A 17-song tribute compilation, Long Journey Home: A Century After the 1925 Mountain City Fiddlers Convention celebrates the centenary of the iconic gathering of nearly 100 musicians in rural Mountain City, Tennessee. Produced by John McCutcheon (who also sings and plays banjo and fretless banjo on it), the album on Appalsongs showcases old-time fiddling and old time music with a number of today’s most celebrated old-time and bluegrass artists performing their own renditions of ballads, reels and tunes that have stood the test of time. Featured artists, in addition to McCutcheon and Tuttle, include Jake Blount, Old Crow Medicine Show, Tim O’Brien, Sparky & Rhonda Rucker, Becky Buller, Trey Wellington & Victor Furtado, Stuart Duncan, Cathy & Marcy’s Old Time Coalition, Kody Norris Show, Earl White Stringband, and Bruce Molsky.

Molly Tuttle, who is joined by Ketch Secor (who fronts and co-founded Old Crow Medicine Show) on “I’ve Always Been a Rambler,” is an acclaimed guitarist known for her prowess at flatpicking and cross-picking, as well as a singer- songwriter and banjo player. At age 24, she became the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year Award in 2017 and did so again the following year when the Americana Music Association also named her Instrumentalist of the Year. Tuttle has been the recipient of two Grammy Awards for Best Bluegrass Album for Crooked Tree and City of Gold in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Crooked Tree also was named Album of the Year in the International Bluegrass Music Awards, while its title track was feted as Song of the Year and she was named Female Vocalist of the Year. City of Gold, also recorded with her band Golden Highway, also was named Album of the Year during the 2023 International Folk Music Awards presented by Folk Alliance International.

Connie Kaldor is a three-time Juno Award-winning singer songwriter who has been writing and performing her songs for more than 45 years and has recorded 19 albums. Her new release, Wide Open Space, was the #2 album on the FAI Folk Chart in September. A member of the Order of Canada and a Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award recipient, she also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Woodstock Folk Festival in Woodstock, Illinois earlier this year. Kaldor is based in Montreal and tours extensively. She is frequently joined in concert by her husband Paul Campagne and sons Aleksi and Gabriel Campagne. She will be among the official showcase artists during the Northeast Regional folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference in Albany, NY in November.

The September 2025 top albums, songs and artists charts are based on 10, 565 airplays reported on 347 playlists submitted by 93 different folk DJs. The number of reported spins is shown below in parentheses.

Folk Alliance International (folk.org) is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion.

Top Albums of September 2025 

1.Long Journey Home: A Century After the 1925 Mountain City Fiddlers
Convention by Various Artists (131)

2. Wide Open Spaces by Connie Kaldor (71)

3. Look to the Moon by Patty and Craig (51)
3. Stone by Stone by Friction Farm (51)
5. Connected by Darryl Purpose (48)
6. Song of the Bricoleur by Rags Rosenberg (42)
7. Lost & Found by Becki Davis (40)
8. Mother Mind by Tekla Waterfield & Jeff Fiedler (39)
9. Hummingbird Highway by Dar Williams (38)
9. Stay Put by Elexa Dawson (38)
9. The Last Bough by Kyle Carey (38)
12. Kentucky Queen by Carla Gover (34)
12. Songs That Sing Me by Becky Buller (34)
12. Now Then by Robbie Fulks (34)
15. Sweet Resilence by Jane Fallon (32)
16. So Long Little Miss Sunshine by Molly Tuttle (30)
17. Heavy on the Blues by Rory Block (29)
18. The Light Still Shines on the Main by Jory Nash (28)
19. The Ghost of Sis Draper by Shawn Camp (27)
20. The America Chronicles by Kemp Harris (25)
21. Drum School Dropout by Christine Lavin (24)
22. Time Out #3 by The Accidentals (23)
23. New Skin by Judy Kass (22)
23. NERFA Songwriters, Vol. 1 by Various Artists (22)
25. Perennial by Kate MacLeod (21)
25. You Climb the Mountain by The Onlies (21)
27. Bridging Divides by Billy Jonas (20)
28. Wild and Clear and Blue by I’m With Her (19)
28. Squirrels by Jubal Lee Young (19)
30. One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey by Maria Muldaur (18)
30. Crown of Rose by Patty Griffin (18)
30. Callin’ Me Back by Petunia & the Vipers (18)
30. The Woods Have Shown Us by Ponyfolk (18)
30. Seeds of Dreaming by Diyet and the Love Soldiers (18)
35. Bones of Trees by Tim Grimm (17)
35. Personal History by Mary Chapin Carpenter (17)
35. Hard Headed Woman by Margo Price (17)
38. Ghost of the Old West by George Mann and Mick Coates (16)

