In the 7th episode of the Lonesome Banjo Chronicles podcast I talk with Pattie Hopkins Kinlaw, the fiddler for the up-and-coming band Hank, Pattie, and The Current

We talk about her passion for both learning and teaching music, how the Suzuki violin method works, what she's learned by traveling to Ireland, and of course about her new band gearing up for a busy summer of festivals.

As you'll hear, this was a fun conversation. Pattie is passionate, good natured, curious, and very well spoken. The music she's creating with her new band could quickly take them into the national spotlight--it's really that good.

We listen to 4 tracks from the new album:

Losing My Mind -- 12:47

Pipop -- 27:10

All I Remember -- 36:54

Sundown -- 43:14

Go to lonesomebanjochronicles.com to see the video for "Losing My Mind" 

We have two sponsors this week:

Front Porch Fest: A roots music festival near Stuart VA that takes place September 2-4. Find more information at frontporchfest.com

Bluegrass Today: The top online source for up-to-date bluegrass news, reviews, and profiles.

Sign up for the daily email and find interesting stories at bluegrasstoday.com

In this episode I talk with Jonathan Scales, an amazingly talented steel pans player and all around great guy, about building his career and realizing his dreams. 

We also talk about the state of jazz music in America and Europe and how Victor Wooten inspired him to write musical novels instead of short stories.  

We are debuting two unreleased songs during this episode, as well as a funky bass-driven tune from his last album Mixtape Symphony. At the end of the episode I add a song we recorded together for his first album One Track Mind. As you'll hear, I initially didn't think I could play the song because of its complexity, but he talked me into it.      

Track Listing:

This Is The Last Hurray 24:58

We Came Through The Storm 38:12

Desert(Encore) 52:00

Pan Grass 1:03:29

In this episode I talk with Chris Prutting, the owner of the Front Porch Festival about his experience of putting on a music festival for 8 years.

We talk about how the festival got started, why he's been successful, and what kind of management style he uses to create a sense of family and community. Chris offers advice for people wanting to start their own festival and talks about why some of the big festivals have been failing lately.

Chris chose 3 songs by artists playing The Front Porch Fest this year:

"Home" by Zach Deputy 25:50

"Children of the Sun" by The Hip Abduction 8:34

"Nashville Flood" by Big Daddy Love 54:29

Visit www.frontporchfest.com for more info.  

I talk with Blake from the Americana band Yarn about their new release "This Is The Year."

We also talk about what it takes to make it in the music industry, our mutual pessimism/optimism, his experiences playing country music in New York City, and hanging with John Oats.

We listen to 3 new songs.
16:30 Carolina Heart
33:52 This is the Year
46:37 LoveHate

In this episode I talk with guitarist Josh Boyd from Medicated Sunfish. They are a Wilmington, NC band that blends metal, ska, rock and even hip hop.  

We listen to 4 songs from their new EP:
9:50 Know My Name
15:25 Little Sky
20:30 Maker
30:01 Minor Ave