We could hardly think of a better guest with whom we’d conclude our second season of Toy Heart than 27-time Grammy Award winner, Alison Krauss . Arguably the most prominent bluegrass musician in the genre’s nearly one hundred year history – certainly the most well-known in her own generation – host Tom Power’s laughter-filled conversation with Krauss weaves through her childhood and upbringing, from her grandparents immigrating to Chicago (then her parents to Champaign, Illinois) and Alison's fi...
Apr 23, 2024•1 hr 22 min
For the latest episode of Toy Heart, we embark on a journey through the primordial, musical ooze that birthed bluegrass, old-time, and country music with the incredible Jody Stecher. A multi-instrumentalist adept in many styles and traditions – he even plays sarod , a Hindustani instrument – Stecher’s entire career is a fascinating case study in the interconnectedness of American folk music styles. Host Tom Power begins their engaging and philosophical conversation by asking Stecher about his ch...
Apr 09, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Our latest guest on Toy Heart is bluegrasser, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Tim O’Brien . His conversation with host Tom Power begins by remembering the music of his childhood, growing up in Wheeling, West Virginia listening to Chubby Checker on his crystal radio set and attending the nationally renowned country variety show and radio broadcast, the Wheeling Jamboree. Encountering the music of Merle Haggard and Doc Watson via local radio and television, he fell in love with music as a ki...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Season 2Ep. 17
In the latest episode of Toy Heart, we explore the roots and evolution of bluegrass in the modern era by examining the story of legendary bluegrasser, singer-songwriter, and recording artist, Laurie Lewis. From her tales of growing up in Berkeley during what Lewis jokingly calls the “folk scare” of the '60s to finding the joy of music through her father's classical background and eventually becoming a pioneer for women in the genre, her lifelong career in American roots music is a perfect exampl...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 16
Bluegrass fans know Mike Compton from his long and eclectic resumé, including decades of touring and recording traditional Monroe-style mandolin with greats like John Hartford, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan, Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, and David Grisman, as well as venturing into more mainstream music with with Sting, Gregg Allman, Elvis Costello, and many others. He was also heard on the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? and traveled with the smash hit tour, Down from the Mountain, which hi...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 2Ep. 15
The legendary Larry Sparks, a prominent player in bluegrass for over six decades and a Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductee, joins host Tom Power for Toy Heart . Sparks shares insightful anecdotes from his early years, touring and performing with the Stanley Brothers and from his tenure with Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys. From traveling in a ‘67 station wagon to the challenges of navigating the music industry over so many decades, Sparks reflects on his particular journey through blueg...
Feb 13, 2024•58 min•Season 2Ep. 14
“Newgrass” luminary Sam Bush joins host Tom Power for the highly anticipated first episode of Toy Heart Season 2. Bush - the celebrated mandolinist and co-founder of Newgrass Revival and the Telluride House Band - opens up about his illustrious career: from his early days of fiddle contests in Weiser, Idaho, to the pivotal moments learning at the feet of influential figures like Bill Monroe; Bush’s narrative weaves a rich tapestry of bluegrass history. The episode features stories of his many ge...
Jan 30, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 2
The most in-depth podcast about bluegrass is coming back for its second season, from CBC radio host Tom Power ("q") and BGS (The Bluegrass Situation). This time around, Power sits down with Alison Krauss, Larry Sparks, Mike Compton, Laurie Lewis, Tim O'Brien, and many more bluegrass greats. Toy Heart returns January 30, 2024, with full episodes being released bi-weekly on TheBluegrassSituation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Jan 23, 2024•53 sec•Season 2Ep. 4
On a special edition of Toy Heart, we remember Bluegrass Music Hall of Famer, Grand Ole Opry member, seven-time Grammy Award nominee, CMA Award winner, and roots music legend Bobby Osborne. “This is what I started with when I was 15 years old,” Osborne says as the episode begins. “Ain’t never quit, ain’t going to now… If He calls me home, I’ll give it up quick.” He succeeded– he never quit. When Osborne died on June 27 at the age of 91, he still had future shows and appearances on his calendar. ...
Jul 07, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In the final chapter of our three-part tribute to Tony Rice, Tom talks to the musicians who have been inspired by Tony Rice throughout their career, and the musicians through whom Tony's music will live on. Chris Thile (1:58) talks about a jam with Tony backstage that changed his musical life. Chris 'Critter' Eldridge (33:17) talks about time he spent living with and learning from Tony - not just about music, but about life. Molly Tuttle (1:03:58) speaks about Tony's influence on her guitar play...
Feb 05, 2021•1 hr 55 min
On episode 2 of our limited series, Toy Heart: Remembering Tony Rice, host Tom Power begins with Béla Fleck, talking about the making of two legendary albums: Drive and The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol.2. Fleck relates what it was like to work with Tony in studio and some wild stories about their touring together. Also in the episode, mandolinist and instructor Sharon Gilchrist displays a rare perspective on Tony's life. Something of a recluse, Tony would often drive b...