38. Lost & Found Highway by Joselyn & Don (16)
38. Lift Up the Old World by Hilary Hawke (16)
38. Dark Ages by Eliza Gilkyson (16)
42. Riding High in Texas by Asleep at the Wheel (15)
42. The Way I Tell the Story by David Wilcox (15)
42. American Romance by Lukas Nelson (15)
42. Kerrville Covers by Janet Feld (15)
42. Shadows of a Ghost Town by Meghan Clarisse (15)
47. American Portraits by Marty Cooper (14)
47. Airline Highway by Rodney Crowell (14)
47. Arcadia by Alison Krauss and Union Station (14)
47. The Way the West Was Won by Dallas Burrow (14)
47. We’re Only Human by Hayes Carll (14)

Top Songs of September 2025

1. “I’ve Always Been a Rambler” by Molly Tuttle (23)
2. “No Kings Here” by Tom Paxton (18)
3. “Love, Surround Me” by Patty and Craig (15)
4. “Cuckoo” by John McCutcheon (14)
4. “Me & Robbie Erenberg” by Darryl Purpose (14)
6. “Louder Than Guns” by Friction Farm (13)
7. “Hummingbird Highway” by Dar Williams (12)
7. “900 Miles” by Tim O’Brien (12)
9. “Goodnight America” by Kemp Harris (11)
9. “Bullfrogs” by Rags Rosenberg (11)
11. “It Ain’t Gonna Go Away (Ode to the Epstein Files)” by Cathy Fink
& Marcy Marxer (10)
11. “Memory of August” by Anne Hills (10)
11. “What You Gonna Do With the Baby” by Old Crow Medicine Show (10)
11. “Returning to Myself” by Brandi Carlile (10)
11. “The Last Bough” by Kyle Carey (10)
11. “Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase” by Cathy and Marcy’s Old Time Coaltion (10)
17. “Open All the Doors and Windows” by Billy Jonas (9)
17. “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down” by Sparky and Rhonda Rucker (9)
17. “Oh, Little One” by Jory Nash (9)
17. “House Carpenter” by Jake Blount (9)
17. “At Our Best” by Judy Kass (9)
17. “Dear Time” by Alison Brown and Steve Martin (9)
17. “Wide Open Spaces” by Connie Kaldor (9)
24. “Baling Hay” by Elexa Dawson (8)
24. “Early Fields” by Kate MacLeod (8)
24. “Millworker” by Becky Buller (8)
24. “The Edge” by Becki Davis (8)
24. “Something My Own” by Tekla Waterfield & Jeff Fiedler (8)
24. “Rocky Road to Dinah’s House” by Becky Buller (8)
24. “Bridget O’Brien” by Maggie’s Wake (8)
24. “Feel What Our Hearts Feel” by Darryl Purpose (8)
24. “Savannah Is a Devilish Girl” by Robbie Fulks (8)
24. “American Dream” by Friction Farm (8)
24. “This Car” by Connie Kaldor (8)
24. “Bright Side of the Blues” by Bryan Titus (8)

