Bluegrass Jam Along

Bluegrass Briefing - June 2026

• Matt Hutchinson • Episode 527

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Welcome to the June 2026 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)

Scroll on Buddy

Other bits



Happy picking.

Matt





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


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Matt

My name is Matt, and you'll listen to Bluegrass Jam along the podcast for anyone and everyone who loves bluegrass. Hey everybody, welcome back to Bluegrass Chamblong. This is your Bluegrass briefing for June 2026. And just to recap on podcast stuff, if you've not checked in for a few weeks, you've missed some really cool interviews in the last few weeks. Which is brilliant, really fascinating conversation. I love an instrumental piece, as you all know, and that was a really cool chat about Sierra with that one. Really interesting conversation with Tim O'Brien about the Tim O'Brien songbook, which has just come out. Just yeah, a talk about Tim's career, his progress from sort of being a singer to being more of a songwriter. Some of his favourite songs, how he approaches songwriting, his thoughts on the whole process. Just really fascinating insight into one of my favourite songwriters, and I know a lot of yours as well. So that was fun. Check that out if you didn't see that. Fun chat with John Reichman about not only his most recent album, The Salish Sea, but also his time with the Tony Rice unit in the 80s. And sort of a part of Tony's career, he feels is sort of a little bit less documented than others, and really cool to chat to him about that and his time with Tony and what he learned from that. That was really fun. And what else? Had a wonderful conversation with Baylor Fleck and Rene Fleming about their record, The Fiddle and the Drum, which has just come out. I'm a big opera fan and a big bluegrass fan, so to get to talk to the two of them together was a bit of a treat for me. But it's a really interesting record. I like it a lot, and that was a really interesting conversation to get to have. Really enjoyed that one. Coming up next week on the podcast, I've got a chat with Missy Rains, who's been on before as a guest, but I invited her back to pick a record to talk about. I always enjoy the kind of uh the episodes that focus on somebody's favourite music, and she chose Seldom Seen Act 2, which is a really interesting conversation about that band, about kind of their influence on her, um, where they sit in her sort of overall story, and also kind of how they sit in the wider bluegrass string band context. Really interesting. I learned a lot and just had a great time chatting to Missy. Um, always interesting to talk to Missy. Uh, but yeah, that is basically what's been going on in the podcast. Um, all the usual stuff. If you've missed an episode, if you want to see what's going on, go to bluegrassjamalong.com. There's a list on there, along with all the back and tracks you can jam along with and chord charts and links to social channels and all of that stuff. So, yeah, bluegrassjamalong.com. Uh, or just go and have a look wherever you get your podcast and just scroll through the episodes we're on to something like 525 now. So there's quite a bit on there. Um, yeah, but let's crack on and have a chat about what's going on right now with the news and announcements, which is Church Street News. And the first bit is Boon Creek, um, the Boon Creek album from the 70s that Craft Recordings have reissued and re-released. Um, on vinyl as a download, but but they found some extra tracks that have kind of not seen the light of day for a long time. So that record is coming back out, not only remastered, but also updated with some new material. Um, and that's fascinating. It's a really interesting kind of point in not only how Bluegrass sort of develops in the 70s, um, but also in the career of Ricky Skags and Jerry Douglas, and just that whole fascinating point um around what's going on in the 70s. So that is on its way back out. I will stick a link to craft recordings where you can go and pre-order that and check that out. Um, but also I'm gonna have some content coming up about that, and not only about kind of that Boon Creek record, but also about the sort of mission the craft are on to re-release some um some particular bluegrass records that have you know not been available for a while, and that includes the remaster of Church Street Blues, um uh to the Tony Rice album they've just put out, uh, all sorts of fascinating stuff to be doing. So I'm just sort of working on that at the moment. So stay tuned to find out more about that. I'll let you know a bit more. But I'll put a link in where you can go and check