Radio Dogs Road Show Podcast

Few bands have made as lasting an impact on bluegrass music as The Grascals. From the very beginning, their blend of modern traditional bluegrass, gospel, and country influences, matched with world-class musicianship and an unshakable love for the genre, has earned them a spot among the most respected and enduring groups in acoustic music. Formed in 2004 in Nashville, Tennessee, The Grascals are a band built on friendship, shared roots, and a common vision to create bluegrass music that honors tradition while forging its own identity. Their breakout moment came fast—within months of forming, they were hand-picked by Dolly Parton to serve as her opening act and backing band on tour. That early endorsement set the tone for the band's trajectory: respected by legends, loved by fans, and celebrated by the industry. Their debut album, The Grascals announced their arrival with authority. It won IBMA's Emerging Artist of the Year and Album of the Year and included a duet with Dolly Parton on “Viva Las Vegas” that showcased their versatility and crossover appeal. From there, the accolades kept coming with two IBMA Entertainers of the Year awards, three GRAMMY nominations, a Dove Award nomination and a host of other awards and recognition. Now with thirteen albums, performances all over the world and for two United States Presidents, The Grascals can truthfully say they have the best of both worlds — the steadiness of a veteran group that knows who they are and where they're going, and the excitement and energy of an ensemble that knows it still has something to prove. The band's collaborative spirit is another hallmark of their career. In addition to Dolly Parton, The Grascals have recorded and toured with artists including Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Kenny Rogers, Hank Williams Jr., George Jones, The Oak Ridge Boys, Patty Loveless, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, Joe Nichols, Steve Wariner, The Jordanaires, Tom T. Hall, and more. Their respect for their musical heroes and peers has allowed them to build bridges between bluegrass and other genres, expanding their reach without compromising their sound. The Grascals are known for their ability to balance traditional drive with contemporary flair along with their authenticity, humility, and showmanship, The Grascals are a fan favorite on the festival circuit and are regular performers on the Grand Ole Opry with over 200 guest appearances. Their live shows combine technical excellence with emotional storytelling and a dose of humor, making every performance memorable. Now more than two decades into their career, The Grascals remain at the top of their game—honoring the past, embracing the present, and helping shape the future of bluegrass music. With a renewed spirit and zeal to continue to create and blaze new music trails, be on the lookout for much more to come from The Grascals.

“I started singing before I could talk,” says Roberts. “Singing was just something I always did.” As a child of Music City, Jaelee Roberts was raised on bluegrass. She spent her formative years alternating between watching her dad make music on stage and watching her mom make music happen behind-the-scenes. By her teenage years, Roberts was pursuing her goals with single-minded focus. She switched to homeschooling to give herself the time and flexibility to play music professionally, joining Rebekah Long's touring band at just 16 years old as a mandolinist and supporting vocalist. A year later, she released her debut single “All My Tears,” to critical acclaim, earning effusive praise from 2023 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Patty Loveless, who said of Roberts, “She brings a vocal performance [...] that touches the core of what fires me up about music.” Jaelee Roberts couldn't be stopped. She signed a recording contract with Mountain Home Records, beginning work on her debut full-length album. Not long after, she was invited to audition for reigning IBMA “Entertainer of the Year” and recent GRAMMY Award-nominated band, Sister Sadie. Her first show just so happened to be the Opry's “75 Years of Bluegrass” concert, commemorating the famous December 8, 1945 show where the “Big Bang” lineup of Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys introduced the world to the unique and compelling sound that would come to be called “bluegrass.” It was a dream come true. She was invited to join the band full-time and has been playing guitar and singing lead vocals for them for nearly three years. This role has earned her international recognition. In 2021, she was awarded Vocalist of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Momentum Awards, a presentation dedicated specifically to recognizing and rewarding the talents of emerging artists and up-and-coming industry professionals Although the global COVID-19 pandemic slowed some things.By 2022, she had released her debut full-length album Something You Didn't Count On which became an immediate commercial and critical success. The album debuted in the Top Ten on the Billboard Bluegrass Album chart and peaked at #2 on the Bluegrass Unlimited album chart. Multiple singles from the album—including “Think Again”, “You Can't Stop Me From Staying”, “Sad Songs”, and “The Best of Me”—appeared on the Bluegrass Unlimited singles chart, and “Still Waters” and “I Owe Him Everything” have made appearances on multiple gospel music charts. The album and the musicianship behind it earned Roberts a nomination for IBMA New Artist of the Year in 2022. Not even six months later, she was awarded Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2023 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) awards show, and Something You Didn't Count On took home the title of Album of the Year. And she's only just getting started. “It's been a lifelong dream and I'll never stop chasing it,” says Roberts. “I'll keep chasing it until I can't chase it anymore.”Jaelee Roberts is an internationally recognized vocal performer, multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, and songwriter. She has performed with Ashley McBryde and alongside Ricky Skaggs on the Grand Ole Opry with bluegrass supergroup, Sister Sadie, as well as recording with Vince Gill. She has played such historic and hallowed halls as the Station Inn, The Bluebird Cafe, and the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse. She has received numerous awards and nominations, including a 2023 nomination for IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year. She has also been recognized as a member of bluegrass' preeminent all-female band, Sister Sadie, with a 2021 win for IBMA Vocal Group of the Year and 2023 IBMA nominations for Vocal Group of the Year and Song of the Year (“Diane”). 