Top Artists of September 2025

1. Connie Kaldor (71)
2. Molly Tuttle (57)
3. Friction Farm (53)
4. Patty and Craig (51)
4. Darryl Purpose (51)
6. Becky Buller (50)
7. Dar Williams (49)
8. Tom Paxton (48)
9. John McCutcheon (44)
10. Rags Rosenberg (43)
11. Becki Davis (41)
12. Tekla Waterfield & Jeff Fiedler (39)
12. Elexa Dawson (39)
14. Kyle Carey (38)
15. Woody Guthrie (36)
16. Bruce Springsteen (35)
16. Robbie Fulks (35)
18. Carla Gover (34)
19. Jane Fallon (33)
19. John Prine (33)
21. Christine Lavin (31)
22. Jory Nash (30)
22. Cheryl Wheeler (30)
24. Rory Block (29)
25. Eliza Gilkyson (28)
26. Joni Mitchell (27)
26. Shawn Camp (27)
28. Tim O’Brien (26)
29. Kemp Harris (25)
29. Tim Grimm (25)
31. Kate MacLeod (24)
31. Mary Chapin Carpenter (24)
33. Guy Clark (23)
33. Pete Seeger (23)
33. The Accidentals (23)
36. Willie Nelson (22)
36. Judy Kass (22)
36. The Onlies (22)
39. The Kennedys (21)
39. Bill Monroe (21)

Poss frequently acknowledged that he didn’t have a very conventional career path. “I used to joke that I had the perfect qualifications for being in the music business,” Poss once wrote. “I had no business training; in fact, no formal music background either but I teach Sociology of deviant Behavior.”

After graduating from Duke, he took a position with County Records in Floyd, Virginia. Poss and its owner, Dave Freeman, launched Sugar Hill Records in 1978, embracing what Poss called “contemporary music grounded in traditional music roots.” A self-described “wayward academic in an entrepreneurial role,” Poss assumed full control of the label in 1980, and moved it to Durham. He operated the label from there until its sale to Welk Music Group 20 years later. He became the group’s chairman in 2002. It’s now part of Concord Music, which also owns Rounder Records.

Among the many artists of note who recorded for Sugar Hill Records during Poss’ tenure were Pat Alger, Byron Berline, Ronnie Bowman, Sam Bush, Guy Clark, Mike Cross, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Sara Evans, Cathy Fink, Butch Hancock, Hot Rize, The Infamous Stringdusters, Chris Hillman, Wanda Jackson, Sarah Jarosz, Robert Earl Keen, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lonesome River Band, Lyle Lovett, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Nickel Creek, Tim O’Brien, Dolly Parton, Dirk Powell, The Red Clay Ramblers, Peter Rowan, Ricky Skaggs, Darrell Scott, Marty Stuart, Bryan Sutton, Chris Thile, Townes Van Zandt, Doc Watson, and Jesse Winchester.

“The identity peg for Sugar Hill is having that traditional connection to contemporary music,” Poss Told Blue ridge Outdoors in 2008. “Some have taken to describing a ‘Sugar Hill Sound,” but I am not going to try to define that. To me, it’s what connect Doc Watson to Chris Thile, ricky skaggs to Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt to dolly Parton. They all exhibit a rootedness in their contemporary expressions of music. I like it because the music comes from a place. It’s not prefabricated or manufactured.”

Douglas and Skaggs had been part of a bluegrass group called Boone Creek, whose One Way Track album was Sugar Hill’s first release in 1978. In a May 18 Facebook post, Douglas wrote of Poss: “His dream was to have a label that mirrored the same idea as Sam Phillips and his famous Sun label, which catered to a specific audience and created a new genre, Rockabilly Plus. Barry knew an audience was there for a specific form of music (bluegrass) and there were certain bands who could grow that audience and the music would evolve with the growth of that audience.”

Douglas, who also produced a number of recordings for Sugar Hill Records, noted that he and Poss were “very close friends. Confidants really. He was like my wingman and brother at any event we collided with. We would spend hours talking about the direction of the music and the parameters he wanted his label to maintain no matter the current climate.” Poss was also godfather to Douglas’ daughter Nola. “Barry loved my family, and Jill and I, along with our children, will forever press his memory closer to our hearts.”

In addition to spending many years at the helm of Sugar Hill Records, Poss was a founding board member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky and helped to launch the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

“Barry Poss was not just a champion of roots music and the artists that made it, but he was instrumental in the founding of our organization,” Ken White, IBMA’s executive director, said in a statement. “For that and so much more, we will always be grateful.”

Poss was a recipient of the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1998. The Americana Music Association also honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 in recognition of Sugar Hill’s pivotal role in both preserving and reinvigorating traditional music, while he was inducted into the Oak Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 2023.

