Liam Purcell: Fueling the Future of Buegrass

Heather Berry Mabe: Daughter of the Stars

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2305129/fan_mail/new] Every once in a while, I interview someone who is so natural and open that it feels like a chat with an old friend. That was the case with Heather Berry Mabe. In 2024, Heather won IBMA's Momentum Vocalist of the Year award. In 2025, her band, Red Camel Collective, won IBMA New Artist of the Year, and she was just chosen 2026 SPBGMA Female Vocalist of the Year.  Her band, Red Camel Collective, with her husband Tony on banjo, was Junior Sisk's band for many years, but they are making huge waves in bluegrass on their own, since their 2025 debut album.  She's a very spiritual person, with a golden voice and a personality to match. You will be hearing a lot from her!!

Liam Purcell: Fueling the Future of Buegrass

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2305129/fan_mail/new] Liam grew up just down the road from Doc Watson's home in Deep Gap, North Carolina. A child prodigy on several instruments, he surprised everyone by sweeping the 2022 RockyGrass instrumental contests in guitar, mandolin and banjo, the first person to ever do so. He attended Berklee College of Music, and leads the band Cane Mill Road, which won IBMA's Momentum Band of The Year award in 2019. Age 24, he is already an experienced  bluegrass pro, thoughtful and insightful. He talked a lot about Billy Strings, Doc Watson, and the trials and pleasures of leading a bluegrass band!

Blake Willams: Banjo Memories of Lester & Bill

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2305129/fan_mail/new] Blake Wiliams played banjo with Lester Flatt and Nashville Grass, before his ten year stint with Bill Monroe and his Bluegrasss Boys. He was the longest tenured banjo player ever with Monore, and has some amazing stories to prove it! During his career, Blake has toured 48 states and 7 countries, played Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. He recorded 2 albums with Lester Flatt, and 6 albums with Bill Monroe, including the Grammy winning Southern Flavor. You won't want to miss his wonderful memories, some never told before!

Darren Nicholson: Bringing North Carolina Bluegrass Home

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2305129/fan_mail/new] Darren Nicholson has played mountain music since his youth in Western North Carolina. A great mandolinist with Alecia Nugent, and seventeen years with Balsam Range, he’s also an introspective songwriter, a harmony singer, lead vocalist, and guitarist. These days, he's a man on a mission, to bring North Carolina roots music back to the local community.

Ettore Buzzini: Re-imagining The Banjo

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2305129/fan_mail/new] Ettore Buzzini is an eighteen year old banjo prodigy from North Carolina. Winner of Fresh Grass 2025 Banjo Contest, he’s a strong songwriter, instrumentalist, and vocalist, whose dream is to "bring as much of the human experience to our music as possible.” His banjo work is very melodic and sounds like no one else in bluegrass. I think he's a force to be reckoned with. Check him out.