Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician Jason Isbell and his band the 400 Unit will release a special new covers album, Georgia Blue, October 15 with all proceeds benefitting three non-profit organizations: Black Voters Matter, Fair Fight and Georgia STAND-UP.

Hi folks and welcome to My Bluegrass Heart.

I think of this project as the third chapter in a trilogy which began with 1988’s Drive, and continued with Bluegrass Sessions in 1999.

A year or so back, I’d had a thought about doing some shows with Sierra Hull & Molly Tuttle, and we got together to jam. (Mostly I was thinking they’d be amazing together without me!) But, later in the recording of the album it became clear to me that I was propagating the boys club, while there were female players who were just as good. Even though I already had more than an album’s worth of music recorded, we did an awesome session with Molly, Sierra, and a couple of dudes -  Mark Schatz and Andy Leftwich - cutting three more tunes.

Join me on Sunday, September 12th at 8pm EDT to celebrate the release of my first bluegrass album in over 20 years, My Bluegrass Heart. This stream features the band's debut performance live from RockyGrass in Lyons, CO and highlights a new generation of bluegrass players including fiddlist Michael Cleveland, mandolin virtuoso Sierra Hull, multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses, bassist Mark Schatz, and guitarist Bryan Sutton.

GRAMMY-nominated artist Joe Troop’s new album is coming August 20 on Free Dirt Records and Rolling Stone has the premiere on his first music video for the album. It’s for his song “Mercy for Migrants,” featuring roots music stars Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn. The song is Troop’s plea for empathy for those trying to cross the US border searching for a better life.

They nearly always come back. All the people that leave bluegrass. I had a strong feeling that I’d be coming back as well. My Bluegrass Heart is my first bluegrass record in over 20 years. It comes out September 10th but you can hear Charm School (featuring Billy Strings on guitar and Chris Thile on mandolin) right now.

The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bela Fleck have joined together on record for the first time to release a special 45RPM 7” on Alabama-based label Single Lock Records. Gospel icons The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bela Fleck, who occupies a similarly lofty perch in the world of bluegrass, have collectively earned 20 GRAMMY Awards and scores of other accolades.

For the first time in its 49-year history, the celebrated RockyGrass bluegrass festival will offer a dynamic livestream. Produced by award-winning NOCOAST TV, the high-definition stream, which features 8 cameras and stereo audio will be available July 23rd to 25th, 2021.

New song up now for GRAMMY nominated Joe Troop of Che Apalache. “Red, White & Blues” (feat. Tim O’Brien) is Joe’s homage to the difficult legacy of America. Folk Radio UK premiered the song today for 4th of July and Joe’s got some interesting thoughts on the holiday: