A little bit Bluegrass, a little bit underground.
Original title
Bluegrass Underground
Released
9/7/2011
Origin country
US
Genre
Documentary
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
10
Number of episodes
170
A musical adventure series emanating from The Caverns in Tennessee's majestic Cumberland Mountains. Celebrating the diversity of America’s musical heritage with artists from the full spectrum of genres: Bluegrass, yes but also Americana, Country, Soul, Blues, Rock N Roll, Gospel, Folk, and everything between.
Taped 333-feet below ground within Tennessee's extraordinary Cumberland Caverns, this "musical adventure" showcases highlights from five seasons with both well-established and top emerging artists within the broad spectrum of Bluegrass, Jam Band, Roots-Rock, Neo-Folk and Americana genres. It's a little bit Bluegrass, a little bit Underground!
Self taught, Seattle-based and Grammy nominated for Americana Album of the Year, Brandi Carlile’s style revolves around pop, rock, alt-country and folk. Her songs serve up personal stories of parents and childhood; of divorce, marriage and religion; of love and of loss. Here are stories of forgiveness, reconciliation, of climbing out of bed every morning open to love.
Come along as we take you to the new home of Bluegrass Underground, The Caverns, on a behind-the-scenes tour from when the subterranean amphitheater was first purchased.
The bluegrass band 18 South kicks off the performance series, which is taped in Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, Tenn.
Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder perform.
Singer-songwriter Will Hoge performs.
Mike Farris and the McCrary Sisters perform.
Cherryholmes perform.
Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle performs.
Mountain Heart perform.
Singer-songwriter Darrell Scott performs.
The John Cowan Band.
The Farewell Drifters perform.
Monte Montgomery performs.
The Season 1 finale features highlights from the season, including performances by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Mike Farris and the McCrary Sisters, the John Cowan Band, Cherryholmes, and Will Hoge.
From multiple Grammy wins to The Hunger Games' soundtrack, 2012 is a breakout year for The Civil Wars. Intricately woven phrasing and airtight harmonies mark the minimalist duo's powerfully ballads and astonishingly frank songs on the paradoxical nature of love.
The thirteen time Grammy winner plays the dobro with unprecedented speed and haunting lyricism. Douglas is one of Nashville's most in-demand session players and is a longtime featured member of Alison Krauss & Union Station.
Singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz performs.
Jim Lauderdale performs.
Raised on show business in a family band, David Mayfield made his name with award-winning progressive bluegrass group Cadillac Sky. The singer/guitarist mixes acoustic-alternative and cutting-edge Americana with great showmanship.
Singer/mandolinist Doyle Lawson and his band perform progressive bluegrass and compelling a cappella Gospel.
Americana pioneer Miller and his band, the Commonwealth, perform songs with a bluegrass and edgy mountain tinge.
The Timejumpers, a western-swing band whose members include Vince Gill, perform.
The Vespers perform.
Grammy-winning singer/guitarist Del McCoury and his band perform the "High Lonesome" sound and also explore new musical frontiers.
Country star and multiple Grammy winner Vince Gill, known for his razor-sharp instrumental skills, expressive tenor voice, richly varied songwriting, and superb choice of backup musicians, performs honky tonk ballads, bluegrass, and country rock.
The Black Lillies perform in the Sesaon 2 finale.
Season 3 kicks off with Old Crow Medicine Show.
The singer/violinist, multi-instrumentalist performs indie-folk rock with guest Tift Merritt.
Infamous Stringdusters perform.
The folk-pop duo Johnnyswim perform.
Yonder Mountain String Band, a Colorado-based bluegrass group, perform.
Ben Sollee, a singer-songwriter and cellist, performs.
The Steeldrivers perform.
BeauSoleil, a Cajun-zydeco band, perform.
Leon Russell performs.
The three-time Grammy-nominated Allstars showcase an authentic brand of Dixie-fried roots-blues.
The Wood Brothers perform.
The Season 3 finale features the Alison Brown Quartet.