Referred to by Billboard Magazine as “One of Music Row's greatest veteran tunesmiths,” Jerry Salley has had an exceptionally successful, multi award-winning songwriting career.  Nominated in 2019 for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Salley is the 2018 & 2019 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Songwriter of the Year and was named the 2003 SESAC Country Music Songwriter of the Year.  An Ohio native, his home state honored his long, illustrious career in 2024 by inducting him into the Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame.  Salley has had over 560 different songs recorded and his songs have sold in excess of 19 million records worldwide.  Writing and singing in Nashville since 1982, he has written multiple hits in country, bluegrass, and gospel music and may well be the most successful songwriter to have earned equal recognition from all three genres of music. Jerry was a 2020 GRAMMY nominated producer in the Gospel Roots category for producing the multi-artist project, Gonna Sing, Gonna Shout, on Billy Blue Records.  He also produced the popular Dolly Parton single, a new version of the old Gospel Hymn, “In The Sweet By And By”, released as part of the Country Faith Bluegrass project in 2021, which received two 2022 IBMA Awards (Gospel Recording of the Year and Collaborative Recording of the Year), and the 2022 Dove Award for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Song of the Year.  He currently has a popular song, “It Takes A Woman”, on the new Chris Stapleton album Higher.Jerry's country music successes began in the late 1980s when the group Wild Rose recorded “Breakin' New Ground”.  Since then, countless country music stars have recorded his songs, including Reba McEntire (“I'm Gonna Take That Mountain”,  “Close To Crazy”), John Anderson (“I Fell In The Water”), Wade Hayes (“How Do You Sleep At Night”) , Chris Stapleton (“Outlaw State Of Mind” on the Grammy award winning quadruple-platinum album Traveller), Toby Keith, Sara Evans, Patty Loveless, Joe Nichols, Darryl Worley, Travis Tritt, Tracy Lawrence, Neal McCoy, Mark Chesnutt and many, many more.  Internationally, he has penned no less than nine #1 Country hits in Australia.As part of a trio with friends Larry Cordle and Carl Jackson, Jerry recorded the song “You're Running Wild” on the Louvin Brothers Tribute on Universal South Records. Entitled Livin', Lovin', Losin' – Songs of the Louvin Brothers, the album features numerous country music stars singing songs made famous by the legendary duo. The project won the 2003 GRAMMY for Country Album of the Year.In the bluegrass genre, Jerry was named the 2018 and 2019 IBMA Songwriter of the Year and has had hundreds of songs, including numerous chart-toppers, recorded.  He was thrilled to have co-written three songs on The SteelDrivers GRAMMY award winning album, The Muscle Shoals Recordings (“A Long Way Down”, “The River Runs Red”, “6 Feet Away”), and a song on the Del McCoury Band GRAMMY winning album The Streets of Baltimore (“The Butler Brothers”).  Other bluegrass groups who have recorded Jerry's songs include The Osborne Brothers, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Rhonda Vincent, Lonesome River Band, Balsam Range, Seldom Scene, Flatt Lonesome, IIIrd Tyme Out, Larry Stevenson, Donna Ulisse, Dave Adkins and many others.  Salley is a multiple IBMA Song of the Year nominee, and his song “All Dressed Up”, recorded by Joe Mullin and The Radio Ramblers, won the IBMA Gospel Recorded Song Of The Year award in 2016.  Jerry is an eight-time IBMA Award winner, which includes receiving the 2006 IBMA Album of the Year award for his contribution (as an artist) to the Celebration Of Life album. 

