Podcasts by Music City Roots

Music City Roots: Live From The Factory is a weekly concert and live radio show that broadcasts every Wednesday night (7PM CST) on WMOT Roots Radio 89.5 FM in Murfreesboro-Nashville, Tennessee, and worldwide at www.musiccityroots.com. It's hosted by Grammy-winning artist Jim Lauderdale, legendary radio announcer Keith Bilbrey and show journalist/interview guy Craig Havighurst. We feature leading lights and new discoveries in Americana, blues, rock and roll, gospel, jazz, rockabilly, bluegrass, newgrass, western, folk, singer songwriter, country, soul, vintage, ragtime, cow punk, honky tonk, big band, swing, acoustic, celtic, and more!

Since going on the air in 2009, Music City Roots has built a worldwide community of lovers of hand-made, real music. We showcase the finest artistry working in or passing through the dynamic Nashville music scene. With old-school radio presentation before a large live audience, artist interview and great audio, MCR is one of the best ways to get a weekly fix of roots music.

Further podcasts by Music City Roots

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Roots Rewind - Singular Songwriters from 2018-06-28T22:01:24

It's a rewind show featuring four singular songwriters - Nashville artists doing what Nashville does best. We launch the show with our own in-house master, the country/Americana/bluegrass song d...

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Roots Rewind: Where Were They Then? w/ Sturgill, Margo, St. Paul... from 2018-06-08T22:10:52

A Rewind show we're calling Where Were They Then? Five artists who've become stars of Americana playing the MCR stage on their way up. The explosive New South soul of St Paul and the Broken Bone...

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Roots on the Road 5.16.18 w Travelin' McCourys, Nora Jane Struthers, Joe Mullins and Emma Hern from 2018-06-05T22:21:13

The show returns to the road. Not a very long road though. We're back in downtown Nashville at the City Winery with a lineup split in two chapters. In the first half, it's Americana rock and sou...

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Roots Rewind - 11.21.12 w/ Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller, etc. from 2018-05-15T15:42:12

We rewind, all the way back to Nov. 21, 2012. It was an historic occasion too, celebrating the release of...

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April 11, 2018 w/ Kathy Mattea, Tim O'Brien, Connie Smith and more from 2018-04-24T22:51:18

The show is live and back on the road to yet another treasured venue, the Nashville Palace, a big old honky tonk near the Grand Ole Opry. And it's an Opry worthy evening as we pay tribute to Lit...

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MCR Rewind - 7.22.15 w/ Mike Henderson and more from 2018-04-18T00:40:19

An absolutely classic MCR from July of 2015. This memorable night featured Nashville's deepest electric blues and one of the nation's most important new acoustic folk duos. The former is legenda...

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Roots Rewind - Women Who Killed And Thrilled from 2018-04-12T21:38:08

It's a Roots Rewind show where we mine our tape vaults for standout performances by women who killed and thrilled between 2013 and last year. We'll hear Memphis bass player and torchy songwriter...

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Rewind: Great MCR Guitarists from 2018-03-27T00:54:46

We rewind our way through the years of great performances by the best guitarists from and passing through Music City. It's a tribute to the instrument that made Nashville possible, drawing on el...

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March 1, 2018 Roots on the Road with Kevin Gordon, Katie Pruitt, Lillie Mae and DADDY from 2018-03-19T23:14:04

MCR is back on the Road with an all new show from that famous Nashville crossroads and musical watering hole known as 3rd & Lindsley. It's a night heavy on traditional rock and roll, with a swea...

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Roots Rewind: Texas in Tennessee from 2018-03-12T22:59:09

It's a decades old relationship, not without it's marital squabbles, but who can deny that Nashville has been made all the richer by the two way highway between Music City and the Lone Star Stat...

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Roots Rewind - Great String Bands from 2018-03-06T17:49:53

An archival Rewind show where the string is the thing. String bands on our stage between 2011 and 2017, featuring a wide range of what modern day musicians are doing with the bedrock beneath tra...

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Roots Rewind - Jamgrass Special from 2018-03-01T22:41:04

This new Roots Rewind show features the best in newgrass and jamgrass, from founding fathers to favorite sons. Sam Bush and John Cowan were in New Grass Revival together in the 70s and 80s. We'l...

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Jan. 27, 2018 - Roots on the Road w/ John Oates, Greg Garing, Derek Hoke and Ms. Adventure from 2018-02-12T23:57:08

Check out our first live show of 2018 and the first from our Roots on the Road series, as we stage Roots at leading venues all around Nashville TN. This one comes from the City Winery with a lin...

