Bluegrass Unlimited Podcast with Don Rigsby

This week we feature banjo player Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters and talk with him about his career in bluegrass and various other aspects of bluegrass music, practicing, performing and banjo playing.

This week we feature bass player, singer and songwriter Reed Jones.  Reed played in Audie Blaylock’s band, Redline, prior to Audie’s untimely passing.  He recently teamed up with a special group of musicians who were friends and bandmates of Audie’s to record a tribute single titled “Ran Out of Road.”  We talk with Reed about the song and his work with Audie Blaylock.

This week we feature fiddler Michael Cleveland.  Michael and Jason Carter have a new album out.  We talk with Michael about how he got his start in bluegrass music, the various bands that he has performed with, forming his own band, and the new recording.

This week we feature guitar player and singer Ginger Boatwright.  Ginger performed with Red, White and Bluegrass starting in the late 1960s and then worked with Doug Dillard from 1981 until Doug’s passing 33 years later.

This week we feature mandolin player Jeremy Chapman.  Jeremy played with his family band for years and now he and his brothers run one of the most successful acoustic music stores in the country.  He also has a new mandolin instructional book out that is really well done and is reviewed in the April 2025 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine.

This week we feature mandolin player Dick Staber.  Dick has recently written a very interesting memoir about his life in bluegrass music and after reading it, we got in touch with Dick and asked about conducting a podcast interview.  Dick notably play with Del McCoury from 1968 to 1975 and also performed with Don Stover, Bob Paisley, Leon Morris, Bill Clifton and many others.

This week we feature multi-instrumentalist Greg Luck.  Greg has performed with many of the top bands in bluegrass, including Lost & Found, the Lynn Morris Band, Bluegrass Cardinals, J.D. Crowe and the New South, IIIrd Time Out and Sideline.  He also is a recording engineer who has worked with a number of the well-known bands in bluegrass. 

This week we feature multi-instrumentalist Gerald Jones.  Every year in March we provide the Workshop and Camp listings for the year and Gerald has just taking over running Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas.  Camp Bluegrass is one of the oldest bluegrass music camps in the country and Gerald will be leading that camp this year and into the future.  We talk with Gerald about his career playing bluegrass in Texas and what he has in store for Camp Bluegrass 2025.

This week we feature mandolin player, fiddler, singer and producer Don Rigsby.  Don has performed with many of the top bands in bluegrass over the years and is currently a member of our cover story band for March 2025, Southern Legacy. We talk with Don about all of the various bands he has been involved with over the years, his work with Southern Legacy and his new solo projects that are coming out in 2025.

This week we feature fiddler Casey Driessen and talk with him about his bluegrass journey including his years at the Berklee College of Music as a student, the bands he performed with after graduating from Berklee, his work as the director of Berklee’s Masters program in Spain and the interesting projects that he has been involved with since returning from the job in Spain. That all leads up to talking to Casey about his fiddle camp.