out the re-released, remastered version of Boom Creek. Um, something else which is on the way next month is a new album by Britney and Natalie Haass. They put one out a couple of years ago called Haas, and I interviewed them both about that. Uh fascinating conversation and a really cool instrumental record, just uh violin and cello duets, such a beautiful sound. Uh, they've got a new record coming out next month. Um, a bit more news on that in the grass is new. Um coming up very soon, actually, the 51st annual Father's Day Bluegrass Festival, which is in Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley, California. That is June the 18th to 21st. Um, we've got the Bluegrass Cardinals, Sam Grisman Project, Po Ramblin' Boys, Bromman Keith Hines, Missy Rains, Bruce Molskin, Daryl Anger, loads of cool stuff on there. So that's coming up very soon. So I'll put a link in the show notes to where you can go and find our info and get your tickets for that. Um, also, Marcel R. Downs from the Lessons with Marcel YouTube channel is doing a really interesting project called Winfield. Um, it's a feature-length documentary directed by Marcel and the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Gourley. Um, and it follows three guitarists in the months leading up to the 2026 National Flat Pit Guitar Championship in Winfield, Kansas. And it's a really interesting bit of the string band and bluegrass story. The whole kind of fiddle contest thread that has expanded out through all of these things. It's a really old tradition, and sort of contest playing and fiddling is um is a fascinating branch of kind of bluegrass picking, and I think that'd be a really interesting project. Um, Marcel is you know constantly putting out interesting projects and kind of just sort of following threads of the music and finding really interesting things to talk about. So I think this would be a really cool project. I'm gonna put a link in the show notes because you can go and help fund this, it's in production now. Um, and if you want to find out more about it, if you want to help support the project, you can do. So I'll stick a link in the show notes. But yeah, Winfield sounds really cool. I think it's coming out next year, so I'll no doubt give you more info on that uh closer to the time. Um, another festival, the Fly In Festival, July 23rd to 25th at the Robert Newland Airport in Huntingdon, West Virginia. Um, they've got Bing Brothers and Jake Crack with Jason Carter, Appalachian Roadshow, Kenny and Amanda Smith. Um, lots of cool music, but also the stage is right in front of the runway, and as part of the weekend, they have skydiving demonstrations, flyovers, and kind of all sorts of airplane-related stuff as well. Um, so if you are into bluegrass, string bands, and aeroplanes, that's the one for you. It's the Flying Festival in July um in Huntington, West Virginia. Again, I'll stick a link in the show notes to kind of have a look at that. Um, and the Often Heard uh band from over here in the UK, they were the last year's international band grant at IBMA, and they came over and played, um, and they had a bit of a hassle because they couldn't get the visa situation sorted. It was a sort of an issue with that, and not all the members made it out. But as often happens with the international band grant band, they get to go back and do a tour, and they are going to be on tour around um the US in June and July, including playing at the Opry at the Station Inn, um Grey Fox, Blue Rass Festival. So, yeah, go and check them out. They're a great band, really, really good band, they often heard. Um, if you get a chance to go and see them, please do. I'll stick a link in the show notes where you can see their tour dates. And then just one more thing to add to this. Um, Gabe Witcher, former fiddle player with Punch Brothers, has developed and released an app called Gig Ledger Pro, which is for working musicians, which is a way to help working musicians um stay on top of their finances. Sounds like a really fascinating, really useful thing. So this is a slightly unusual thing for the briefing, but I had a chat with Gabe about it, and I will add that to this episode at the end. Um I mean, oh obviously just fun to get to chat to Gabe at any point, but it's a really interesting thing, and I know a lot of musicians listen to this podcast, and I thought it might be a really interesting thing for people to hear about. So at the end, I will put in a quick five-minute interview with me chatting to Gabe about that. So that was really cool. Um, yeah, really enjoyed talking to Gabe about his new product. Um, but yeah, that's all the news. Uh, the Boom Creek reissue. Um, there is the new album coming from Brittany and Natalie Huss, 51st