The Breakdown Podcast
1) Punch Brothers - Antifogmatic
It’s a festively boozy week on The Breakdown – Emma’s been at the drinks cabinet and so, it seems, have the Punch Brothers. Is their wild and woozy Antifogmatic even a bluegrass record? We join Noam, ...Show More
2) Toy Heart Podcast - Ricky Skaggs
In lieu of new episodes of The Breakdown, co-host Emma John introduces an episode of "Toy Heart", the most in-depth podcast about the origins of bluegrass ever created. Hosted by CBC radio host Tom P...Show More
3) The Seldom Scene - Live at The Cellar Door
The Seldom Scene's classic 1975 release "Live at the Cellar Door" is featured, and if ever there was a party of a bluegrass album, "Live at the Cellar Door" is it. Patrick and Emma talk to original ...Show More
4) O Brother, Where Art Thou?
It's the movie that brought bluegrass to a new generation, and sent dozens of musical careers into the stratosphere. This week, Patrick and Emma dissect the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, wit...Show More
5) Bill Monroe - The High, Lonesome Sound of Bill Monroe
It's high, it's lonesome – it's The High Lonesome Sound. Unpacking Bill Monroe's bluegrass legacy through this 1966 compilation of Decca recordings is no small task – so Patrick and Emma have enlisted...Show More
6) Alison Krauss and Union Station - So Long, So Wrong
It was the album that nearly broke them – but instead, it made them. If you weren't in love with Alison Krauss and Union Station by the end of their third album, So Long So Wrong, you needed to check ...Show More
7) Jim & Jesse - The Jim & Jesse Show
Season 2 of The Breakdown Podcast continues with an in-depth exploration of Jim & Jesse's 1975 live album "The Jim & Jesse Show." Bluegrass and Japan are like peanut butter & jelly – it might not se...Show More
8) Dolly Parton - The Grass Is Blue
Season 2 of The Breakdown Podcast has arrived! Fiddler Patrick McGonigle and music journalist Emma John uncover bluegrass music one iconic record at a time, premiering with an in-depth exploration of ...Show More
9) Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs - Second Generation Bluegrass
Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley were only 17 years old when they recorded Second Generation Bluegrass. Both went on to be country megastars – until Whitley died of alcohol poisoning at 34. Bluegrass le...Show More
10) John Hartford - "Aereo-Plain"
Aereo-Plain is probably the greatest album John Hartford ever made - but when it came out in 1971, even his record label didn’t know what to make of it. We’re still not quite sure - is it a genuine no...Show More