My guest this week is author Dan Gutstein, who joins me to chat about his book 'Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane'.

The book traces the history of one of America's most recorded folk songs, from it's origins amongst enslaved people on southern plantations, through the Civl War and minstrelsy, to the folk revival and beyond. On its journey Little Liza Jane, and its variants, was performed and recorded by a huge range of artists, including Del McCoury, Nina Simone, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, Alison Krauss...and David Bowie.

It's a fascinating subject, which could have filled several episodes!

You'll find more info on Dan and the book (including links to buy a copy) at www.dangutstein.com/#/littlelizajane

There's a great playlist of Liza Jane recordings on Spotify if you want to check out some of the versions we discuss in the episode.

You'll also find info on the ongoing film project Dan talks about at www.lizajanemovie.com

Happy picking!
Matt

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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 News)

• Noam Pikelny and Friends tour dates
• Alison Krauss tour dates
• Earl Scruggs Center events
• Bela Fleck’s Blue Ridge Banjo Camp
• European Bluegrass Summit

Releases (The Grass is New)

• Buy Sarah Jarosz's Blue Heron Suite
• Sierra Hull’s Holiday Favorites 7” vinyl
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist

Scroll on Buddy

• Tony Rice Manzanita vinyl reissue
• Rounder vinyl bundle (Tony Rice, JD Crowe, Bela Fleck)

Other bits

• Sign up for emails https://bluegrassjamalong.com/contact/
• The Grass is (mostly) New 2024 playlist
• Full list of interviews
• Peghead Nation
  • Use the code ‘jamalong’ for a free month of any course

Happy picking.

Matt

Send a message to Bluegrass Jam Along! (Don't forget to include your name so I know who you are!)

Support the show

===

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

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Darol Anger, one of the leading lights of progressive string band music over the last 50 years.

Through his work with the David Grisman Quintet, the Turtle Island String Quartet, bands like Psychograss and New Grange and his long standing collaboration with Mike Marshall (not to mention his own wonderful solo records), Darol has been at the forefront of pushing perceptions of what string bands can do for decades.

Today we're chatting about Darol's current band, Mr Sun, and their wonderful record Mr Sun Plays Duke Ellington's Nutcracker, which feels very appropriate as we enter holiday season!

We talk about adapting Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's big band arrangements for string band and some of the challenges that involved, as well as why the humour in this music (and all music) is so important. We also talk about why Darol keeps coming back to the string band as a format, why he loves playing with Mr Sun and much more.

This one was a real treat.

You'll find more info on Mr Sun, including current tour dates for the Nutcracker record, at mrsunband.com

For info and updates on Darol and his music visit darolanger.com

Darol also has a great fiddle course on ArtistWorks

Hope you enjoy this one!
Matt

Send a message to Bluegrass Jam Along! (Don't forget to include your name so I know who you are!)

Support the show

===

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

- Sign up to get updates on new episodes

- Free fiddle tune chord sheets

- Here's a list of all the Bluegrass Jam Along interviews

- Follow Bluegrass Jam Along for regular updates:

• Instagram
• Facebook

- Review us on Apple Podcasts