Closer to home, Poss also served on the boards of the Carolina Theater, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, MerleFest, the North Carolina, Folklife Institute, and WUNC-FM.

While many artists and others have shared tributes to Poss since his passing, for his part Poss once said: “It’s the artists who make the music to which I’m the most indebted. They had something important to say. They needed to be heard. And I wanted to be part of their creative lives – because it mattered.”

The official showcases take place Friday and Saturday evenings from 7:15-10:15 p.m., with each artist/act performing a 15-minute set. Unplugged guerrilla showcases follow from 10:40 p.m. to 2 a.m. Also on the agenda are daytime panel discussions and workshops, a Wisdom of the Elders session, a couple of film screenings and Q & A sessions, several thematic song circles, an open mic, peer group and one-on-one mentoring sessions, an awards presentation, an exhibit hall, communal meals, and plenty of other opportunities to learn, share and network –- including during built-in afternoon breaks in the programming.

SERFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International (folk.org), a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. Formed in 2002, SERFA (serfa.org) exists to promote, develop and celebrate the diverse heritage of roots and indigenous music, dance, storytelling and related arts in the southeastern United States. SERFA has produced an annual conference since 2008. Its conference’s move to Black Mountain this year marks a return of sorts. Prior to the event’s move to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2019, it had taken place for eight consecutive years at the Montreat Conference Center, a few miles down the road and also nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted SERFA– like other FAI regional affiliates – to pivot to an online event last year, SERFA in Session: A Virtual Gathering.

Acclaimed Songwriter Thomm Jutz to Deliver Keynote Address

Named Songwriter of the Year in 2021 by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Thomm Jutz (pronounced “Yootz”) has written a number of bluegrass hits and his songs have been recorded by Balsam Range, Nanci Griffith, John Prine, and The SteelDrivers, among others. A native of Germany who has called Nashville home for many years, Jutz toured with such artists as Griffith, Mary Gauthier, David Olney, and Kim Richey; built a recording studio and produced albums for other artists – including Country Music Hall of Famers Bill Anderson and Mac Wiseman. He received a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album in 2020 for To Live in Two Worlds, Volume 1 and is featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s American Currents exhibit, which is slated to extend from 2022-2023.

Afternoon Programming Includes Workshops, Film Screenings, Song Circles, Wisdom of the Elders, and More

Nearly 20 workshops and panel discussions will delve into such topics as African-American contributions to Southern Appalachian music and dance, basics of piedmont picking, creating in community: the Jack Hardy Songwriters Exchange method, expanding our folk community, free-range folklore: an introduction to the Music Maker method, getting the gig and being invited back, the magic of collaboration, media coverage and strategy, music off the radar: making money and making a difference, simple measures for drastic guitar playing improvement, social media & fan engagement, songwriter residencies, and trends in folk radio and radio promotion.

Besides the workshops and panel discussions, there will be screenings of two recent music documentaries – The Mountain Minor and Nobody Famous – followed by Q & A sessions, as well as a Wisdom of the Elders session, several thematic song circles (songs of joy, struggle, place, and the environment), and one-on-one mentoring sessions during the afternoons.

The Mountain Minor is an award-winning narrative feature film that provides an authentic and respectful glimpse of Appalachian culture, music and history; of the joys and challenges experienced by the folks who have kept traditional mountain music alive. Loosely based on a true story, the film follows five generations of a family from their roots in eastern Kentucky in 1932 to a stage in Cincinnati, Ohio today as told by a man who yearns to return to his Kentucky home after migrating with his family to southwest Ohio during the Great Depression. Written-and directed by Dale Farmer (himself an old-time musician) and produced by Susan Pepper, a Cincinnati native now based in North Carolina, the film notably features traditional Appalachian musicians in acting roles. Among them are The Tillers, Smithsonian Folkways artist Elizabeth LaPrelle, banjoist and fiddler Dan Gellert, and Pepper herself. Following a series of festival screenings, The Mountain Minor had a limited theatrical run in late 2019-early 2020 due to the pandemic. It has aired on some public television stations and is available for home viewing.

Named Best Documentary in the 2021 New Jersey Film Festival and Best Music Documentary in the Seattle Film Festival earlier this year, Nobody Famous is set against the backdrop of the socially and politically volatile 1960s and traces the quick rise and ready fall of the folk-pop trio Pozo Seco Singers as folk music’s zeitgeist gives way to the heavy rhythm of rock & roll. Nobody Famous features Taylor Pie (Susan Taylor), who helped form the trio with Don Williams in the early 1960s and has been a solo singer-songwriter and musician since it disbanded. As Taylor Pie – then fresh from her first year in college – recounts today, while Williams went on to become one of the most successful country music artists of the 20th century, she shied away from fame and fortune, instead choosing to “go where the folk wind blows” – embracing her own path, her own unique artistry, and her own individual identity in the process.

Dozens of Artists to be Featured in Official and Guerilla Showcases

Following the official showcases (as well as on Thursday overnight), late-night guerilla showcases will take place in various rooms for several hours. AcousticMusicScene.com, which has had a presence at the SERFA Conference since 2011, will host late-night song swaps and a midnight hoot (featuring two-dozen artists/acts – each performing one song) on Thursday, May 12, overnight. The AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot is a pre-arranged, round-robin song swap, a three-plus-hour version of which has been a popular staple at Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) conferences since 2007, will feature two-dozen artists/acts – each performing one song. The Midnight Hoot is intended to provide concert and festival presenters, folk DJs and others with an opportunity to get a small sampling of the music of a lot of artists in a short period of time on the conference’s opening night. It also enables artists to enjoy each other’s company and music before the conference really gets into full swing on Friday.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

11 p.m. PuffBunny Records Songswarm: Taylor Pie, Nancy K. Dillon,Nicholas Edward Williams

11:30 p.m. Texas!: Andrew Delaney, Claudia Gibson, Scott Martin

12:00 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot, Part 1:

(one song each, not necessarily in order of appearance)

Antonio Andrade, Ashley & Simpson, Meg Braun, Matt Burke, Cheryl

Cawood, Emerald Rae, Kala Farnham, Alice Hasen, Lara Herscovitch,

Lucy Isabel, Rob Lytle, Karyn Oliver

1:00 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot, Part 2:

(one song each, not necessarily in order of appearance)

Amy & Mike Aiken, Crowes Pasture, Dan & Faith, Paul Helou,

Letters To Abigail, Crys Matthews, Brant Miller, Halley Neal, Sam

Robbins, Hank Stone, Annette Wasilik, Elly Wininger

Editor’s Note: In addition to hosting the AcousticMusicScene.com guerrilla showcase and moderating the Q & A session with Taylor Pie following the screening o the award-winning documentary Nobody Famous that features her, I will be assisting PuffBunny Records (Taylor Pie’s label, for which I handle public relations) with its Friday night guerrilla showcase and an exhibit hall table. I will also again be a mentor offering advice and counsel on various aspects of PR, social media and strategic communications. A board member of Folk Alliance International, I’m a past president of Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) and continue to serve on its board of directors. I have been an active participant at SERFA conferences since 2011.

Here’s a link to view an official video for Frank and Allie Lee’s rendition of “Lost John”: https://www.mountainwaterfilms.com/post/lost-john-music-video-by-frank-and-allie-lee

Although a high school student, Raleigh, NC native Eliza Meyer is an old soul who enjoys singing and playing bluegrass, traditional stringband, old time and classic country music. She cites the traditional ballads of Madison County and the round peak music of Surry County as influences. A multi-instrumentalist, she plays fiddle, banjo, guitar and autoharp. Meyer’s song “Hello Stranger” is the title track from her debut album that was released last month.

During a musical career that spanned more than four decades, David Olney, 71, recorded and released more than 20 albums and had his songs covered or co-written by such other notable artists as Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Laurie Lewis, Del McCoury, and Linda Ronstadt. Olney, whose last album, This Side or the Other, was released in 2018, was a prolific songwriter and a mainstay of the Nashville music community. The beloved singer-songwriter died Jan. 18 after suffering an apparent heart attack while performing onstage at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

An article about him — featuring remembrances from other artists and links to a few videos (including one from the 30A Songwriters Festival) – was posted to AcousticMusicScene.com last month. Here’s a link: https://acousticmusicscene.com/2020/01/20/david-olney-beloved-singer-songwriter-1948-2020/

The January 2020 Top Albums, Songs and Artists charts are based on 14, 263 airplays reported on 557 playlists submitted by 127 different DJs. The number of reported spins is shown below in parentheses.

Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org) is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion.

The monthly top albums and songs charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission.

Top Albums of January 2020

1. Treat a Stranger Right by Frank and Allie Lee (101)
2. Recollections/Revolutions by Windborne (87)
3. Hello Stranger by Eliza Meyer (81)
4. Modern Old-Time Sounds for the Bluegrass and Folksong Jamboree by The Lonesome Ace Stringband (54)
5. Winter Stories by Judy Collins and Jonas Fjeld (52)
6. Love and Fire by Annette Wasilik (49)
7. Then and Now by Dan and Faith (45)
8. Good Good Man by Vance Gilbert (43)
9. Making Life Sweet by The Early Risers (40)
9. Heart Land Again by Tim Grimm (40)
11. Rearrange My Heart by Che Apalache (39)
11. All That’s Real by Gathering Sparks (39)
13. Lines and Spaces by Heather Pierson (37)
14. Songs of Our Native Daughters by Our Native Daughters (36)
15. Up Against the Sky” by Dave Gunning (34)
15. Honest by Ordinary Elephant (34)
17. Catching Rain by Peter Mayer (33)
18. Assiniboine and the Red by The Small Glories (32)
19. Circadian by Letitia Vansant (31)
20. Acorns by Ben Winship (30)
20. Come on Up to the House: Women Sing Waits by Various Artists (30)
20. The Storyteller’s Suitcase by Ellis Paul (30)
20. Tall Fiddler by Michael Cleveland (30)
24. Bones and Gravity by Lizanne Knott (29)
25. Wahoo! by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer (27)
25. Best of the Rest by Si Kahn (27)
25. Even the Sparrow by Kelly Hunt (27)
28. Daytime Highs and Overnight Lows by Eric Brace and Last Train Home (26)
28. Old Ghosts and Lost Causes by Helene Cronin (26)
28. Coyote by Catherine Maclellan (26)
31. Fair Play to You All by Tommy Sands (25)
31. No Holds Barred by The Flyin’ A’s (25)
33. To Everyone in All the World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger by John
McCutcheon (24)
33. Heroes and Sparrows by Kevin Brown (24)
33. Going to the Well by Linda McRae (24)
33. Words of Love by Allison Lupton (24)
37. Due to the Darkness by The Gossamer Strings (23)
37. Old Tin” by Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones (23)
37. If You Fall by Jaime Michaels (23)
37. Straight to Marrow by Clint Alphin (23)
41. Wildwood by Katie Dahl (22)
41. String Tides by Mark Grobner (22)
41. Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne by Amy Speace (22)
44. Oklahoma by Keb’ Mo (21)
44. What Will We Do by Lula Wiles (21)
44. Free and Fine by Jordi Baizan (21)
47. Wonderful Fairytale by Bill Jones (20)
47. Leylines by Rising Appalachia (20)
47. Sketches by Natalie Macmaster (20)
47. Heather Down the Moor by Gatehouse (20)
51. Visions by Alice Howe (19)
51. When They Fall by Annie and Rod Capps (19)
51. Every Single Star by Dori Freeman (19)
51. Inner Journey by Darin and Brooke Aldridge (19)
51. Early Bright by Seamus Egan (19)
56. Medicine for Living by Alexa Rose (18)
56. The Point of Arrival by Carrie Newcomer (18)
58. Greening the Dark by Debra Cowan (17)
58. Lonesome Road by Alan Barnosky (17)
58. Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves by Allison De Groot and
Tatiana Hargreaves (17)
58. The Longest Night of the Year, Volume Two by Various Artists (17)
58. Lacher Prise by Michael Doucet (17)
58. The Great Irish Songbook by Dervish (17)
64. Pretty Little Mister by Tui (16)
64. Moth Nor Rust Ii by Jon Brooks (16)
64. Patty Griffin by Patty Griffin (16)
64. Home by Billy Strings (16)
68. Paws of a Bear by Sofia Talvik (15)
68. This Long Stretch of Gravel by John Lowell (15)
68. October in the Railroad Earth by Tom Russell (15)
68. All Mine by Sarah Morris (15)