Jeremy Garrett has been playing music since he first picked up the fiddle at the age of three, encouraged by his father, a guitarist steeped in Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys and its guitar/banjo duo of Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs. The two formed a band together, the Grasshoppers, and that helped launch Jeremy's 45-year – and counting — career as a musician.Born in California, Garrett grew up in Idaho, before moving to Nashville in 1998, co-founding the Infamous Stringdusters when a musician friend, dobro player Andy Hall, approached his bandmate in a group named the Ronnie Bowman Committee (along with ex-mandolin player Jesse Cobb) to join forces with his Berklee College of Music classmates, banjo player Chris Pandolfi and former guitarist Chris Eldridge, in the group's first iteration in 2005. The band's current lineup includes double-bassist Travis Book, who came aboard in 2005, and guitarist Andy Falco, who replaced Eldridge in 2007. Since that time, the Stringdusters have garnered a Grammy Award in 2018 for Best Bluegrass Album (Laws of Gravity) and two nominations, the most recent in 2022 in the same category (A Tribute to Bill Monroe).Since that time, Garrett has released seven solo albums, with his latest, Storm Mountain, his first since 2022's well-received River Wild. Now living “off the grid” in a cabin on 12 acres with his wife and eight-year-old daughter in a remote section of Theodore Roosevelt National Forest outside of Drake, Colorado, Garrett recorded the album in a one-room studio outside of Fort Collins, CO, at the foothills of the mountains, before he added his parts at his own Storm Mountain home studio.Storm Mountain deals with such serious topics as a fall from grace (“Son of Perdition”), the bitterness of fate (“The Cold Hard Truth”), lost love (“Fly Away”), the meaning of life (“Anchor in the Deep”) and hopes for his daughter (“You're Gonna Fly”). In addition, there are playful stabs at modern phenomena from social conventions (“Don't Ask') to UFOs (“Rosewell”).“I'm interested in World Music and how the fiddle has been played around the globe,” said Garrett, whose previous albums have explored a wide range of fiddle effects, including loops and pedals, showing the instrument can be as eclectic as the guitar. “It's been integrated in all forms of music as one of the most versatile instruments on the planet. There's something about fiddle players that's unique.”“I wanted to draw on something a little different than what I do with the ‘Dusters, by touching on my more traditional lineage in gospel, country and blues. These are songs that don't quite fit in with the crowds we usually play for. When I go back to the band, I'm way better and more fulfilled for having done these solo records.”At 48 years old, Garrett is relatively young for a bluegrass veteran and looks forward to performing his music live for audiences. “When I write songs now, it's from the standpoint of someone who's been through some life experiences over the past 20 years. My goal is for this record to be uplifting at the same time as it's more reflective in terms of healing."With the Dusters about to celebrate their 20th anniversary next year with a new album, Garrett looks forward to finding time for the occasional solo performance along with his “day job.”His ultimate inspiration are guys like Larry Sparks (“Slow Train” on the new album is a tribute to him), Del McCoury and the late Ralph Stanley, who have performed into their 70s, 80s and 90s.“I want to play this music forever,” said Jeremy. With Storm Mountain, he continues on that path.

