Jul 15, 2025

Episode 327: To hear Mike Farris sing - an experience a bit like being pinned to the seat of an accelerating Porsche Taycan - is to believe that he was born to the stage, motivated from childhood, and destined for soul/gospel glory. Yet in Episode 327 of The String, we learn that A) Mike is lucky to be here at all and...

Jul 7, 2025

Episode 326: Andrea Zonn has been on my list of possible Music City star musicians to be a guest on the show for some time, but her new project the HercuLeons and their debut album of the same name sealed the deal. She’s been a leading studio and road musician since the 1990s, when she sweet talked her way into a...

Jul 7, 2025

Episode 325: In 1972, a 19-year-old bass player and natural born singer from Kentucky and Indiana auditioned for an emerging band called New Grass Revival. Over almost 20 years, John Cowan would be the voice of that ensemble, through mega tours supporting Leon Russell, improbable country radio success, and the emergence...

Jun 24, 2025

Episode 324: It’s hard to believe that Nashville’s SteelDrivers have been making their unique brand of hard-core string band music for nearly twenty years. They were the vehicle through which many of us were introduced to the epic voice of Chris Stapleton, back when he and Mike Henderson co-wrote that band’s high...

Jun 20, 2025

Special Episode: The story of how global banjo explorer Joe Troop (formerly of Che Apalache) met Venezuelan harpist and all-around folk music master Larry Bellorín is testimony to the magic of global culture and a cautionary tale about the stark turn US policy has taken against working asylum seekers this year....