Annual Father's Day Bluegrass Festival, uh, Marcel's Winfield documentary, uh, the Flying Festival and Oftenheard. Links in the show notes for all that stuff if you want to go and check it out. But let's move on to the new releases. And the first bit is the one I just mentioned earlier on. Um, Rene Fleming and Baylor Fleck have a record called The Fiddle and the Drum. Um, kind of collaboration also includes Jerry Douglas, Ethereum Donovan, Sarah Jerose, Sierra Hull, um, loads of people from the string band world, and it sort of celebrates Rene's love of folk music and a long-standing interest she's had in that. And really cool project, sort of feels almost like a song cycle in a way. It's got a real album quality to it, really sort of interesting arrangements, really interesting choice of um material from sort of very old traditional tunes through to more recent things. Um, have a listen and go and check out the interview I did with Renee and Bella as well, if you want to find out more about that. But that's a really cool record that's been on heavy rotation in my house. Um, also, there's a new EP from Chris Eaton, who's a UK-based uh Dobro player. It's called Reserphonic Tonic. Six tracks of Chris featuring his Dobro playing. Really cool. Go and have a listen to that. Um, Brendan Forrest has a new track out called Amabelle Lee, which features Michael Klebland and Dominic Leslie. That's very cool as well. Um, and there's a new single from Brittany and Natalie Haas called Grandhog Hotel. Uh, they've got a new record coming out in July. Um, their last solo record, which is called Haas, which is all cello and fiddle duets, was really, really cool, really good album. And I had a fantastic chat with them about that at the time as well. Um, so yeah, really looking forward to hearing their new record as well. But there's a single Grandhog Hotel out now. So go and check all of those out. There's Rene Flemingham, Baylor Flex, the fiddle and the drum, um, Chris Eaton's Resophonic Tonic, uh, Brendan Forrest's Amabelle Lee, and Brittany and Asley Hass's Grandhog Hotel. Lots of good stuff. Um, moving on to Skrull on Buddy. And Skrull on Buddy is just something that I've spotted on social media somewhere and thought you might enjoy. And this one is a clip of Punch Brothers playing the Imperial March from Star Wars. Um, and it is exactly what that sounds like. Uh rather than me explain it, I'll stick a link in the show notes and you can go and watch it and see. But it's yeah, it's part of this new tour they've got for the records coming out in July. Um, and there seems to be a theme of exploration and adventure about this tour, and that would certainly fit in with that. But yeah, really, uh it's a great bit of music, and it's really fun to hear them play it. Um, enough said about that, go and watch it, it's fun. Um, and then finally, the in my ears this week, but it's more in my eyes. I've been rereading Neil Rosenberg's book Bluegrass. Um, and it's a long time since I read it all the way through, and I I've learned so much more about the music and the history since. I'm really enjoying going back through and piecing some things together and connecting some threads I missed the first time, listening to a bunch of music that I hadn't heard before, revisiting some stuff. Um, yeah, really, really interesting. Really interesting, just you know, digging through that one again. Uh, it's a great book. If you haven't read it, I would definitely check it out. But that leads me on to the final bit of this episode, which is a quick chat with Gabe Witcher about his app Gig Ledger Pro, um, built for working musicians to help them keep on track of their finances. Sounds like a great idea, um, but I'm not going to tell you any more about it. I will let Gabe explain it to you. Hi, Gabe. Good to see you again. Hey, you too. Um, you've been developing an app for musicians called Gig Ledger Pro. I'd love to hear a bit about that. How did that come about?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, it it came about because I couldn't find uh a solution that was already out there that was what I needed. Everything was either uh kind of geared towards retail uh accounting software, or you know, just over bloated or really underdeveloped. And I found myself really wanting a set of specific things that could cut out you know all the stuff that I that I didn't need to use and just give me the information that I really needed, which was how much money do I have coming on the horizon in the future, how much money is owed to me uh for gigs I've already done, and how can I make invoicing as easy and simple as possible? And that's basically what all I needed. And surprisingly, nothing really got it done in an efficient way.