Rick Faris is a Kansas Music Hall of Fame Member who was recently awarded the “Songwriter of the Year” at the 2024 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards making him an 8-time IBMA Award winner. In addition, Rick won the coveted “New Artist of the Year” in 2022. Faris also spent 11 years with Special Consensus while the band earned two GRAMMY nominations before embarking on his chart-topping solo career.The Rick Faris Band is an International touring Bluegrass outfit playing in the US, Mainland Europe, The British Isles and Canada. They bring sibling harmony and comedic relief with brother JimBob Faris on bass and a youthful snap to their original brand of music with a couple of bluegrass thoroughbreds, Henry Burgess (who grew up with fiddle legend Byron Berline) and Gibson Davis (who is a third generation bluegrass musician following father Chris Davis and his Grandfather Danny Davis). Rick recently moved to Owensboro, Kentucky the Bluegrass Music Capital and has opened his Faris Guitar Co. Rick has stayed busy songwriting and recording his 4th solo record with Dark Shadow Recording label (Nashville, TN) that will release July 11th, 2025.

There's something of Missy Raines in every song she records or performs. Whether she wrote it herself or selected it from another songwriter, she's lived inside the story and the sound. And she wants you to experience it alongside her. Love & Trouble, Raines' latest album with her band Allegheny, offers views from the highest peaks of her native West Virginia and from the deepest hollers of heartbreak. The 10 songs come to life with people, places, and stories that have caught her heart during her five-decade journey in bluegrass and beyond.“Who I am,” Raines reflects, “is because of what I've been through, what I've seen and experienced, what I've loved, what I've been moved by.”As a kid, Raines often traveled with her family to festivals in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the beating heart of bluegrass in the 1960s and 70s. She'd dabbled in piano and guitar, but when her father bought a bass for himself when she was 10, she picked it up and never let it go. (The same bass is still her primary instrument now.) She started performing as a young teenager, and since then she's played with some of the greats across several generations: Mac Wiseman, Kenny Baker, Eddie Adcock, Bobby Osborne, Alison Brown, Bill Evans, Laurie Lewis, and Claire Lynch, to name a few. In her 40s, she took on the mantle of bandleader, cementing her own legacy in the bluegrass world. In 1998, she became the first woman to win IBMA's Bass Player of the Year award, and she's won that title another nine times since, as well as IBMA awards for collaborative projects with a wide range of her bluegrass peers and a Grammy nomination for her 2018 album, Royal Traveller. Her stature and her sparkle made her a well-received host of the 2024 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards show alongside fellow bassist John Cowan.Nearly all the songs on Love & Trouble are rooted in some moment along her path, in the people and places and feelings she wants to share with her audience for the kind of connection that lasts.“Yanceyville Jail” stems from one of Raines' earliest memories of bluegrass, or at least from the backstory behind it. It was the early 1970s, and she was a kid in the audience at the storied Camp Springs, North Carolina, bluegrass festival. When Jimmy Martin's set time rolled around, festival promoter Carlton Haney walked onstage and explained that Martin wasn't going to be performing that evening, though he'd rejoin the festivities the following day. “You're not going to hear Jimmy sing tonight,” Raines, in a near-perfect mimic of Haney's North Carolina drawl, recalls him explaining, “because Jimmy's gonna spend the night in the  Yanceyville jail.” The way she's heard it, there was a backstage scuffle between Martin and Haney before the set. The ground was muddy and tempers were high, ripe conditions for a juicy bit of bluegrass lore. Decades later, Raines has committed the story to song, told from Martin's imagined perspective: “I've been in hard liquor and soft red clay / And I've been in some trouble here today / Roll and tumble tooth and nail / I ain't going to the Yanceyville jail.”