Jan 29, 2021•2 hr
Host Tom Power speaks with Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, and David Grisman about their old friend and bandmate Tony Rice, in the first edition of our special tribute, Toy Heart: Remembering Tony Rice. Critically acclaimed bluegrass podcast Toy Heart returns with a special, limited series, Toy Heart: Remembering Tony Rice. In the first installment of three, host Tom Power (CBC's Q) interviews Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, and David Grisman, each lifelong friends and collaborators with Rice, who passed away un...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr 45 min
In lieu of new episodes of Toy Heart, host Tom Power introduces an episode of "The Bluegrass Breakdown" podcast featuring a deep-dive into the making of Second Generation Bluegrass by Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley. Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley were only 17 years old when they recorded Second Generation Bluegrass. Ricky Skaggs joins The Breakdown to talk about this iconic album. Both went on to be country megastars – until Whitley died of alcohol poisoning at 34. Bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs ...
Nov 05, 2020•54 min
For the final episode of season one of Toy Heart, we have host Tom Power’s 2019 sit down with legendary artist, musician, and sideman Jerry Douglas at the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual business conference in Raleigh, NC. Douglas talks all about hearing “Uncle Josh” Graves for the first time with Flatt & Scruggs and, in the early days, using a toothbrush to turn his own guitar into something like a Dobro. He tells stories of his father’s band, the The West Virginia Travel...
Jun 09, 2020•1 hr 28 min
Host Tom Power speaks with progressive banjo legend Tony Trischka at the home of his friend and former student, Béla Fleck. Trischka and Power talk about the time he saw and met Bob Dylan when no one was sure how to pronounce his name, and when he went to the first bluegrass festival weekend. An innovator on an archetypically traditional instrument, Trischka also discusses how he fuses jazz and experimental music with bluegrass, the intersection of the folk boom and bluegrass, and the time he pl...
May 28, 2020•57 min
Host Tom Power talks to Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Jesse McReynolds of Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys about his career in bluegrass. One of the last founding fathers of bluegrass, Jesse McReynold’s story is the story of bluegrass — a music that emerged out of the country, into rural schoolhouses, onto rural radio, finding sponsorship along the way, enmeshing itself into the mainstream of American culture. McReynolds tells the story of his grandfather, who played in the first recorded c...
May 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Banjoist and record label head Alison Brown speaks with host Tom Power from her studio at Compass Records headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. They begin with her early records made with Stuart Duncan, "finding her people," and winning the Canadian National Banjo Championship (as an American). Brown then headed to Harvard, and playing banjo became "something you'd talk about at cocktail parties." She describes the moment she decided to leave investment banking and commit to music full time, her...
Apr 30, 2020•1 hr 9 min
On this episode of Toy Heart, Béla Fleck talks to host Tom Power from his home studio and for the first time, he tells his story in bluegrass. Fleck started out in New York hearing Earl Scruggs for the first time, learning from Tony Trischka, and then making the decision to go (new) south to learn from J.D. Crowe. He auditioned for Bill Monroe, but eventually found 'his people' and joined New Grass Revival. He tells of mistakes the band made along the way, the hard decision to leave that band an...
Apr 16, 2020•1 hr 27 min
Old-time legend and Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Alice Gerrard talks to host Tom Power at her kitchen table in North Carolina. Gerrard tells stories of how she and other college students from the northern U.S. found bluegrass and old-time, of the lifelong influence of the Antioch College folk scene, meeting her Hall of Fame partner Hazel Dickens and making some of the greatest records in the genre. She goes on to describe her split from Hazel, her work since, the creation of print publication T...
Apr 02, 2020•1 hr 22 min
Bluegrass legend and Country Music Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs talks to TOY HEART host Tom Power about what it was like to grow up as a child prodigy, the real story of how he got pulled on stage by Bill Monroe, how meeting Keith Whitley changed his life forever — and the last time they ever spoke. Plus, a never before told story of how Bill Monroe thought Ricky would make a “fine Blue Grass Boy.” It’s the story of Ricky Skaggs… but the one that you may not expect. Skaggs is a notable entry point...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Del McCoury talks to Tom backstage at the Opry about how he started playing banjo, his (interesting) time in the military, joining Bill Monroe's band, being replaced by Bill Keith, starting over, playing music with his sons, and how he found his way to becoming a legend of Bluegrass music - and to some, defining the whole thing. Presented by BGS (The Bluegrass Situation).
Mar 04, 2020•1 hr 6 min
CBC radio host Tom Power ("q") and BGS (The Bluegrass Situation) bring you the most in-depth podcast about the origins of bluegrass ever created. Power sits down with luminaries of the genre such as Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Alice Gerrard, Jesse McReynolds, Jerry Douglas and more for an intimate conversation about their origins within the world of bluegrass music. Premiering March 5, 2020, full episodes will be released bi-weekly on TheBluegrassSituation.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
Jan 27, 2020•5 min
