Bluegrass Unlimited Podcast with Mark Johnson

This week we feature guitar player Tony Watt.  Our September 2026 issue features bluegrass in New England.   Tony is currently the president of the Boston Bluegrass Union and teaches at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  We talk with Tony about everything that is currently happening in the Boston bluegrass scene.

This week we feature mandolin master Matt Flinner and talk with him about his bluegrass journey from the early days with the Pee Wee Pickers in Utah up to the various bands he performs with today.  We will also talk about his online mandolin classes.    

This week we feature Kenny Feinstein of the band Water Tower and talk with him about his new solo project titled Lonesome LA Cowboy.  We will also talk about how Water Tower got their start by busking at highway off ramps in Los Angeles and how that launched the band's success.  Kenny also has a new book out that teaches bands how to promote themselves.  We'll talk about the book as well.   

This week we feature Santa Cruz Guitar Company owner Richard Hoover and talk with him about reaching the 50th anniversary of building Santa Cruz guitars.  We will talk about how Richard became interested in building guitars, the early days of the Santa Cruz Guitar Company and what he has planned for the company moving forward into the future.

This week we feature flatpicking guitar master Russ Barenberg and talk with him about his long career performing and recording with the acoustic guitar.  We will follow his career from his early days in Pennsylvania, then moving to his days in New York and Boston and then his making the move to Nashville.  We'll talk about some of the bands that Russ performed with along the way, including Country Cooking, Fiddle Fever and the trio with Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer.  We'll also talk about the solo projects that he has released over the years, and more.

This week we feature mandolin player and builder David Harvey.  Dave has recently retired from working at Gibson and we take a look back at his career as both a performer and instrument builder.  Dave talks about his father, mandolinist Dorsey Harvey, and about performing with artist like Red Allen, Larry Sparks, Claire Lynch, Larry Cordle, the Moody Blues and more. 

This week we feature fiddler Craig Duncan.  We talk with Craig about his many instructional books and his recordings covering a variety of genres of fiddle music.  We will also talk about the performance work that he does in Nashville, his approach to teaching fiddle and some of the now famous fiddle students that he has taught over the years.

This week we feature clawgrass banjo player Mark Johnson who was one of this year's inductees to the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame. Mark talks to us about his clawgrass style of banjo, his relationship with Tony Rice and the Rice Brothers, winning the Steve Martin Banjo Prize and his work with Emory Lester.

This week we are featuring Heather Berry Mabe and Tony Mabe.  We'll talk with them about how they got started in bluegrass, the various bands they have worked with, their work with Junior Sisk and their recent recording and performing with Red Camel Collective.  You will also get to hear a few cuts from their upcoming album.

This week we feature guitar and mandolin player Mickey Abraham.  Mickey has recently released a wonderful new album with Kathryn Belle Long titled Voices: A Folk Opera.  We talk with Mickey about his career in music and the making and release of this new album, plus his work as a guitar and mandolin instructor.