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Roots Rewind - Songwriter Arrivals from 2018-02-03T18:12:06

With Music City Roots on limited run this winter and spring as we work toward moving into a new venue, we're offering up Roots Rewind shows pulled from the audio vaults of the show's 8+ years on...

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Dec. 13, 2017 w Suzy Bogguss, Anthony DaCosta, Whiskey Gentry and Dawn Landes from 2018-01-30T00:23:46

It's a year-end feast of sound and celebration as Roots closes a four year run at the Factory, with a gorgeous and wide ranging lineup. Modernist songwriter Anthony DaCosta pairs his spectral gu...

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Dec. 6, 2017 w Billy Burnette, Hannah Aldridge, Mike Younger, Maybe April from 2018-01-26T14:25:13

Nashville, Muscle Shoals and Memphis are all represented on a Tennessee Wednesday night. From Music City we'll hear the sweet trio harmony of country music new comers Maybe April. And From Memph...

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Nov. 29, 2017 w/ Cordovas, Darrin Bradbury, Alex Williams, Lost Hollow from 2017-12-20T20:57:23

Hard core country music is finally back on the radar of at least some of the major labels on Music Row, and we'll open this week's show with discovery and Big Machine Records artist Alex William...

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Nov. 22, 2017 w/ Radney Foster, Jimmy Hall, Ashley Cleveland, John Berry from 2017-12-12T23:15:22

This week on MCR our cup runs over with stories and soul as the mood turns to the holidays and an attitude of gratitude. We open with the sincerity and show stopping voice of country star John B...

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Nov. 15, 2017 w Scott Miller, Eric Brace, Rose Cousins and David Childers from 2017-12-05T16:09:25

This week on MCR, sets that swing from the refined to the rustic and back again. The show opens with a remarkable flight of imagination by Last Train Home founder Eric Brace. He's teamed up with...

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Nov. 8, 2017 w Christian Lopez, Leah Blevins, Lauren Alexander and Greg Hall from 2017-11-27T14:54:29

This week on MCR, a West Virginia songwriter steps up on the big stage with chops in songwriting, singing and stagecraft that are rare for anyone , let alone a 22 year old. His sophomore album R...

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Nov. 1, 2017 w Amy Black, Donna Ulisse, Guthrie Brown and archival James McMurtry from 2017-11-20T22:38:17

This week on MCR, songs in brown and black, from bluegrass to southern soul. The night starts with IBMA songwriter of the year and charming vocalist Donna Ulisse. And we close with new songs tha...

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Oct. 25, 2017 w Davy Knowles, Emi Sunshine, Hugh Masterson, Blank Range from 2017-11-09T23:04:06

This week on MCR, three from Nashville and a one man British invasion. The celebrated band Blank Range demonstrates exquisite song craft and harmony vocals in a shaggy indie rock style. Hugh Mas...

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Oct. 11, 2017 w Compton/Newberry, Suzanne Santo, Mike Barnett, Jason Eady from 2017-11-07T22:24:06

This week on Music City Roots, string bands and songwriters who show off the range and depth of Americana music. Mike Barnett proves why he's the most acclaimed young fiddler in bluegrass with a...

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Oct. 4, 2017 w Cooper/Brace/Jutz, Iron Horse, Charley Crockett, Blue Side of Lonesome from 2017-10-25T00:43:04

This week on MCR, two wildly different takes on bluegrass from two sides of the world. The show opens with The Blue Side of Lonesome, a quintet from Japan that's become a shining example of that...

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Sept. 27, 2017 w Gary Nicholson, Travis Meadown, Jon Latham and Erin Rae from 2017-10-19T21:35:16

This week on MCR, guys who get cuts. Songwriting cuts. You may not have heard of Travis Meadows but his songs have been all over the radio by the likes of Dierks Bentley and Eric Church. His own...

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Sept. 20, 2017 w Lee Roy Parnell, Danny Burns, David Luning, All Our Exes Live In Texas from 2017-10-12T22:27:46

This week on MCR, two takes on Texas, one of them from Australia. Do you know the all female vocal quartet from Sydney called All our Exes Live In Texas? You will after this episode from Liberty...

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Sept. 14, 2017 AmericanaFest w Ray Wylie Hubbard, Angaleena Presley, Cactus Blossoms, Pony Bradshaw, John Paul White from 2017-10-10T22:16:06

This week on MCR, our 2017 AmericanaFest showcase from a one-time only pop up venue in the heart of downtown Nashville. It's a five ring circus under our own big top with a sampling of what's go...