The Season 4 premiere features the successful jamband Widespread Panic who meld southern rock, blues-rock, funk and hard rock in a stellar performance.
Steep Canyon Rangers perform.
Cellist Dave Eggar, singer Amy Lee (of Evanescence) and dance troupe Hammerstep perform.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit perform.
The David Grisman FolkJazz Trio perform.
Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams performs.
The Gibson Brothers showcase their amazing harmonies and whip-crack musicianship.
The frontwoman and the band sing through multiple generations and genres of New Orleans grooves.
The eclectic jazz, funk, reggae, alt-rock guitar virtuoso joins the stellar Traveling McCourys.
Shovels & Rope perform.
Singer-songwriter Hayes Carll performs.
The Grammy nominee stirs up his own particular stew of folk, country-rock, pop and Western music.
Singer-songwriter Chip Taylor, whose songs include "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning," performs.
Leftover Salmon perform in the Season 5 premiere.
Jerry Douglas' Earls of Leicester perform.
Singer-songwriter Amos Lee performs.
Lee Ann Womack performs.
The bluegrass/jazz great is joined by his wife on clawhammer banjo.
The Michigan-based Americana group Greensky Bluegrass performs.
Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen performs.
The hot bluegrass band of the 1970-1992 have reunited with a new guitar player but the same great sound.
Country singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver performs.
Chatham County Line perform.
The Quebe Sisters, a western swing group, perform.
Railroad Earth, an Americana-based jam band, perform.
Savor the Underground debut of a group that personifies “Americana”: Guitarist-singer-songwriter Rawlings with Gillian Welch, Punch Brothers bassist Paul Kowert, fiddler Brittany Haas and former Old Crow Medicine Show guitarist Willie Watson.
Welcome these relative newcomers, a 10-piece band fresh out of Houston and fronted by the massive-voiced singer Kam Franklin and influenced by classic rock 'n' roll, country, Latin and southern hip-hop as much as Stax/Volt or Muscle Shoals era.
Join monster mandolinist (and chef) Frank Solivan and his band, Dirty Kitchen, whose sturdy matrix of bluegrass veined with jazz, blues, country and jam band delivers on their main rule: “No filler.”
Hurray for the Riff Raff - with Alynda Lee Segarra, who hopped freight trains across America before settling in sultry New Orleans - promises to turn the Volcano Room into the French Quarter with a high-energy, funky, folky N'Awlins groove.
Enjoy a set by this Mississippi-raised musical force of nature-a Grammy winner, eight-time CMA Musician of the Year, soulful singer, hit songwriter and Muscle Shoals session musician who boasts a following of fans devoted to the art of the song.
Described as a mash-up of jam band, blues, funk, soul and Southern rock, the songs of JJ Grey, the "North Florida sage and soul-bent swamp rocker," reflect the area around Jacksonville, where he was raised.
Hear the Cox family, who contributed several songs to the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?-the best-selling roots music album of all time. They returned to the national music scene recently with their first album in almost 20 years.
As his wife recovered from an accident that nearly paralyzed her, The Lone Bellow was born as a creative outlet for singer Zach Williams. Now a thriving part of Brooklyn’s Americana scene, The Lone Bellow Roots-folk-rock trio was recently nominated for Americana Duo/Group Of The Year.
Rolling Stone magazine explained veteran rockers DNC thusly, “Crunching hard rock is the Drivin’ part. Brittle country-ish balladry.” Hailing from Atlanta, GA, Kevn Kinney and Drivin’ N Cryin’ have for 30 years offered die-hard fans a blend that arcs from intimate acoustic folk to soaring (and searing) guitar-laden southern rock.
The Tennessee mandolin prodigy is all grown up and comes to Bluegrass Underground fresh from releasing her third solo album, the jaw-dropping, Bela Fleck-produced Weighted Mind. Of her, Fleck notes, “She plays the mandolin with a degree of refined elegance and freedom that few have achieved Her vocals and songwriting matured to the level of her virtuosity.”