Matt

It's often the way with um these kinds of things, somebody fixes their own problem, and it turns out that's everybody else's problem too.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah, the the the more I started talking to friends and colleagues, asking them, hey, what do you what do you use to keep track of your stuff and make sure that you know people are you've gotten paid for the work you've done and stuff. And everyone had a different hodgepodge uh you know method of doing it. And um every time I mentioned, hey, would you use something like this? Everyone was like, Yes, absolutely. So it went from being just kind of a you know a small thing that I was just gonna use for myself to thinking about how can I actually build this so people will it'll be useful to people.

Matt

Well, and being a musician is usually a kind of multi-strand career anyway, because most people teach, they'll gig, they'll record, and there's just different things come in as like if you're on tour, there'll be per diems and things like that. And so it's a it's quite a specific set of things, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it it is, and and nothing you know, even something as simple as just categorizing the jobs properly is you know on something like Fresh Books or Quicken is you know more complicated than it needs to be. Um so I just wanted to give musicians a set of things that uh we know we're gonna we're gonna use to make it easy. You know, you can cater you can set up a project in there and categorize it by okay, this is a recording date, this is uh for a TV show, this is a concert, this is um an arrangement I'm doing. And then once you make the project, you can add the specifics, okay? And everything becomes a line item that then, if you have to invoice, because we often you know sometimes you have to invoice, sometimes you don't. Um and I also know that for me, just the idea of sitting down and setting up an invoice and putting all the information in there was uh often a barrier to actually getting it done and getting paid. Um and I thought, you know, that's just well, that's just my laziness and you know, not wanting to do it. And everyone I talked to is like, oh, it's the worst. Yeah. Um so I wanted to make it as easy and seamless as possible. It's it's it's two clicks, two presses of a uh of a button. If you've had if you've spent you know, a couple of minutes putting all the information for the gig in there. Um and it's it's it's super easy.

Matt

And then presumably at the end you have a really neat list of all your income, where it's come from, and and probably who's the quickest payer, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. That's that as I started to get deeper into this thing, I realized, oh, I can actually I can actually you know calculate a bunch of different things, like how long it takes certain clients to pay, and um you know how how far in advance they usually ask to book. And you can start to see larger patterns if you've entered all your stuff in there. Uh another thing that I uh realized could be super useful is um it will calculate your estimated taxes per quarter. Which a lot of musicians, it's uh I know, and I'm very guilty of this. I that's the last thing I want to think of. And then when it comes time, I gotta, you know, okay, where's all this coming from? And some people pay cash, and some people you know pay through a corporation, and some people pay all these different methods from dozens of different places, and uh trying to okay, some of it's uh you know not already been taxed, and what what's you know how complicated it it gets. Um and so with this, you can you just enter it, it there's all there's a whole section of analytics that'll tell you what you've made that you need to pay taxes on. Um and so you can keep track of that stuff.

Matt

And it saves you that mad panic when it comes to deadline day of going through everything in one go because you've been incrementally doing it as you went along. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's all right there, and uh you can export a a report uh to see it all in one place. And um I actually spent some time uh uh doing it for different countries. So you know, in America we we have uh 1099s and W-2s, but the UK has a different system and uh Canada has a different system and French Canada has a different system, and so and Australia has a different system. So basically all the English uh speaking countries plus um French Canadian um I have it. So you can you can select the region that you're in and it'll automatically update what kind of forms that you need to worry about, the dates of when the estimations are due um and how many periods per year and all that kind of stuff.

Matt

It's amazing, is it when you when you find a thing that you need and you create it, it m seems ridiculous that somebody hasn't thought this before, but it sounds like such a simple, like efficient system for these things. Because like you say, if you've you know, most things that do these kind of jobs either don't quite do the right thing or do so many other things that you don't need.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and you know, just I remember trying to do QuickBooks and the terminology it's you know, something just as simple as the terminology is just different enough to where I have to take time now to learn okay, wait, what does this mean and what does this mean? And then figure out how, you know, how to kind of do accounting uh in a real way, which is not something that I want to spend time doing. I just just let me know how much do I have coming in. I can see the total right there, tell me what I'm owed, and that way I can kind of get a sense of where I'm at financially at the moment. Um because I I'm sure I'm not the only freelancer out there who you know wakes up every day and goes, Okay, how am I gonna make this all work? Um and just being able to see those totals specifically uh really helps calm the nerves and either let you know, okay, I'm doing okay for you know this many months ahead, or I need to actually hustle some more right now and make some stuff happen.

Matt

And I guess if you see an accumulated pile of invoices that haven't been paid yet, it gives you a bit of an incentive to spend an hour or two on admin and chasing people.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, absolutely. I mean so gosh, so much of my life is chasing down money. And uh and so yeah, and so it's all right there. And I and also I you know, it's it's not irregular for me to do a gig and go and know that I'll get paid in a week or so and then completely forget I've done it. You know, somebody sends me a track to record on, and it's you know, in the middle of a you know, four or five other remote recording sessions that I'm doing that day, and it's a you know, it's a quick song, it takes me 30 minutes, I do it and I send it out and I'm on to the next thing, and I can easily in a week forget that I even did it. So to have it right there and go, Oh right, I need to get paid for that. Um super helpful.

Matt

Yeah, it sounds incredibly useful. Great idea.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you.