Celebrating nine seasons on Discovery Channel's hit series, “Moonshiners”, comedian Killer Beaz is touring the nation, when not filming.  With decades of comedy clubs and theatres, television and radio, Killer Beaz is legendary in the comedy industry.  Beaz continues to make regular stops with his outrageously, funny and clean comedy show to The Grand Ole Opry stage.  Tickets and information for his tour are available at www.KillerBeaz.com.Killer Beaz has his own, unique brand of “Hard Hitting” – "Laugh out Loud" – “Laugh A Lot” – “HI-PROOF” – “High Energy” – “Everyman-style” comedy!  With many thousands of radio, television and stage appearances, Beaz has been entertaining audiences worldwide, but his passion is his live stage performance. He is an award-winning artist and has been signed with both Sony and Warner Brothers Records, and received reviews such as:​Beaz is 'Killer!'" - Rolling Stone Magazine“Killer Beaz lives up to his name, 'Killing' his audience, night after night, show after show!”- Entertainment Today/Las Vegas, NV“Killer Beaz has a universal appeal that makes him a crowd favorite!” – SHOWTIME/Reno, NV​Don't miss your opportunity to see “THE BEST BUZZ in TOWN!”   See him on television, hear him on the radio, see his stage performance live...you'll be "Stung for Life!"  

Great music just keeps on coming for Joe Caverlee! Not only has Joe been the band leader for Tracey Lawrence for a great while, but every country artist I know needs a bluegrass record! I'm sure hanging out with Hank Williams Junior and Kid Rock does not hurt! It's all in a day's work for Rick Dollar from The Rick dollar Show!

Rick Dollar sits down to interview the guys from Mountain Grass Unit! In this rare interview, the guys discuss their new music, playing the Renewal Festival in Colorado and the unexpected year, they have had!

Rick has an incredible opportunity to speak with Graham Sharp, the talented founding member and virtuoso banjo player of the legendary bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. Known for their captivating melodies and heartfelt lyrics, this group has made a significant mark on the music scene, and hearing from Graham is sure to be an enlightening experience!

Rick has a heart to heart with Heather Berry Mabe from Red Camel Collective! Heather chats about their hit song, "Daughter of the Stars", the not so complex meaning of the song and how music can heal us all!

On this week's episode, Host Rick Dollar interviews Grammy Nominated John Meador, formally of Authentic Unlimited! John chats about his upcoming Solo project, new collaboration with Bob Minner and Rhonda Vincent, his new "job" with Vince Gill performing on the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium and a whirlwind tour already scheduled for 2025!

On this week's episode, Rick chats with the guys from FULL CORD! The conversation goes from their new project to the Michigan Bluegrass scene, the magic that happens at Dark Shadow Recording and looking forward to the future!

On this week's episode, we travel back in time! Rick will open the Interview Vault with 3 of the most memorable! First, Rick chats with 15 time Grammy Award Winner, Ricky Skaggs at The Barter Theater in Abingdon Virginia! Next Rick finally gets to interview The Big Three of Bluegrass, Carl Jackson, Jerry Salley and Larry Cordle from The Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol Tennessee! Lastly Rick Travels to Nashville Tennessee to appear on "The Huckabee Show and chats with Governor Huckabee and Lamar Peake about the world famous "Acuff Fiddle"!

There's nothing like having a conversation about music! Cory Walker from East Nash Grass is just the guy! Don't miss this episode of The Rick Dollar Show Podcast!

Rick revisits an old friend, Country music star Zach Top! Even Country-music Stars like to go back to their roots sometimes!

On this week's Episode, Rick chats with Laura Orshaw about her new project, and how her world has turned upside down for the better!

It's great when you can have 2 great artists and friends on your show! Becky Buller and Stephen Mougin from Dark Shadow Recording! Stream Becky's new single. "Reach" now!

Rick has a great conversation with the members of Kentucky Just Us!

Rick pulls out all the stops with a fun filled episode featuring Daryl Mosley!

Rick chats with Mason Via about his new record and his time with Old Crowe Medicine Show!

Join us for an exhilarating hour of music and laughter with the dynamic duo, Rick Dollar and Becky Buller! You won't want to miss the excitement and fun-filled antics that await! Who needs Batman and Robin? By the way, who's Robin?

