Josh Williams – Luegra

Swap Meet Finds/YouTube Finds

I went to the Livonia Amateur Radio Club Swap Meet this morning. I go every year, and while 90% of the items on sale is related to ham radio, I like to look around to see if there is any guitar/audio stuff I can get cheap, especially vintage microphones. I did pick up an old Radio Shack omnidirectional mic for the collection, as well as a Dimarzio acoustic guitar pickup, both for a few bucks each.

I also picked up an emergency radio, one that powers on solar or hand crank. You never know if you will need it if the power goes out.

I just wanted to cover three bluegrass-related YouTube channels that I came across recently. The first is World Bluegrass Day. This channel has been around since 2012, but for some reason, I only became aware of it recently, despite the number of times I have done searches on YT for bluegrass videos. Over 250 videos of bluegrass performances, interviews, and mini-documentaries are here, all of which are great to watch. One of the most recent uploads is “Jimmy Martin’s Wedding Video (1988).” It’s over an hour long, and the ceremony is strange to say the least. The bride looks young enough to be Jimmy’s daughter, and all of the Sunny Mountain Boys, along with J.D. Crowe and a few other musicians, stood in as his “best man.” More time was spent by Jimmy talking about his touring history than his bride. From what I recollect, Jimmy was never officially married, so this may have been a stunt. Anyone out there want to elaborate? Anyway, the channel is at https://www.youtube.com/@WorldBluegrassDay .

Cody M. Music is another channel that has been around for a while, but I only recently found it. Cody is a graduate of East Tennessee State University of its Old-Time and Bluegrass Music Program. He posts videos of acoustic guitar reviews and beginner lessons, including numerous shorts on easy licks and rhythm patterns. Some of the short lessons are slowed down to half speed so the viewer can learn it a bit more easily. Cody is using this channel to promote his online teaching program that you can purchase as a subscription. Some people wanting to improve on their bluegrass guitar playing may want to check this channel out at https://www.youtube.com/@codymmusic .

Southern Legacy is a true bluegrass supergroup. The members have been in numerous other bands, and get together occasionally for touring. Members include mandolinist Don Rigsby, banjoist Ron Block (of Alison Krauss & Union Station fame), and Josh Williams, my favorite flatpicker, whom I did a previous blog on (https://luegra.design.blog/2023/09/23/josh-williams-bluegrass-instrumental-genius/). The talent here is phenomenal, and I hope that they will be releasing some material soon. They are the cover story of the March 2025 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. While there are a number of videos of this band performing on YT, they also have their own channel at https://www.youtube.com/@SouthernLegacyMusic .

Chew on it and comment.

Josh Williams: Bluegrass Instrumental Genius

More cleaning around my soon-to-be sold house, I came across a great DVD. Guitarmageddon: Josh Williams, Andy Falco and Chris Eldridge Live at the Station Inn. This was recorded around 2007, was put out by Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, and the three of them look young and energetic. If you get a chance to watch or purchase this DVD, or come across clips on YouTube, be sure to watch it!

This got me to thinking about Josh Williams again and what an amazing bluegrass musician he truly is. If you ever get to see the 1994 documentary Gather at the River: A Bluegrass Celebration, which covers the 1993 IBMA World of Bluegrass convention, you will see the first incarnation of Pete Wernick’s Young Bluegrass All-Stars. This band included very young versions of Williams (on banjo), Chris Thile (mandolin), Cody Kilby (guitar) and Michael Cleveland (fiddle), all of whom went on to bigger fame in the bluegrass community. Williams would later join Special Consensus on mandolin, then spend a good deal of time playing guitar with Rhonda Vincent and The Rage. He would also win the IBMA Guitar Player of the Year award three times!

He would leave The Rage due to some addiction troubles, but would form a solo band, as well as sit in with a number of bluegrass and country artists. Around 2008, I got a call from Jim Lauderdale asking if I would pick up Williams from the Detroit Metro Airport and drive him to a gig in Grand Rapids, about three hours away. I agreed, but then we hit one of the worst snowstorms in west Michigan, so the three hours turned to about six hours. Moreover, Williams was in a depressed mood due to the untimely death of mandolinist Butch Baldassari earlier that day. But we kept in touch for a while (I would always refer to him as “Colonel,” due to his home state of Kentucky), but slowly lost contact.

Williams would eventually kick the addiction habit and get back to performing with Rhonda Vincent for a few more years, as well as tour on a Tony Rice package. A few years back, he decided to leave touring completely, citing spending more time with his family. His output since then has been very sparse, but fortunately, he has not been forgotten by those that have worked with him in the past and are still active.

I bring Williams up now for a few good reasons. Currently, we have some great young guitarists in the bluegrass fold, most notably Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle. I am taking nothing away from these two – I find them both as incredibly talented players. However, there were some amazing bluegrass flatpickers in the previous generation of bluegrass that has slowly been forgotten. As for the Guitarmageddon video, Eldridge gained cred performing with The Punch Brothers, and Falco has been a highlight of the band The Infamous Stringdusters. Williams should not be forgotten at all. His body of work with Special C, Rhonda Vincent, and solo projects prove that he is a fantastic instrumentalist to be highly recognized on his own.

I have found a few videos of him on YouTube recently, showing up for a jam at the Acoustic Shoppe with members of The Chapmans, and performing on some tribute projects. I hope to get in touch with him soon, but I hope more that he can get back on stage a lot in the near future to showcase what a talent he really is.

Chew on it and comment.