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August 23, 2017 Mandolin Mania w Bobby Osborne, Andy Statman and more from 2017-08-30T22:35:31

This week on MCR, it's Mando Mania as we assemble a multi-generational gathering of some of the finest mandolin pickers on Earth. Nashville native Casey Campbell, who grew up at and around the G...

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Aug. 16 w/ Pedal Steel Masters, Tracy Nelson, Charlie Worsham, Jon Randall from 2017-08-23T15:24:48

Before Nashville, I’d never lived in a place where part of the regular conversation and social/cultural goings on was to figure out the essence of that place and to take active steps to get clos...

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Aug. 9, 2017 w/ Tommy Emmanuel, Seth Walker, The Cleverlys, Ele Ivory from 2017-08-16T16:33:10

This week on MCR, smooth grooves, flying fingers and some country comedy gold at Liberty Hall. We open with the incomparable roots soul of Seth Walker, who brings touches of all his music city b...

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Aug. 2, 2017 w/ Jim Lauderdale, Sherman Holmes, Ralph Stanley II and Catie Offerman from 2017-08-08T10:53:16

Family ties are part of the fabric of American roots music. How often have we read (and for Pete’s sake how often have I written) that Artist X “came from a musical family”? The connection among...

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July 19, 2017 w Jerry Douglas Band, Billy Strings, Jill Andrews, Birds of Chicago from 2017-07-31T13:18

There was a festival atmosphere in Liberty Hall on Wednesday night and not just because the crowd was large and loud (though that helped). There was also that ineffable flow and unspoken dialogu...

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July 12, 2017 w Tim O'Brien, Greg Garing, Chelle Rose, Allen Thompson Band from 2017-07-18T14:35:09

Like a meal in four courses that compliment but don’t overlap, Wednesday’s Roots delivered exquisite versions of four stages of country music evolution. From the sturdy and often elegant string ...

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June 21, 2017 w Delbert McClinton, Danny Barnes, Quiles&Cloud and a Mac Wiseman tribute from 2017-07-10T22:32

This season closing show brought together all the vibes and individual craft that makes Music City Roots go, with a new folk discovery, a heartfelt bluegrass tribute and two true icons of Americ...

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June 14 w Walter Wolfman Washington, Sean McConnell, Adrian and Meredith and Mark Robinson from 2017-06-19T20:11:03

Our crew and a nice large crowd assembled for a progression from vintage sounding folk through contemporary songwriting and on to two flavors of the blues. I found this evening of live music r...

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June 7, 2017 w Rhonda Vincent&Daryle Singletary, Beppe Gambetta, The Wooks, Jon Byrd from 2017-06-16T13:27:39

Nashville is en fuego. The city’s filling up for the CMA Music Festival. The airport and highways are busily channeling music freaks out to Manchester for Bonnaroo. And everybody is flipping out...

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May 24, 2017 w Will Kimbrough&Brigitte DeMeyer, Mipso, John Nemeth and Matt Urmy from 2017-05-29T18:51:51

Wednesday night’s gathering of the Roots clan will be an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of Cowboy Jack Clement, the kindly and eccentric genius songwriter and producer who passed ...

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May 17, 2017 w David Mayfield, Yarn, The Railsplitters, Sally&George from 2017-05-24T19:34:23

As far as I know there’s only one figure in the contemporary roots music community who can pick “Blackberry Blossom” like a boss and also do a tumbling run that ends in a cheerleader split (not ...

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May 10, 2017 w Tony Furtado, John Jorgenson Bluegrass, Curtis McMurtry, Gipsy Moon from 2017-05-20T20:20:50

We know a classic when we see one, hear one, feel one. Forgive me for sounding like a Cadillac ad voice over or something, but seriously, sometimes there’s just an ineffable sense that something...

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May 3, 2017 w Great American Taxi, Dori Freeman, Colter Wall, John Carter Cash from 2017-05-09T15:29:36

So did y’all catch that news about the Fyre Festival? As good people, we try not to indulge in schadenfreude, but sometimes man, wow, it’s hard. In short, a rap celebrity and a dudebro with a tr...

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April 26, 2017 w Sam Bush, Stray Birds, Front Country, Chris Jones from 2017-05-03T19:05:29

It’s not as easy to go to Merlefest as it used to be in my footloose, sleeping-on-the-ground-is-fine days. So it’s wonderful to annually have a mini-Merlefest of our own at Music City Roots. The...