Seemingly born fully formed in 2012, this Birmingham, Alabama Soul band’s career hit the ground as big and strong as their sweat-soaked, seven-piece Soul-Funk sound, earning major raves from major media, including Paste magazine, Garden and Gun, Southern Living, Rolling Stone and NPR.
Led by Illinois native Jason Ringenberg, the Scorchers crashed out of Nashville and began smashing down the walls between genres with their own brawling brand of country-rock almost 35 years ago. As trailblazers for the cowpunk and alt-rock bands that would follow, Jason and the Scorchers have received the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Enjoy the irresistible Cuban groove of the genre-leaping Grammy-winners fronted by the transcendent vocals of Raul Malo. The band has won awards from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association and the Americana Music Association.
Listen to the group variously described as blues-rock, jamband and acid-Americana. Rolling Stone described their sound as “electrifying…boast[ing] a vintage rock vibe that’s at once quirky, trippy, soulful and downright magnetic.”
Hear a Georgia-born, internationally acclaimed band that defines the drive and precision of top shelf bluegrass. Celebrating their 25th anniversary, the group is a top pick on Amazon.com and a favorite of discerning bluegrass fans everywhere.
Tune in for a set from a singer-songwriter who traveled from the Land Down Under to Tennessee’s “Show Down Under.” From a well-known producing/performing musical family, Chambers is one of Australia's most successful and celebrated country artists.
Don’t miss this performance by the five-time Grammy-winner. With a bio that boasts stints with Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash, Stuart is unsurpassed as a rhinestone showman and folk philosopher who has proudly remained to country.
Enjoy a performance by a singer-songwriter deemed one of Nashville’s hottest new country roots artists. Winner of Americana’s 2016 Album of the Year, Millsap performs on guitar, harmonica and slide guitar.
Tune in for a performance by the “Queen of Bluegrass," who tours with her band, The Rage, earning accolades for her mastery of the progressive chord structures and multi-range, fast-paced vocals intrinsic to bluegrass.
Hear a set from a progressive singer/songwriter who has sung with numerous bands, including the Monsters of Folk supergroup. His songs of insight, detail and political awareness have earned him a large and devoted following.
The word “soul” has powerful resonance – musically, culturally and spiritually. No contemporary band embodies the power of Soul more than the Bo-Keys, made up of session musicians from historic Stax and Hi Records studio bands including drummer Howard Grimes, organist Archie “Hubby” Turner, singer Percy Wiggins, Grammy-nominated bassist Scott Bomar, and trumpeter Ben Cauley.
Hailing from the dual musical poles of Memphis and East Nashville, this band has toured extensively with such diverse artists as The Avett Brothers, Ryan Adams, Los Lobos, and Susan Tedeschi and now regularly sell out Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium. The band was first seen nationally on PBS’ series, Legends and Lyrics.
Nashville born and raised, the McCrary Sisters are the daughters of the late Rev. Sam McCrary, one-time preeminent leader of the Fairfield Four gospel quartet. Raised on harmony, these four siblings form one of the world’s premier gospel quartets in their own right.
This high energy, multi-genre band blasted out of Princeton, N.J. atop the furious harmonica riffs of frontman John Popper. Testing skills in blues, reggae, folk, hip-hop, soul, and southern rock, the band in the end emerged as key players among the growing and loyal Jamband audiences. The Grammy-winning band is also known for its Top 40 hits such as Hook and Run-Around.
Season 8 moves to a new location 40 miles south of the previous site, The Caverns at the foot of Monteagle Mountain in the hills of Grundy County, Tennessee near Pelham, Tennessee.
Reaction to Billy Strings come in two varieties: “Who is this guy?” and “That kid can play!” Strings won IBMA 2016 Momentum Awards Instrumentalist of the Year (for guitar, banjo and mandolin) and was voted #1 in The Bluegrass Situation’s Top 16 of 16. Michigan-raised from a long line of players, Billy Strings is a phenomenon whose articulation and entire approach is totally authentic.