We should all record a bluegrass album! Just imagine the energy, especially if you're the bandleader for Tracey Lawrence! Joe opens up to Rick about his remarkable career and what a truly inspirational person Tracey Lawrence is! Let's make this happen!

In this week's episode, Rick chats with Becky Buller about her career, new project, and how the music industry pressures can sometimes be tough.

This week's episode features Chris Davis! He will discuss his new project with Billy Blue Records, his career, and how the music business works these days!

In this week's episode, Rick visits with an old friend. Sammy Shelor from The Lonesome River Band! Sammy shares the process from start to finish!

On this week's episode, Rick chats with Ray Cardwell! Ray talks about working with music legend Dave Mason, his friend and mentor John Cowan, his new record deal with Americana Vibes, and his great experience working with Jeremy Garrett from The Infamous Stringdusters!

Rick Dollar was a very busy man during the 2024 Pigeon Forge Bluegrass Festival. This episode features interviews with Junior Sisk and Jimbo Whaley!

Rick "DOUBLE DIPS" this week with "THE QUEEN OF BLUEGRASS" Rhonda Vincent and Heather Mabe from "Red Camel Collective!"

Rick chats with Ashleigh Graham!

Rick Dollar enjoys getting the whole story about Alan Bibey's music career, not only with the award-winning Bluegrass group, Balsam Range but Alan Bibey and Grasstown. As you can imagine, Rick and Alan would eventually trade stories about Bill Monroe, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Steve Gulley, and more!

Michael Cleveland Rocks! Do not miss this show! Please take my word for it!

On this week's episode of The Rick Dollar Show, Rick discusses everything Bluegrass with John Meador and Stephen Burwell from award-winning, Authentic Unlimited!

Rick's guest this week is award-winning musician Tim Rabon!

Rick gets inside the head of one of today's fastest-growing Bluegrass bands! Cliff Gelina from Breakin' Strings!

Rick checks in with Clarke Beasley from the Pigeon Forge Bluegrass Festival!

Rick's guest this week is a gem of a musician from the Owensboro Kentucky area, Josh Merritt!

In this episode, Rick explores the 20th anniversary of one of the most influential groups in Bluegrass music! The Grascals!

Rick's guest this week is Grammy Award Winning Singer/Songwriter Carl Jackson!

Rick had the unique opportunity while doing publicity for Tim White, Host of the very successful television show on PBS, Song of the Mountains. He was on the frontline of the Bluegrass/Americana industry and this is his interview with the one and only, Steve Gulley. Steve was the founding member of several successful Bluegrass groups, including Mountain Heart. RIP Steve.

Rick interviews Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Legend, Jimbo Whaley! They talk Music, the upcoming Pigeon Forge Bluegrass Festival, and their Mamaws!

Rick has the distinct honor of sitting down with Clarke Beasley, the head man at The National Quartet Convention and The Pigeon Forge Bluegrass Convention!

Rick sits down with a longtime friend, John Cowan of Newgrass Revival, The Doobie Brothers, and a successful solo career! Surprise! John has written a new book!

Rick interviews up and coming Bluegrass artist Ashleigh Graham about her new project!

Rick procures a long-awaited interview with one of today's most sought-after Bluegrass artists, Cris Jacobs! Check out his new project, "One Of These Days" out now!

On this week's episode, Rick gets to know new and upcoming artist, Olivia Jo!

Rick Interviews Marty Falle at Randy Wood's Guitars and finds out just how he he puts out 3 number one albums in 1 year!

Rick has a very eye-opening conversation with Tony Trischka!

RICK CAUGHT UP WITH MOUNTAIN FEVER ARTIST AMANDA COOK AT RANDY WOODS GUITAR SHOP IN SAVANNAH GEORGIA!

Rick visits with his mentor Doyle Lawson!

Rick loves banjo players! Alison Brown shares her secrets about the Banjo, the synergy she shares with Steve Martin and more!