Bourbon and Beyond 2026 - Line 19 (Woodbox Heroes, The Fretliners, Meels, Mason Via, Vickie Vaughn Band)

Wood Box Heroes

One Liner: A voltron of bluegrass pickers making fun stuff with their combined powers
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but straight bluegrass
Home: Nashville
Day: Thursday 

Thoughts:  When I read that band name, I did it with the cadence of the chorus of the Foreigner song "Juke Box Hero," and then was really hoping that this was going to be a band made up of the guys at nice resorts who make sure that each little cabin has plenty of split firewood for a romantic fire.  Instead, this is a super rad bluegrass supergroup.  Well, maybe not "super" group, but at least a Mediumgroup.  A bluegrass supergroup would be more like Chris Thile, Billy Strings, and that weird techno-fiddle lady who is also coming to this Festival.  Anyway, Matt Menefee was (is?) the banjo player for Mumford & Sons, Barry Bales was (is?) the bass player for Alison Krauss & Union Station (with the commensurate 15 Grammy awards) and also the songwriter for Chris Stapleton's "Nobody to Blame" which was the CMA song of the year that year, Jenee Fleenor plays the fiddle for folks like Blake Shelton, Martina McBride, Don Williams, and others (and was the first woman to win CMA Musician of the Year), and Josh Martin is his own singer/songwriter fella.

Although the poster shows their name as Woodbox, the Internet separates those words into Wood Box.  I'm sure you are scintillated by this observation.  Anyway, in 2021, a promoter invited Martin to bring some pickers to play a gig in Michigan.  He brought these folks, and they found something fun and good together.  Jenee and Josh do the singing, and their voices are nice, but it is the instruments that make this money.  Their top track is "No. 444" with 184k streams.  

The old traditional bluegrass breakdown, baby.  Sounds sweet to me.  I wish I could do those things to a banjo.  But yeah, I would go watch this happen. No clue how the schedule for this Fest might look, as in whether a band like this will be at noon on Tuesday or whatever, but if it is in an acceptable time slot, I like it.

The Fretliners

One Liner: Another bluegrass less-than-super-group but pretty good anyway
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but straight bluegrass (maybe the 19th line is reserved for bluegrass)
Home: Colorado
Day: Saturday

Thoughts:  They have a photo on the web at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and just seeing the mountain on the other side of that valley makes me nostalgic.  Working for a living blows, man.  According to their website bio, they "swept" the 2023 Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass band competitions, an achievement done only once before.  So, they are extremely big time.

The members were apparently previously in other bluegrass bands - Wood Belly, Head for the Hills, and Yonder Mountain String Band - but they joined together for a new non-supergroup.  The Internet is a fascinating place, but when you come across something like this, in which multiple people spend significant time talking about one of the members of this tiny band getting kicked out, is wild.  I guess Justice for Dan Andree!  Who knows if I am even hearing the same band now, without the mighty Dan Andree!?!?  What I will say is that the mandolin player can jam though.  Sorry that the fiddle guy is gone, but the mandolin is legit.  "Purple Flowers" has 154k streams.

I know that bluegrass can be an acquired taste for some - the wife definitely can get tired of the extended noodling jams.  However, I have a good feeling when I hear it, likely because it was about the only music I can think of hearing my dad enjoy.  He has always been more of a "silence is golden" kind of fella, and I of course need constant music at all times or might die, so I definitely noticed when he would sometimes have old time bluegrass on the radio in the truck.  This isn't the best bluegrass I've ever heard, but these guys are still fun.

Meels

One Liner: Americana and indie folk from a muppet ass with a nice voice
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but folky indie and Americana
Home: Mill Valley, CA
Day: Saturday 

Thoughts:  An amazing name.  Sounds like a bad guy in a Fraggle Rock episode.  And her look actually could have been inspired by the Fraggles.  Lotsa hair going on here.  Apparently, meel is the Iranian name an Indian club or mudgar, a type of exercise equipment that you juggle.  That sounds awful.  Meels is also the name of a Canadian organic meal prep delivery service.  Anyway, this lady is not a super-long bowling pin or a fad meal service.  Instead, this is Amelia Einhorn, a musician specializing in indie folk and Americana.

