtenberg, Jaco...
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Episode 486
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38:53
A quick update on the podcast
Hi everyone. This is a very short episode just to update you on a couple of bits and let you know about some changes coming to the Bluegrass Jam Along podcast over the coming weeks.There's some really exciting content coming your way but...
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Episode 485
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4:23
Bluegrass Briefing August 18th 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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 announcement...
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Episode 484
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9:43
Bitesize - Gabe Witcher on first meeting Chris Thile and how Punch Brothers came together
My guest on this week's bitesize episode is Gabe Witcher. This extract comes from a longer conversation I had with Gabe in June 2023, directly after he'd played his final shows with Punch Brothers at Telluride.Gabe talks about first meet...
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Episode 483
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13:27
Bitesize - Jarrod Walker on playing with Billy Strings, plugging in and pedals
My guest for this week's Bitesize episode is Jarrod Walker, best known to most of you as the mandolin player in Billy Strings' band.This is a segment of a longer interview from 2022. In this section Jarrod talks about getting the gig wit...
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Episode 482
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19:44
Bluegrass Briefing August 4th 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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 anno...
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Episode 481
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8:24
Joe Brent - Adhyâropa Records : Reimagining What a Record Label Is
My guest this week is Joe Brent, founder of Adhyâropa Records.So many of the guests I've had on the podcast have released their albums through Adhyâropa and I was fascinated to find out more about the label.We talk...
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Episode 480
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50:58
Bluegrass Briefing July 28th 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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.Releases (...
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Episode 479
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8:17
Bitesize - Caitlin Canty on Songwriting and Slow Processing
This week's Bitesize episode comes from one of my favourite interviews, the conversation I had with Caitlin Canty about her record Quiet Flame.The album was produced by Chris Eldridge (of Punch Brothers and Mighty Poplar) and features a ...
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Episode 478
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9:00
Bluegrass Briefing July 24th 2025 - IBMA Music Awards nominations special
Hi,This week's briefing is slightly different - I'm running you through some of the nominees for this year's IBMA Music Awards.I'd love to hear what you think - who you think will win, who you think should win, who's missing from ...
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Episode 477
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12:13
Sara Watkins - Connection and Collaboration on I'm With Her's 'Wild and Clear and Blue'
My guest this week is Sara Watkins, with a deep dive into I'm With Her's latest record, 'Wild and Clear and Blue', which has already become one of my favourite records of recent years.We talk about the album’s first writing sessions in 2...
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Episode 476
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54:29
Bluegrass Briefing July 14th 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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 A...
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Episode 475
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10:01
Shelby Means on her new solo record and 4 years with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway
My guest this week is Shelby Means. Lots of you will know Shelby from her time with Della Mae and, more recently, from her time as the bass player in Molly Tuttle's band Golden Highway, who she won a Grammy with. She now has a new s...
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Episode 474
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40:41
Joe K Walsh - Less is More, Conversation and Space in Music
My guest this week is Joe K Walsh.Joe plays mandolin with several projects, including Mr Sun (featuring Darol Anger, Grant Gordy and Aidan O’Donnell); the Mike Block Trio; a duo with Matt Flinner and a trio with Ella Jordan and Jed Wilso...
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Episode 473
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54:19
Bluegrass Briefing June 30th 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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 S...
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Episode 472
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12:08
Celebrating IBMA World of Bluegrass as it Prepares to Move to Chattanooga in 2025
This week we're celebrating IBMA World of Bluegrass as it prepares to make the move to Chattanooga after a successful decade in Raleigh.First I'll be talking to former IBMA Executive Director, and current board member, Paul Sc...
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Episode 471
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1:03:26
Celebrating 50 years of the David Grisman Quintet - part 3 David Grisman
We're celebrating 50 years of the David Grisman Quintet with a special set of 3 episodes. This week is part 3, featuring the man himself, David Grisman.I chat to David about how the Quintet came together and developed over those early ye...
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Episode 470
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1:23:36
Bluegrass Briefing June 16th 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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 S...
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Episode 469
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13:32
Celebrating 50 years of the David Grisman Quintet - part 2 Todd Phillips
We're celebrating 50 years of the David Grisman Quintet with a special set of 3 episodes. This week is part 2, featuring Todd Phillips, who was in the band before it was even a band!We chat about how he got to know David Grisman and how,...
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Episode 468
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43:39
Celebrating 50 years of the David Grisman Quintet - part 1 Darol Anger & Mike Marshall
2025 marks 50 years since The David Grisman Quintet first got together, an event that changed string band music forever. The DGQ played a huge part in the careers of some incredible musicians, including Tony Rice, Mike Marshall, Dar...
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Episode 467
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1:17:58
Bluegrass Briefing June 2nd 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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 N...
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Episode 466
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10:28
Celebrating Norman Blake's 'Whiskey Before Breakfast' with Bob Minner
My guest this week is Bob Minner and we're celebrating one of the most iconic flatpicking records of all time - Norman Blake's 'Whiskey Before Breakfast'.We chat about Bob first hearing this record and why he loves it so much; its place ...
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Episode 465
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1:21:47
Bluegrass Briefing May 26th 2025
Welcome to this week’s Bluegrass Briefing, a weekly 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 Announcement...
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Episode 464
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12:42
Wayne Erbsen on 50 Years of Writing About Southern Mountain Music
My guest this week is Wayne Erbsen, professor of old-time and bluegrass music at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.Wayne joins me to talk about half a century of writing about old-time and bluegrass music, including his late...
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Episode 463
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36:09