JamFest | All Things Considered Live Radio Show | Followed by NewGrass Radio | Tonight on JamFest | All Things Considered Live Tonight: Sierra Ferrell at XPoNential, 2021
Tonight on JamFest we have two broadcasts that taken together present an amazing cross section of the roots and improvisational music worlds, from deep catalog to the latest releases. First, All Things Considered Live kicks off the evening with a look back at Sierra Ferrell’s legendary set at this year’s XPoNential Music Festival in Wiggins Park on the Camden Waterfront in New Jersey in 2021. Newgrass Radio closes out the broadcast day with six hours of music that spotlight the legends and new voices in this music who are expanding the boundaries of every style to be found. There’s plenty to enjoy in both programs, so please come on in! Read the Full JamFest Substack!
All Things Considered Live Tonight: Sierra Ferrell at XPoNential, 2021
There are performances at festivals that are satisfying in the moment and largely forgotten by the time the parking lot has emptied. And then there are performances that somehow locate a frequency in the hearts of those in attendance and long afterwards, returning like a touchstone for what that particular live music experience was all about. Sierra Ferrell’s XPoNential 2021 set falls squarely in the latter category.
Tonight’s All Things Considered Live Radio Show features that legendary performance in its entirety, allowing listeners to once again hear every note and every word of Ferrell’s master class in traditional American music and songwriting that she presented to the capacity crowd on the Wiggins Park lawn that September afternoon. As with past All Things Considered Live broadcasts featuring unique live performances and musical highlights from around the country, the show’s hosts know that their most important job is to take music that has connected with a crowd at a specific time and place and share it in a way that will allow it to connect with new listeners in new places. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
Widespread Panic Heads to Atlantic City: Three Nights at Hard Rock Live
Following a sprawling West Coast theatre run that featured such classic rock milestones as the band’s first-ever performance in Alaska, Widespread Panic has begun their eastbound trek with three consecutive nights at Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, NJ, playing August 14-16. The band has been on quite a tear this summer, delivering career-highlight performances left and right, from Duane Betts’s unforgettable Wyoming appearance to three nights at the legendary Fox Theater in Oakland, California, with its incomparable acoustics, to the out-of-this-world generosity of spirit the band members have shown one another over the course of their decades-long friendship forged on the road. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
moe.phrey’s: The Late-Night Supergroup the Jam World Has Been Waiting For
Something special is happening on Saturday, August 15 at 28 Mile Distilling Company in Highwood, Illinois, and the jam band community is going to be talking about it for years to come. The collaborative late-night supergroup project featuring members of moe. and Umphrey’s McGee that has been known only by the working title of moe.phrey’s has been announced officially for the first time, and will occur on Saturday, August 15, 2026, with a performance beginning at 11 PM CST. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
Newport Folk’s Collaborative Finale: Dave Matthews, Mavis Staples, and Nathaniel Rateliff
The Newport Folk Festival has a long history of throwing down the gauntlet to its artists to participate in one of the most unique collaborative finale events in the music world. This year’s festival closed on a high note, as Dave Matthews, Mavis Staples, and Nathaniel Rateliff joined forces for a massive collaborative finale set that was the stuff of legend.
With his deft songwriting and guitar work, Dave Matthews was the perfect fit for a show spotlighting the American roots music tradition. Mavis Staples’s powerful contralto was a tour de force, and her presence and power onstage were inspiring, as she sang about faith and family through six decades of music. Rateliff’s dynamic and soulful performance bridged the musical styles of both Matthews and Staples, and the entire set paid tribute to the spirit of Newport Folk and the music it showcases. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
Gov’t Mule, Bruce Hornsby, and the Grateful Dead Tradition
Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule brought out special guests Bruce Hornsby and violinist John Mailander during their most recent tour for an expansive excursion through the Grateful Dead songbook that, according to reports from the venue floor, ran the gamut of musical and emotional expression that defines the best Gov’t Mule shows. Hornsby has long had a unique relationship with the Dead’s music, as he was a touring member of the band in the early ‘90s. He brings a special understanding of the music and its history to his performances, as he is not only a fan but also a participant in the band’s legacy. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
Billy Strings at Bethel Woods: Jerry Garcia’s Birthday and a Rare Moment
Billy Strings played a pair of special shows at Bethel Woods over the weekend for the sold-out crowd who came to see him perform. Strings paid special tribute to Garcia by playing Jimi Hendrix’s “Who Knows” and a second-ever performance of “Arabia,” one of the guitar duet tracks that Garcia and David Grisman recorded together in the late ‘70s.
The setting and occasion of Garcia’s birthday and the special anniversary of Woodstock that occurs at Bethel Woods combine to make Billy Strings at Bethel Woods a show that will no doubt be remembered for years to come. The fact that Garcia and Grisman’s “Arabia” was played for the second time ever at Bethel Woods is something special, and fans will no doubt cherish Strings’s interpretation of this Garcia classic for years to come. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
Dogs in a Pile Homecoming at the Stone Pony Summer Stage
There’s no feeling quite like that of a music community coming out to welcome one of their own back home, and that’s exactly what the folks up in Asbury Park, New Jersey are in for this summer at the Stone Pony with local favorites Dogs in a Pile.
