All sorts of bluegrass and allied music in this week’s show, from Laurie Lewis’s ‘Nashville’ recordings to Snuffy Jenkins and some ‘pre-bluegrass’ sounds. Here you’ll find the Stanley Brothers, Patty Loveless, Del McCoury Band, Tony Ellis, Nothing Fancy, and some HCBB fiddling and Trenwiths’ original songs. Have a listen!
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58:43
Back Porch Bluegrass - 20-05-2025
I’ve just returned from a week in Australia with friends, so there’s some music from these friends included in the show, as well as some from ‘regular’ artists – like Cumberland Gap Connection, Special Consensus, Kay Armstrong, Flatt & Scruggs, Skaggs & Rice, Joe Mullins, and a fiddle tune from Corrina Rose Logston. My Aussie friends in ‘Country Sound’ get to feature in a couple of tracks. All great listening.
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58:43
Back Porch Bluegrass - 06-05-2025
May is NZ Music Month, and I’m playing some early NZ bluegrass from the 1960s and ‘70s. Groups include the HCBB, excerpts from the National Banjo Pickers’ conventions of 1968 and 1969, the Beale St String Stretchers, Phil Garland, and Colleen Trenwith.
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55:28
Back Porch Bluegrass - 29-04-2025
Back to my deepest shelves for much of today’s programme. Charlie Moore, Rich In Tradition, Lorraine Jordan & Carolina, the Lewis Family for a couple of gospel favourites, Merle Travis, Herschel Sizemore, and Colleen Trenwith. We also get to hear from the Gibson Brothers, Grasstowne, Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, and some Uncommon Tunes from Bill Monroe via Mike Compton.
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58:37
Back Porch Bluegrass - 22-04-2025
We’ve just had Easter, this Friday we NZers and Aussies celebrate ANZAC Day. I’ve included songs, appropriate to both these occasions, in this week’s show, featuring artists such as High Fidelity, Bill Clifton, Blue Highway, John Reichmann & the Jaybirds, and Flatt & Scruggs, There’s some mandolin picking from Jean-Luc Leroux, and a special ANZAC song from NZ singer-songwriter Rosy Parsons.
Host Paul Trenwith is a founder member of the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, playing banjo and occasionally singing harmony parts. From the mid-70's to the mid-90's, Paul and his fiddle-playing wife Colleen played as mostly gospel music, bluegrass-style, with a group of friends, and often featuring songs that Paul had written. He has become something of a musical 'jack-of-all-trades', playing banjo, dobro, pedal steel and rhythm guitar. He also plays double bass in the Hamilton-based Irish band.
Paul has always been an enthusiastic advocate for and promoter of bluegrass music, and the show includes tracks from the classic bands, the traditional stylists and contemporary groups as well as some 'roots' bluegrass and new-grass. NZ and Australian bluegrass gets an airing, and every show includes some of his personal favourites.
South Africa