She left California to attend NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where she worked on songwriting as she navigated the big city and got her degree.  She flew to Nashville, booking ten days in a studio, and tackled her first album with two producers.  She's now moved to L.A. and apparently has a dauschund named Baltimore.  Her new album kind of reminds of Sierra Ferrell.

But her most popular song is "The Willow Song" with 144k streams.  And an amazing video.  A Muppet show copy!  And I came up with the Fraggle thing before any of this!

I just absolutely laughed out loud at that raccoon rocking back and forth with the harmonica in his paws.  Beautiful song though. And the lyrics are kind of clever as well.  I have generally enjoyed her music, although Spotify keeps ending her portion and playing other people like her, which is annoying.  I'd go watch her.  She's good.

Mason Via

One Liner: An Old Crow Medicine Show vet making solo bluegrass
Wikipedia Genre: Bluegrass, Americana, country
Home: Southern Virginia and North Carolina
Day: Thursday

Thoughts:  Let's keep the bluegrass vibe going, baby!  His top song right now is a sort of preachy little ditty about how the National Parks are all going to burn soon.  "See It While You Can (National Park Song)" reminds me that I wanted to go to Glacier NP a few years ago to make sure I saw the glaciers before they all melted.  Screwed that up though.  But it is a very pretty ditty about the great National Parks we have (for now).

Interestingly, I was hearing some nibbles of Union Station in the studio tunes, but then he has a live album on Spotify where he sounds like a combination of Dave Matthews Band and the Revivalists.  But, this fella was previously part of Old Crow Medicine Show, which is a pretty great band even beyond "Wagon Wheel."  He started releasing his own bluegrass in 2015, then joined OCMS for about four years, and then went back out on his own.  Also, in the midst of that, he was on the 2021 season of American Idol, performing under the tragic name Mason Picks.  he did not make the top 24.

I mean, you have to be a huge banjo dork to include something like the interlude in "There Goes Another One" where he has the cops talking about a "hot pursuit going 170 BPM" (beats per minute) and then Via yells "catch me if you can, eat my dust officer!"  C'mon dork.  Any true banjo outlaw would call him a "copper" like this was The Untouchables.

Only two songs with over 100k streams - both from his 2025 self-titled album.  "Fireball" is the winner with 160k.

He's a cute little nerd.  That song is pretty damn cheesy.  I swear he has better ones than that. Although that banjo solo was pretty wicked.  I honestly enjoyed listening through the music, and think that live album is pretty fun with its heavy steel guitar.  Bottom line of the poster, coming through here.

Vickie Vaughn Band

One Liner: Bluegrass bassist gets her own band
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but bluegrass
Home: Paducah, KY
Day: Sunday

Thoughts:  I was mistaken but very much hoping that this was the name of the girlfriend and then wife from Waterboy.  But sadly, that was Vickie Valencourt.  Six total songs, on one EP, so it will not take much to hear what she has to offer.  Instead, Vickie Vaughn has been described as "one of the most powerful bassists - and now vocalists - in bluegrass today."  In 2023 and 2024, she was named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year.  We are talking about one of those big ass stand up bass things here, by the way.  She's not in a contest with Flea.  She was previously in High Fidelity and the Grammy-nominated all-woman, all-string band named Della Mae.  If I am being entirely honest, her voice gets under my skin.  A little too brassy.  Which is likely rude.  But I'm the one with these ears, so suck it.

Top song is really crushing it with 2,913 streams.  "Congaree" sounds like the name of a river in Tennessee.  Let's see if it has a video.

Sorta.  But what the heck - that is a great bluegrass breakdown.  I am trying to listen and see if it feels like the bass is especially powerful or whatever, and it's just kinda bopping around back there - and you don't have to worry about her voice either!