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April 19, 2017 w Sunny Sweeney, Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, Blackfoot Gypsies, Bella Hardy from 2017-05-02T02:14:24

Historians can and do debate the circumstances under which rock and roll was born, but there’s no debating the fact that modern-day rockers who capture the excitement of that initial blast are r...

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April 12, 2017 w Malcolm Holcombe, Kenny&Amanda Smith, Ana Cristina Cash, La Terza Classe from 2017-04-18T21:08:51

A special charismatic energy always attends the arrival of La Terza Classe, the old time string band quintet from Naples Italy. I’ve rarely seen people who seem so glad to be alive, on the road,...

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April 5, 2017 w/ Lonely Heartstring Band, Carolyn Wonderland, Driftwood and Western Centuries from 2017-04-12T13:23:20

It’s a big country, this America, and Americana music is concomitantly enriched by its host nation’s geography and diversity. That was on display Wednesday night as Roots hosted artists from New...

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March 29, 2017 w/ Kingsley Flood, Lowland Hum, Hayley Reardon and The Harmaleighs from 2017-04-03T13:00:59

There’s a new eatery in The Factory at Franklin that’s offering what is, for Williamson County, a slightly exotic new pre-show dinner option. Funk Seoul Brother has a hip hop esthetic and a Kore...

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March 22, 2017 w/ Guy Davis, Beth Bombara, Silences, Fox&Bones from 2017-03-31T15:32:52

Spring springs eternal, and it was renewing to return to the Factory with the recent freeze behind us and new sprouts sprouting for some of our kind of living roots. It was a night that left som...

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Feb. 15 ,2017 w/ Nikki Lane, Michaela Anne, Paul McDonald and from 2017-03-20T21:18:14

I don’t often lead these reports with our Nashville Jam, but sometimes our show-closing, all-hands feature goes exceptionally well. And this week it felt like some cathartic starburst that broug...

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March 1, 2017 w/ April Verch, Reuben Bidez, Sam Bush, Dead 27s from 2017-03-07T22:17:25

Some artists who write instrumental tunes claim that naming them is difficult. I don’t know. I’m always coming up with weird phrases that seem to have no other purpose on Earth other than to be ...

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Feb. 22, 2017 w/ Girls Guns&Glory, Gibson Bros., Newtown, Becky Warren from 2017-03-02T17:52:01

Even with all of the cool country music fashion we’ve seen over the years, Jim Lauderdale’s Manuel suits included, nobody has ever made me drop my jaw and exclaim out loud like Ward Hayden’s Tex...

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Feb. 8, 2015 w/ Chuck Mead, Govt. Cheese, Hailley Whitters, Amelia Eisenhauer from 2017-02-24T16:15:23

Later this month (2/23), the series SUN Records premieres on CMT, with music supervision by friend of the show and friend of hillbilly music Chuck Mead. We’ve been thrilled to follow Ch...

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Feb. 1, 2017 w/ The Isaacs, Lonesome River Band, Foghorn Stringband, Joe Mullins from 2017-02-07T16:38:44

We at Roots probably have you conditioned by now so that when we say “bluegrass” you know we mean the whole range, from roots to branches. Our all-bluegrass shows generally include a Greensky or...

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Jan. 25, 2016 w/ Cicada Rhythm, Waker, Southern Ave. and Mingo Fishtrap from 2017-02-01T04:30:29

This week on MCR a showcase of bands from four music cities. From Nashville, big sweeping pop melodies and a skilled instrumental attack from Waker. From Athens GA, the haunting alt-Appalachian ...

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Jan. 18, 2017 w/ Cody Jinks, Colin Hay, Old Salt Union, Jesse Kramer and Peter Case from 2017-01-30T17:35:17

I got to meet country singer and songwriter Cody Jinks on Wednesday, and I am pleased to report that, as his album title asserts, he is Not The Devil. While his merch is full of flaming skulls a...

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Jan. 11, 2017 w/ Travelin McCourys, Greyhounds, Piers Faccini, Mulligan Bros. from 2017-01-17T15:42:30

An extraordinary night of music with a travelin’ kind of vibe began with a foreign visitor who traffics in global sounds. Piers Faccini has one of the most imaginative musical minds I know in hi...

