go of the theme of cabins and mama and the typical bluegrass song catalog. Once I was able to step outside of that far enough, I realized that any subject matter can be a bluegrass song, if you ' re careful in how you craft it.
So, it brought you back home, by writing music that was outside of the traditional bluegrass genre? I never could have imagined that the process, particularly through the Southern Gothic and Avicii, that it could ever lead me back home, but in a very strange way, it actually brought me right back to the core of what I do, and it gave me new insight that I definitely didn ' t have before.
Tell me about making your new live album, which is on vinyl. The live album was a very happy accident. I did not plan to make an album when I first booked that show at the Ryman Auditorium. It’ s such a historical place. I found myself in a cigar shop talking to one of my buddies about how happy I was to be playing the Ryman. I said that if I had enough money laying around, I would record it. The person that I was talking to was the type of person that likes to get involved when he sees opportunities. He said,“ Well, if I could make that happen, would you want to make a record there?” Once I realized he was serious, I got nervous about the whole thing, and I just kind of stepped away. I put him in touch with my manager, and my friend ended up making it possible for me to turn that show into a live recording. In the very last minutes that we were getting ready to do the show, I start thinking, wow, the pressure is really on. When I do my normal show, the only thing I really care about is whether people have fun. I ' m not worried if I made a mistake or if anything goes wrong. Are they going to leave smiling, wanting to come back? The last live record I did, we did with Alison Krauss & Union Station, and we were able to record multiple nights so that we had multiple copies of each song that we could pick and choose. We wore the same clothes every night, so when you watch the video, it looks like one long show one night. Well, we had one shot at the Ryman. I was so nervous starting out, I could hear the nerves in my voice. When it was all said and done, the recording came off famously. It was a scary process, but
I ' m so happy that I did it.
How have your live performances evolved? I’ ve had the opportunity to go on the internet and watch myself from the past 30 years. I can find clips out there when I was a teenager playing, I wouldn ' t lift my head up. Most everyone
Holiday Fall 2023 2025 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // // 31