With a distinct "indie folk grit," Berklee-trained Tasjan has always considered himself a songwriter first even as he built creds with glam-rockers New York Dolls, southern rockers Drivin’ N Cryin’, arena rockers Semi Precious Weapons and British rockers Alberta Cross. Imbued with wry wit, a sharp tongue and a lot of heart, his songs harken John Prine, Tom Petty, Guy Clark, and Steve Goodman, solidifying him as one of the most intriguing songwriters to emerge in some time.
Raised on a Kentucky farm, The Father of Newgrass and King of Telluride has long since established himself as roots royalty, soaking up honors such as an Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award, three Grammys, and multiple International Bluegrass Music Association trophies. After a lifetime of channeling energy toward jazz, folk, blues, reggae, country swing, and bluegrass, Bush still strives relentlessly to create something new.
This gifted septet conquers every stage they play. Songs penned in English, Spanish and French have led to tours in Venezuela, Canada, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Russia, France, China and Portugal. Traditional Latin rhythms, Classical influences and American Roots-Rock sensibilities offer a fresh, truly singular approach perhaps best described as “Pan Americana.”
With multiple awards from both Grammy and IBMA, this singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist grew up singing in church and in school, becoming a lifelong devotee of Old Time and Bluegrass music. First touring nationally in the 1980’s with Colorado Bluegrass band Hot Rize, O’Brien’s range over original compositions and traditional arrangements.
Formed in 1992, Lettuce was founded on a shared love of funk artists like Earth, Wind & Fire and Tower of Power. Lettuce brilliantly infuses their psychedelic/hip-hop sensibilities to bring a refreshing vitality to classic funk. Their tight sense of unity springs from a camaraderie that's only intensified over the lifespan of the band, deepening a sonic freedom with the infectious energy of an incendiary live show.
With two Grammys and 15 Top 10 singles on the Billboard charts, Mattea is a storied Nashville singer/songwriter. A genuine storyteller drawing on Appalachian roots, hers are classics infused with Bluegrass, Gospel and Celtic influences. Mattea pulls an acoustic eclectic set in duo long-time collaborator Bill Cooley featuring new material mixed with her extensive and decades-deep archive.
Rev. Sekou's music offers a searing blend of North Mississippi Hill Country Music, Arkansas Delta Blues, Memphis Soul and Pentecostal steel guitar. AFROPUNK heralded the ”deep bone-marrow-level conviction” of his first album, which contained the single, “The Revolution Has Come.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch dubbed the song as the new anthem for the modern Civil Rights movement.
Borrowing their name from the Indian Nation Turnpike that connected the more obscure dots of the Sooner state where they cut their artistic teeth, the Troubadours have honed a rowdy, quick-witted sound that’s brought together folks of all stripes. With a raw-boned energy and a knack for capturing slices of life in vivid detail, the band has evolved from acoustic explorations of Townes Van Zandt and Jerry Jeff Walker to full-throttle roadhouse country twang-tinged with a certain punk attitude hanging over from the band’s early years.
Hailing from New Orleans, Gauthier wrote her first song at the age of 35. Since, her extraordinarily confessional songs have garnered "New Artist of the Year" by The Americana Music Association and landed on Top 10 lists of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Daily News, No Depression, and Billboard Magazine. Her latest release, "Rifles and Rosary Beads" ("Thirty Tigers"), includes songs co-written with and for wounded veterans, all co-written as part of Darden Smith's SongwritingWith:Soldiers program.
Debuting in 2013, this band is a musical force with Grand Ole Opry appearances, Billboard charting albums, and three top IBMA honors in 2016, Vocal Group, Song, Album of the Year, and Vocal Group for 2017. Digging into a well of emotion, expressive instrumentals, sophisticated writing and inventive arrangements, Flatt Lonesome continues to raise the bar of their own fiercely creative game.
