Tim O'Brien

If he wasn't literally at Woodstock, then he was around in that time period and he was big in that circle of like hippies and counterculture and writing songs against, I think against war or against The Man or something.

I know that The Times They Are a-Changin' is a song that was especially highlighted in some documentary that we watched in music appreciation class when I was in ninth grade.

In ninth grade, we had a music appreciation class, and that was a class where mostly kind of more burnout kids went to get easy grades.

But I was in it.

One of my friends who played guitar with me was in it.

We like music.

And we watched this one documentary, and I don't remember what it was, but they had a thing about Bob Dylan's The Times They Are Changing, and they really hammered home that this is a super important song.

And I remember feeling a little bit insecure and thinking, I mean, my dad listens to classic rock radio.

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And I guess from that point on, it just became, you know, what I did on the road and what I kept doing.

And it somehow, I don't know, I think maybe because I didn't, I learned more on my own with the mandolin.

And so I was trying to copy certain players like Tim O'Brien and Sam Bush a lot and David Grisman.

but somehow I didn't like with banjo.

Who's the blues man?

Tim O'Brien, president.

Awesome.

I am all about the blues.

These are acoustic acts.

Tyler Guthrie, Charles Tegner.

Then we start out with the bands as Barbarossa Jones, The Active Ingredients, Grundage, The Jack Bank Special, Rare Breed, Sprint, and Tim O'Brien Project.

Nice.

I had everybody from Charlie Cushman and Johnny Warren, whose father Paul Warren played in the band, to Barry Bales was going to play the bass.

Tim O'Brien was the original mandolin player, but he had hot rise duties to do at the same time.

But we've had a few different mandolin players.

But the final guy to come into the mix was the lead singer.

you know, uh, there, there's been, been moments like in time where I, I asked people like, Hey, what are, in your opinion, like the best recordings, you know, like what are your favorite records to listen to? Um, and and sort of exploring that sometimes it's, there's a few people who come up kind of often, like, um, Gary Pochoza was pretty important in sort of like melding this sort of like pop sensibility to acoustic music.

and I, I go back to the Tim O'Brien traveler record a lot.

That's, that's probably my favorite, I mean, I just love, uh, the way it sounds and the songs.

So that's in that, but that record doesn't translate to a lot of, cause there's Kenny Malone playing percussion on a lot of it.

I think I maybe got it from my mom because I thought she would like it.

But I had the infamous String Duster's Fork in the Road record, which... sounds very um rock and roll to me like there's just sort of this like power to it and it's funny like getting to know some of the people who were in the band at that time it's like they're like oh yeah i don't ever think about that very often i was like maybe we should go back and listen to it i was like yeah i don't for whatever reason it struck me you know when i heard it and i'm i think that was bill vorn dick i think on that record um Yeah, those two stick out to me, you know, and...

That, but it probably, probably Traveler by Tim O'Brien.

I still listen to that record for like pure enjoyment, which for me to listen to someone's music that I am really close with, like I, I feel very like there's people here in Nashville that I consider like, you know, my uncles, you know, I live in this, I moved here young and didn't have a family or anything here.

And people would come up to me after the show and tell me about, you know, their losses that they had been experiencing and how the record had been a companion to them during the time.

And it was just like such a healing experience for me and I think for a lot of people And yeah, and so that all sort of led to now this Bluegrass Women record that, you know, I'd been also thinking about that concept since I moved to Nashville and started thinking about how there's these songs that I had sung and that I had learned from, you know, from John McCurry or Tim O'Brien or the Stanley Brothers or Ricky and Keith.

And then finding out that they were written by women, it sort of felt like a little like, sweet like there's we're in there we are in there somewhere

yes so so let's talk about this more so that people understand because so the album is bluegrass and women and what you're doing is is you're showing the place of women in bluegrass not just as the little sister or the wife but actually as that foundation and that driving force.

I am getting her and everything that I can just to help harbor that.

And I think that you and a project like this is so important because you are going to inspire so many of the next generation.

But what I want to do is talk about some of what you found, right? Because for me, like I've endured, I have always seen that as like, Like you said, Tim O'Brien or Dal McCurry.

And it's an Ola Bell Reid song.

Really? Yeah, I got to sing on a John Hartford record one time, and on Mountain Stage...

When they came to Nashville to do a tribute show to John Hartford, Tim O'Brien and I sang Gentle on My Mind together.

And John was there.

And we were sound checking in the afternoon running the song.

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