The New Jersey band that has been slowly climbing the national charts this year is set to headline the Stone Pony Summer Stage for the third year in a row on August 8, for their first show supporting their latest release, Distroid. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
The NewGrass World This Week: Bronwyn, Keller Williams, Scott Avett Banjos, and the Broader Scene
The acoustic roots and newgrass world has seen its fair share of developments and milestones this week, both within the broader industry and in ways that relate more specifically to the NewGrass Radio Show.
First things first, Bronwyn , whose fiddling and vocals have made her a huge name in the 2026 IBMA Awards conversation, released a preview single from her forthcoming album this week, the bluegrass standard “Gallatin Road”, featuring Bryan Sutton and Wes Corbett. The song, as she notes in its press release, has the feel of old Nashville, complete with Sutton laying down tasty guitar tracks and Corbett playing banjo, an instrument whose presence on record is sure to please any traditional bluegrass fan, not to mention the songs lyrics. “Gallatin Road” is the first taste of her upcoming album, Rattlin’ Bones , due out on August 14th. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
The 57th Annual Dove Awards have also nominated a handful of bluegrass artists in their Bluegrass categories. Set to take place on October 6th in Nashville, the awards, given out by the Gospel Music Association, feature a number of categories recognizing the contribution of bluegrass to sacred music and have long been a staple for bluegrass artists that incorporate religious themes into their work. As expected from an award show that takes its mission to honor God’s work in music so seriously, each of the Dove Award categories reflects the full spectrum of bluegrass recordings released throughout the year. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
This month has plenty of festivals to choose from for bluegrass fans, starting with the Podunk Bluegrass Music Festival, which runs from August 5th-8th in Goshen, Connecticut. Featuring both the Telefunkin’ Band Contest, the festival also hosts several other contests throughout the weekend in addition to a few special events. For those in the Virginia area, Augusta Heritage Bluegrass Week is set to take place August 4th-6th in Elkins, West Virginia. Featuring workshops for bluegrass musicians of all levels, the week will also include a Bluegrass Bass Mini-Class for those looking to brush up on their bass skills. Meanwhile, the Three Corners Bluegrass Festival is set to stage its annual six hour live marathon of bluegrass music on August 30th at The Annex WNY in Chaffee, New York, featuring Special Consensus as the headliners. In the Carolinas, the Reedy River String Band , a south Carolina newgrass band that recently toured Europe, will headline the Top of the Grade concert in Saluda, North Carolina on August 14th, bringing their blend of newgrass to the traditional bluegrass setting of the event. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
NewGrass Radio Tonight: Music Without Rules and Everything That Means
Tonight, as All Things Considered Live winds down on the JamFest radio station, NewGrass Radio goes live to deliver six hours straight of acoustic roots music spanning the entire history of the music, from the founding fathers to the modern innovators. NewGrass Radio prides itself on celebrating traditional music and its creators, not only by giving airtime to the legends, but by treating their work with the seriousness and respect it deserves. Great music from decades past isn’t “old”, it’s music that has simply had more time to mature, to develop, and to enrich the lives of the people who enjoy it. Newgrass Radio, as its name suggests, revels in the music of today and yesterday, playing it all with a sense of tradition that underscores its love and appreciation for the timelessness of the art form. Tonight’s broadcast will see the station’s DJs spinning tracks from the pioneers of bluegrass whose contributions helped shape the sound of the music as we know it now. At the same time, NewGrass Radio will also be playing more modern fare, celebrating the new voices shaping the sound of the next generation of acoustic music. From traditional bluegrass to jazzgrass to rockgrass to every hybrid style in between, Newgrass Radio is all about the music, because that’s where the magic really is. Read the Full JamFest Substack!
Coming Up on JamFest
🎵 All Things Considered Live— Mondays at 7 PM EST
🎵 NewGrass Radio — Mondays at 7 PM EST
🎵 Live Nuggets — Tuesdays at 9 PM EST
🎵 NRN Radio Show — Wednesdays at 9 PM EST
🎵 Festival Radio Show — Thursdays at 9 PM EST
🎵 What is Hip?! — Fridays at 10 PM EST
🎵 Club Night — Saturdays at 10 PM EST
🎵 Sunday Spunday — Sundays at 2 AM EST
🎵 Gospel Lunch — Sundays at 12:30 PM EST
🎵 Project Reggaeologist — Sundays at 10 PM EST
🎵 Live From The Vault — TBD Coming Soon!
Stay tuned to JamFest for breaking music news, concert coverage, festival updates, tour announcements, and the greatest live recordings ever captured. Read the Full JamFest Substack!