Self taught, Washington-raised and Grammy nominated for Americana Album of the Year, Carlile’s style has revolved around several genres, including pop, rock, alternative country, and folk with songs serving as personal stories of parents and childhood, of divorces and religion, of marriage and having children, and of love and of loss.
Ten-time IBMA Fiddler of the Year Award and one of the premier musicians of his generation. Originally trained in the classical Suzuki method, Cleveland’s blistering technical fluency pairs amazingly with Flamekeeper's tight harmonies and jaw dropping instrumental trades, finding balance between Bluegrass founding fathers and breaking new ground.
Truly iconic, profoundly influential, and a catalyst for an entire movement in country rock and American roots music, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, continues to add to their legendary status. With multi-platinum and gold records, strings of Top 10 hits, multiple Grammy, IBMA, CMA Awards, the band's accolades continue to accumulate.
Singer-songwriter and violinist, road warrior, and recently minted MFA in creative writing, Amanda Shires cuts her own genre blended roots-rock with fierce-sweet violin, soaring vocals and critically acclaimed compositions. Shires was Americana’s 2017 Emerging Artist of the Year and won for Best Americana Album with husband Jason Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit.
Nashville-based singer-songwriting bluesman and four-time Grammy Award winner, Keb’ Mo’ has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that traveled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America." A musical force defying typical genre labels, Mo’s post-modern blues style harkens many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz, pop and country.
Ritter is a vocalist, musician, New York Times best-selling author, painter, and consummate live performer - a true artist. Best known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics, Josh Ritter is — two decades into a storied career — unafraid of growing, changing and constantly challenging then estimable, earlier versions of himself. Josh Ritter, it seems, may just be getting started.
Lucero’s first gig in Memphis was for a crowd of six. But for a band with a 20-year string of successes and aural iterations, who carried the alt-country torch back in the '90s and helped pave the way for “Americana,” Lucero have returned to what inspired them in the first place. They tour behind a streamlined sound honoring their seminal southern and rock influences.
Two talented boys from a working class Maryland family, the Brothers Osborne bring us a “twang-and-crunch,” equal parts country and rock into one of the freshest, most identifiable sounds to come out of Nashville in recent years. Five-time Grammy nominees, The Brothers Osborne reign as back-to-back ACM Vocal Duo of the Year Awards as well as the two-time CMA Vocal Duo of the Year.
Isakov strikes a balance of space and instrumentation with precise arrangements and poignant lyrics.
Producer, author, actor and singer-songwriter Steve Earle is master musician and writer's writer.
Lauren Morrow showcases her broad vocal range and sweet Georgia drawl in her unique songs.
Glen Hansard brings the heart and soul of the Irish backed by a powerful Folk-Rock horn band.
The trio evokes songs from some bygone era, rooted in folk, delta blues, and reckless rock.
Mandy Barnett has a keen interpretative sense and a powerful style rooted in Country and Pop.
This season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, each episode offers previous performances from two or more artists who have graced the underground stage over past seasons.
Featuring Brandi Carlile, Sarah Jarosz, and The Wood Brothers.
Featuring Leon Russell, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Old Crow Medicine Show.
Featuring The Mavericks and Sweet Lizzy Project.
Featuring Kathy Mattea, Lauren Morrow, and Lucinda Williams.
Featuring Widespread Panic and Billy Strings.
Featuring Keb' Mo', The Suffers, and St. Paul & The Broken Bones.
Featuring Keb' Mo', The Suffers, and St. Paul & The Broken Bones.
Featuring Amanda Shires, Davina and the Vagabonds, Kasey Chambers, and Shovels & Rope.
Featuring Andrew Bird, Amos Lee, Mary Gauthier, and The Lone Bellow.
Featuring The McCrary Sisters, Mike Farris, and the Reverend Osagyefo Sekou.
Featuring Drivin' N' Cryin', Jason Isbell, Scott Miller and The Commonwealth, and more.
Featuring Drivin' N' Cryin', Jason Isbell, Scott Miller and The Commonwealth, and more.
This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