Top Songs of January 2020

1. “Hello Stranger” by Eliza Meyer (24)
2. “Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right” by Frank and Allie Lee (17)
3. “You Are My Flower” by Frank and Allie Lee (15)
4. “Another Great Day Above Ground” by Vance Gilbert (13)
5. “Lost John” by Frank and Allie Lee (11)
5. “Chincoteague” by Annette Wasilik (11)
5. “Come and Go With Me” by Frank and Allie Lee (11)
5. “Black Myself” by Our Native Daughters (11)
5. “Our Town” by Eliza Meyer (11)
10. “The World Is on Fire” by Annette Wasilik (10)
10. “When I Was a Cowboy” by Frank and Allie Lee (10)
10. “The Welcome Song” by Jan Aldridge Clark (10)
10. “The Dreamer” by Che Apalache (10)
14. “Footsteps” by Dan and Faith (9)
14. “Eighth of January” by Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves (9)
14. “The Midnight Special” by Lead Belly (9)
14. “Song on the Times” by Windborne (9)
14. “Bringing in the Light” by Gathering Sparks (9)
14. “Making Life Sweet” by The Early Risers (9)
14. “Katy Bar the Door” by Ben Winship (9)
14. “Get Up on That Horse Again” by Heather Pierson (9)
14. “Northwest Passage” by Judy Collins and Jonas Fjeld (9)
23. “Big Iron” by The Lonesome Ace Stringband (8)
23. “A Hazy Shade of Winter” by Crowes Pasture (8)
23. “You Can’t Put My Fire Out” by Letitia Vansant (8)
23. “Caney Fork” by Eric Brace and Last Train Home (8)
23. “Time” by Rosanne Cash (8)
23. “Sugar Babe” by Frank and Allie Lee (8)
23. “Jerusalem Tomorrow” by David Olney (8)

Top Artists of January 2020

Cohen joined Mike Seeger and Tom Paley in 1958 to form the New Lost City Ramblers, a vocal and instrumental urban folk group that helped to popularize and spark renewed interest in traditional string band music and played a major role in the 1960s folk revival as it evolved to include bluegrass and unaccompanied ballads in its repertoire. In its first year as a band, the New Lost City Ramblers played sold-out concerts at New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall and recorded its eponymous debut album for Moe Asch’s Folkways Records. Tracy Schwarz replaced Paley in the group in 1962.
.
During its heyday, the New Lost City Ramblers recorded some 15 albums and played colleges, coffeehouses and notable clubs across the country, as well as the very first Newport Folk Festival in 1959. The seminal old time string band not only based much of its music on the old-time cultural stylings of the 1920s and 1930s, but they also helped introduce traditional performers from the rural south to urban audiences and influenced a number of other musicians – including the Byrds, Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan.

“I listened to The New Lost City Ramblers. Everything about them appealed to me –their style, their singing, their sound,” writes Dylan in Chronicles. “Their songs ran the gamut in styles, everything from mountain ballads to fiddle tunes and railroad blues. All their songs vibrated with some dizzy, portentous truth… I couldn’t listen to them enough.”

A multi-instrumentalist, Cohen played banjo, guitar and mandolin. Besides his work with the New Lost City Ramblers, which recorded its final album, There Ain’t No Way Out, during a 1997 reunion, Cohen recorded and toured with the Putnam County String Band (featuring Jay and Lyn Ungar, and Abby Newton) and frequently performed with the Down Hill Strugglers in later years. Acoustic Disc released a solo recording, Stories The Crow Told Me, in 1998. As a co-founder of Friends of Old Time Music in 1961, he also helped to introduce such notable artists as Gus Cannon, Bill Monroe, Mississippi John Hurt, The Stanley Brothers, and Doc Watson to New York audiences. He penned many articles for Sing Out! Magazine and liner notes for albums including Jerry Garcia & David Grisman: Shady Grove.

