My guest this week is fiddler, string arranger, composer and session musician Matt Combs.

After decades working in the service of other people's music, including a stint in the Opry house band, Matt has just put out his first solo record 'Fifty Years of Clown School.'

We chat about why now felt like the time to put out his own record, as well as the reasons why he shelved a previous project he'd already recorded, and what he learned in decades of playing and arranging for other people. We also talk about how the tunes for this project grew out of his daily, meditative slow practice sessions, how John Hartford helped him understand his own creativity and why Beethoven's Ninth Symphony became a model for what he was trying to achieve on this album.

It was a thoughtful, wide ranging and fascinating conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

For info and updates on Matt follow him on Instagram. You can buy Fifty Years of Clown School on Bandcamp and learn more at mattcombs.com

Support the show

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Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)


Bluegrass Jam Along is proud to be sponsored by Collings Guitars and Mandolins and Token premium guitar picks

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