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Dec. 14, 2016 w/ Kentucky Headhunters, Hymn for Her, Farmer&Adele, The Buckleys, N. Miss All-Stars from 2017-01-17T13:34:13

The Kentucky Headhunters brought new songs from a new album and sounded no less feisty and committed than they did when they scored radio hits in the late 80s. They are eternal Southern rockers ...

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Dec. 7, 2016 w/ Kelsey Waldon, Ron Pope, Tattletale Saints and Rorey Carroll from 2016-12-15T22:41:56

Kelsey Waldon is a charming and heart-rending at the same time. With a twinkle in her eye she can pierce you with melancholy or shiv a rival with icy cool worthy of Loretta Lynn. The latter was ...

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Nov. 30, 2016 w/ The Coal Men, Chessboxer, Darin&Brooke Aldridge, Larissia Murphy from 2016-12-15T20:31:57

Under the circumstances, The Coal Men felt more like comfort food, with their gorgeous tones and tight roots rocking structures. Dave Coleman writes pop songs with the story quotient of country ...

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Nov. 23, 2016 w/ John Oates, Derek Hoke, Mike Farris, Todd Grebe from 2016-12-12T15:18:23

What’s on tap, as we like to say? Well how about John Oates, our yes-we-did-just-drop-that-name superstar buddy who’s done more to p...

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Nov. 16, 2016 w/ Band of Heathens, Kyle Tuttle, Jordan Tice and The Brother Brothers from 2016-11-22T16:41:41

What a wonderful scene took shape at Roots on Wednesday night, with old friends of the show and assorted music mavens on hand, mingling while truly listening, the way a good Nashvillian does. Bu...

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Nov. 9, 2016 w/ Bill Lloyd, Joe K. Walsh, Grant Farm, Todd Burge from 2016-11-18T21:33:10

Bill Lloyd pulled a quick change of personnel plan on Wednesday when his electric band’s regular bassist had a baby arrive in the family. The drummerless trio of Bill, Jim Hoke on steel and Hags...

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Nov. 2, 2016 w/ Gaelynn Lea, The Honeycutters, Vandaveer, Barry Waldrep&Kelli Johnson from 2016-11-09T21:18:25

Now friends, you may think that your Roots correspondent was wishing that Game 7 of this epic World Series hadn’t fallen on a show day. But I’m not so sure. A charming and exciting lineup made t...

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Oct. 26, 2016 w/ John McEuen, The Danberrys, Free The Honey, Forlorn Strangers from 2016-10-31T20:46:06

Ben DeBerry, the guitar-slinging dude half of The Danberrys, brought his old and loved copy of String Wizards to the show so that John McEuen, the man who made it in 1991, could sign it...

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Oct. 12, 2016 w/ Raul Malo, Davina&The Vagabonds, Bryan Sutton, Paul Burch, San Rafael Band from 2016-10-18T05:33:31

It must be October. A day after the Chicago Cubs pulled off a four-run ninth-inning comeback against the Giants to secure their Division title (rock!), this week’s Roots featured: a band called ...

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Oct. 5, 2016 w/ Claire Lynch, Rebecca Pronsky, High Plains Jamboree, Zach Schmidt from 2016-10-13T22:33:35

I just finished my friend Tamara Saviano’s heartfelt and fascinating Listen

Sept. 28, 2016 w/Carrie Rodriguez, Miss Tess, Angel Snow, Anna&Elizabeth from 2016-10-13T22:23:02

The easiest way to describe the Sept. 28 Music City Roots was Ladies Night – our four acts were all led by women. But outside of their creators’ XX chromosomes, those four sets of music had virt...

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Sept. 22, 2016 - AMA Fest w/ Del McCoury, Timothy B. Schmit, Willie Watson, Sean Watkins from 2016-10-13T22:13:29

AmericanaFest 2016 may be wrapping up, but more than ever, we took this year’s gathering as a battery-charger and an inspiring star map for what lies ahead. Hearing kind words about our new Root...

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Sept. 14, 2016 - Orthophonic Joy w/ Ashley Campbell, Jesse McReynolds, Carl Jackson, Church Sisters from 2016-10-13T22:01:08

That radio countdown never sounded so sweet. Not since our first night on WSM in October 2009 did the top of the show – with its shot of Rob Ickes dobro and our emcee’s stentorian voice proclaim...

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March 15, 2016 w/ Gillian Welch, Liz Longley, Sierra Hull, Maureen Murphy from 2016-08-25T19:21:50

Tuesday’s show was bound to sell out because Berklee forces arrived with a couple hundred students, faculty and alumni and because their very distinguished alums Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings ...

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