As a photographer, Cohen also helped to visually document a young Bob Dylan’s arrival in New York, Beat Generation writers, and old time musicians of Appalachia. His documentary films have aired on PBS stations and the BBC and screened at film festivals. He also joined T-Bone Burnett as music consultant on the film Cold Mountain and appeared in No Direction Home, Martin Scorcese’s film about Bob Dylan.

Cohen, who lived in New York’s lower Hudson Valley, was predeceased by his wife, Penny Seeger (1943-1993), half-sister of Pete Seeger, with whom he had two children (Rufus and Sonya).

In 2011, Cohen donated his archive –- including films, photographs, music recordings and other historical ephemera to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, while many of his photographs also can be found in the collections of notable museums throughout the U.S.

As part of it efforts to keep the tradition of bluegrass and old-time music alive and to spotlight local Bay Area artists, the grassroots, nonprofit, volunteer-run festival has also slated a band contest for the first time.

Special shows for children also are on the schedule, while a Bluegrass and Old-Time in the Schools program aims to expose elementary and secondary school students to the legacy of this roots music.

More information on the festival can be found at www.sfbluegrass.org.

Entitled Mountain Fiddler, the album originally released in 1978, also features Country Gentlemen band members Doyle Lawson on guitar, James Bailey on banjo, and Spider Gilliam on bass fiddle. The album was produced by Barry Poss, who later became founder and president of Sugar Hill Records. Sen. Byrd was reportedly persuaded to make a commercial recording of his music after he recorded some fiddle tunes for the Library of Congress in 1977. The album’s tracks include “Red Bird,” “Turkey In The Straw,” There’s More Pretty Girls Than One,” “Cripple Creek,” “Forked Deer,” “Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die,” “Cumberland Gap,” “Rye Whisky,” “Durang’s Hornpipe,” “Roving Gambler,” “Old Joe Clark,” “Wish I Had Stayed In The Wagon Yard,” “Come Sundown She’ll Be Gone,” and “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.”

Inspired by Clark Kessinger and other musicians in the Mountain State that he called home, Byrd acquired his love of fiddling at an early age. And old-time rural string music remained a lifelong passion. The Senator was known to keep a fiddle in his office and break it out from time to time.

A son of folklorist Charles Seeger and music teacher and composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, brother of Peggy and half-brother of Pete, Mike Seeger grew up surrounded by music. The field recordings of rural southern folk music that his father collected, and his parents’ singing of such songs around the house, would prove inspirational to him. A multi-instrumentalist, he learned to play the autoharp as a youngster and later picked up the guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, dulcimer and harmonica.

In 1958, Seeger captured first place in the banjo category at the Galax Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention in Virginia. That year, he also joined John Cohen and Tom Paley to form the New Lost City Ramblers, which played sold-out concerts at New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall and recorded its eponymous debut album for Moe Asch’s Folkways Records that fall. The influential vocal and instrumental urban folk group helped to popularize and spark renewed interest in traditional string band music and played a major role in the 1960s folk revival as it evolved to include bluegrass and unaccompanied ballads in its repertoire.

During their heyday, the New Lost City Ramblers recorded some 15 albums and played colleges, coffeehouses and notable clubs across the country, as well as the very first Newport Folk Festival in 1959. The New Lost City Ramblers not only based much of their music on the old-time cultural stylings of the 1920s and 1930s, but they also helped introduce traditional performers from the rural south to urban audiences and influenced a number of other musicians – including the Byrds, Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan.

Through the years, Mike Seeger appeared on dozens of recordings. In the late 1960s, he formed The Strange Creek Singers. Its members also included Tracy Schwartz (who had replaced Tom Paley in the New Lost City Ramblers in 1962), Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens and Lamar Grier. Seeger also started performing more frequently as a solo artist at this time. He made field recordings featuring rural southern musicians, produced educational videos on various instruments and styles, and recorded albums with his sister, Peggy. During his lifetime, Seeger received four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and six Grammy Award nominations. In May, as previously reported on AcousticMusicScene.com, the NEA named Seeger as the recipient of its 2009 Bess Lomax Hawes Award in recognition of his significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of our cultural heritage.