The Bluegrass Review

Series produced by Philip Nusbaum

Series image
Image by: Shutterstock 

Bluegrass music's authoritative radio home.

The Bluegrass Review is a weekly 1-hour show which presents bluegrass music in a lively and informative format. Produced in two segments approximately 30 minutes apiece, each complete show is programmed in thematic bursts. For example the sample show #321 includes songs about hard work, guitarists who emphasize the bass end of the guitar's range in their soloing, and an interview with nationally-recognized autoharp player, Karen Mueller. The program includes frequent interviews and produced segments on topics that parallel concerns and interests of Bluegrass musicians and fans.

(PRX Feature Series image from Shutterstock.)


Additional Files

361 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Bluegrass Review #1647.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
When Bluegrass goes downtown, it’s generally to have fun, and sometime too much! After a few “downtown” songs, the Gem of Bluegrass features bluegr...

Bought by WTIP, WOUB, RadioFreePalmer, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio and more


  • Added: Oct 28, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 15
Bluegrass Review #1648. Program for Nov 26-Dec 3, 2016
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
We all know how popular train songs are in bluegrass. We open the show with a couple that feature trains cutting through the landscape, and the sec...

Bought by WTIP, WEZU, RadioFreePalmer, WOUB, KRZA and more


  • Added: Nov 05, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 16
Bluegrass Review #1645. Program for Nov 5-Nov 11, 2016.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
After an HDS (hard-driving song) to open the show, we play three examples of the Unfortunate Rake song cycle, where, before death, the protagonist ...

Bought by WVRU, WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WRGY and more


  • Added: Oct 17, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 18
Bluegrass Review #1644. Program for Oct 29-Nov 4, 2016.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
So many bluegrass songs are about relations, including functional and dysfunctional. We contrast different kinds of relationships in a couple of di...

Bought by WEZU, WVRU, RadioFreePalmer, WOUB, KBRP Community Radio and more


  • Added: Oct 17, 2016
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 17
Bluegrass Review #1643. Program for Oct 22-Oct 28, 2016.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
Old songs about driving trucks frequently center on the power of trucks and the long drives. More recent ones also focus on the relationships conne...

Bought by RadioFreePalmer, WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WAMU and more


  • Added: Oct 07, 2016
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 16
Bluegrass Review #1642.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
Losing one’s way somehow in life is a frequent topic in bluegrass songs. But how this topic is handled differs from period to period. We listen to ...

Bought by WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WVRU, RadioFreePalmer and more


  • Added: Sep 24, 2016
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 17
Bluegrass Review #1641.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
There are lots of songs about trains, and at least two with the name Old Train. We spin them. We focus on a new tune by Grascals banjoist Kristin S...

Bought by WVRU, WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, RadioFreePalmer and more


  • Added: Sep 24, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 17
Bluegrass Review Fall Fund II
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Piece image
Fall 2016 Fund Raising Edition II; about 40 minutes of programming

Bought by WDSE


  • Added: Sep 17, 2016
  • Length: 37:42
  • Purchases: 1
Bluegrass Review Fall Fund I
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Piece image
Fall 2016 Fund Raising Edition I. about 40 minutes in length.

Bought by WDSE


  • Added: Sep 17, 2016
  • Length: 38:55
  • Purchases: 1
Bluegrass Review #1640.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
The blues plays a large role in the bluegrass style. There are many ways to use the blues, from the blues tonality to creating song segments that r...

Bought by WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, RadioFreePalmer, WDSE and more


  • Added: Sep 17, 2016
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 16
Bluegrass Review #1639. Program for Sept 24-Sept 30, 2016.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
Sweet 16. It should be joyous to be sweet 16. But in bluegrass, it can be not-so-sweet 16. We play a few examples, and then an old and frivolous so...

Bought by KKRN, WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WNTI.ORG-Internet Radio from Centenary University and more


  • Added: Sep 20, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 11
Bluegrass Review #1638.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
The Bluegrass Review opens with a couple of songs instructing on the dangers of forgetting where one comes from. Later on the Gem of Bluegrass, we ...

Bought by WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WNTI.ORG-Internet Radio from Centenary University, WDSE and more


  • Added: Sep 05, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 15
Bluegrass Review #1637
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
We begin today with recent bluegrass, including a couple of artists who enjoy re-doing Flatt and Scruggs songs from a half century or more ago. Our...

Bought by WOUB, KRZA, WVRU, WAMU, WDSE and more


  • Added: Aug 20, 2016
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 16
Bluegrass Review #1636.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
At the top of the show, we play cuts from two new banjo albums. Both tracks feature the banjo on vocal numbers, and not instrumentals. Bluegrass ha...

Bought by WVRU, WOUB, KBRP Community Radio, KRZA, WAMU and more


  • Added: Aug 18, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 15
Bluegrass Review #1635.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
Our show opens with recent songs of desperate men, and focusing on train robbery and the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Later, we consider the ...

Bought by WVRU, WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WAMU and more


  • Added: Aug 18, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 15
Bluegrass Review #1634.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
After some great current bluegrass by the Trinity River Band, we play a few bluegrass songs where the departed have not completely departed. The Ge...

Bought by WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, KSJD, WDSE and more


  • Added: Aug 06, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 16
Bluegrass Review #1633.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
On today’s show we continue playing some excellent recent bluegrass. We have new work to play by fiddle virtuoso Mark O’Connor. As usual, we presen...

Bought by WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WVRU, WDSE and more


  • Added: Jul 21, 2016
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 18
Bluegrass Review #1632.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
We break out with new bluegrass, then proceed to play two related songs, one old and one new, but both grim: They reference short lives of trouble....

Bought by WVRU, WOUB, KRZA, KBEM, KBRP Community Radio and more


  • Added: Jul 15, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 16
Bluegrass Review #1631.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: Phil w/2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
Shortly after the show opens, we play songs related to various types of towns. Later, we feature Frank Wakefield on the Gem of Bluegrass. Frank is ...

Bought by WOUB, KRZA, KBRP Community Radio, WDSE, KRPS and more


  • Added: Jul 12, 2016
  • Length: 59:02
  • Purchases: 17
Bluegrass Review #1627.
From: Philip Nusbaum
Series: The Bluegrass Review
Caption: hilip Nusbaum w/ 2013 Zeitfunk, Credit: Karen Van Norman
Suddenly there is a group of new bluegrass recordings to play, so we spin some of the finest of the new crop. Bluegrass music has a singular niche ...

Bought by WOUB, KKRN, WDSE, WAMU, KRPS and more


  • Added: Jun 16, 2016
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 15

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