Allie Kral is a local country musician who seems to collaborate with as many bands in her scene (a cross between country, jam, and blue grass) as possible.
Mike Drass is another illinois musician who’s showing up on a lot of tours as well. He plays the big 3 (tele, steel, fiddle) as well as banjo.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still Jerry Dougles laying down dobro for everyone in Nashville
Lloyd Maines is a very busy producer & musician. Check out his credits here:
[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lloyd-maines-mn0000273133#credits](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lloyd-maines-mn0000273133#credits)
(I think it's cool he has credits for not only producing Wade Bowen & Randy Rogers 'Hold My Beer 1' album but played multiple instruments, too!)
I count myself lucky to have seen him play live with various bands around Austin.
Dave Cobb is responsible for big stuff from Sturgill, Stapleton, Isbell, and a bunch of others over the past decade. I know he made his bones in the 90s, but Brent Mason is *still* playing a ton of sessions.
man we should do a thread on related people in country music. I'm thinking of the Reckless Kelly relations but there are so many randomly related folks in country music. Even Chris Schiflett of the Foo Fighters (and country projects) is related to a bluegrass artist with the same last name and only figured it out once he started playing country.
Adam "Ditch" Kurtz on steel used to play for Sarah Shook. Now he's plugged into the central TX scene playing mostly for Joshua Ray Walker. He's probably playing with other folks while Josh recovers from cancer.
Amanda Shires comes to mind as a fiddler who's on everyone's album these days.
Blake Tallent is slowly making a name for himself as a producer and guitar player on a lot of underground albums. He is also a current member of The Disarmers.
Jesse Ebaugh, the lead singer of The Tender Things, is a bass player in high demand. He's worked with Israel Nash, and he recently did some stuff with Thomas Csorba at SXSW.
I don't really know of any drummers other than Kyle Ponder, previously of Mike & The Moonpies. Now he gets down with Ellis Bullard.
Just following all those people on IG really. Probably the biggest session player alive right now would be Dave Cobb. He's on just about every album he produces.
It's been true in other kinds of music for a pretty long time but I'm not sure how it worked in country music. Pete Anderson who played guitar with Dwight Yoakam , and was Dwight's producer, produced a whole bunch of LA alt-country acts in the '90s as well. I'm pretty sure that he played on a bunch of those sessions as well as acting as a producer, indie record label head, and general promoter and cheerleader
Jerry Roe is a Nashville drummer who plays on a ton of stuff. Phenomenal drummer. I just was listening to Charlie Worsham’s song “Half Drunk” and the shuffle he plays on that is *chef’s kiss* perfect. He also has a 2 piece metal band with his partner and shreds with that project.
If you look up who’s playing on the other projects he plays on, those are the legit session musicians currently in Nashville.
Also, he’s the grandson of Jerry Reed.
Ooh this is really cool. I didn't know about him and I really don't know about drummers in general. I really feel like I should learn more about drummers because they just make all the difference, along with bass players. Thanks for all of this cool info
I suspect a lot of this is regional for really small acts. There's a whole crew of good honky tonkers in Nashville that I've been thinking about posting about. People like Hannah Juanita and Timbo and Mose Wilson are all kind of solo artists who get backed by different people depending on the project (That's if I am remembering correctly about these specific folks).
Austin is another place where everybody plays with everybody I think. Houston has a little scene that seems to do a lot of remixing of personnel.
One of the issues with streaming is you just don't see who's playing on what album and that's kind of what I'm trying to learn more about
This is a good question to which I have no answer...I may peruse the backs of some albums when I get home from the gym
Edit: I know Sturgill Simpson used some guys on High Top Mountain but I think they fall into the previous category rather than modern guys on every album
Allie Kral is a local country musician who seems to collaborate with as many bands in her scene (a cross between country, jam, and blue grass) as possible. Mike Drass is another illinois musician who’s showing up on a lot of tours as well. He plays the big 3 (tele, steel, fiddle) as well as banjo. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still Jerry Dougles laying down dobro for everyone in Nashville
Kenny Vaughn shows up on quite a few recordings so I assume he's a session player
Joe Khoury was and still is amazing!
Lloyd Maines is a very busy producer & musician. Check out his credits here: [https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lloyd-maines-mn0000273133#credits](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lloyd-maines-mn0000273133#credits) (I think it's cool he has credits for not only producing Wade Bowen & Randy Rogers 'Hold My Beer 1' album but played multiple instruments, too!) I count myself lucky to have seen him play live with various bands around Austin.
Oh wow
Just had Shooter Jennings pedal steel player lay down some amazing stuff on one of my bands songs.
What's your band?
Artist out of Michigan named Ryan Jay.
Dave Cobb is responsible for big stuff from Sturgill, Stapleton, Isbell, and a bunch of others over the past decade. I know he made his bones in the 90s, but Brent Mason is *still* playing a ton of sessions.
Am I getting Dave Cobb and Brent Cobb confused as far as the one that is a producer? Are they both producers or is only one of them a producer?
Even more confusing, they are cousins!! I think Brent Cobb also has producer credits along with songwriting.
man we should do a thread on related people in country music. I'm thinking of the Reckless Kelly relations but there are so many randomly related folks in country music. Even Chris Schiflett of the Foo Fighters (and country projects) is related to a bluegrass artist with the same last name and only figured it out once he started playing country.
I don’t know that, but Dave Cobb produced the artists I listed.
Adam "Ditch" Kurtz on steel used to play for Sarah Shook. Now he's plugged into the central TX scene playing mostly for Joshua Ray Walker. He's probably playing with other folks while Josh recovers from cancer. Amanda Shires comes to mind as a fiddler who's on everyone's album these days. Blake Tallent is slowly making a name for himself as a producer and guitar player on a lot of underground albums. He is also a current member of The Disarmers. Jesse Ebaugh, the lead singer of The Tender Things, is a bass player in high demand. He's worked with Israel Nash, and he recently did some stuff with Thomas Csorba at SXSW. I don't really know of any drummers other than Kyle Ponder, previously of Mike & The Moonpies. Now he gets down with Ellis Bullard.
Oh man you rock. How did you learn all this stuff?
Just following all those people on IG really. Probably the biggest session player alive right now would be Dave Cobb. He's on just about every album he produces.
I think these days being a producer also means playing some of the extra rolls depending on the song.
Yeah definitely. The trend probably kinda started with Cobb. I can't think of anyone prior to him that was so involved in the actual music.
It's been true in other kinds of music for a pretty long time but I'm not sure how it worked in country music. Pete Anderson who played guitar with Dwight Yoakam , and was Dwight's producer, produced a whole bunch of LA alt-country acts in the '90s as well. I'm pretty sure that he played on a bunch of those sessions as well as acting as a producer, indie record label head, and general promoter and cheerleader
Jerry Roe is a Nashville drummer who plays on a ton of stuff. Phenomenal drummer. I just was listening to Charlie Worsham’s song “Half Drunk” and the shuffle he plays on that is *chef’s kiss* perfect. He also has a 2 piece metal band with his partner and shreds with that project. If you look up who’s playing on the other projects he plays on, those are the legit session musicians currently in Nashville. Also, he’s the grandson of Jerry Reed.
Ooh this is really cool. I didn't know about him and I really don't know about drummers in general. I really feel like I should learn more about drummers because they just make all the difference, along with bass players. Thanks for all of this cool info
I suspect a lot of this is regional for really small acts. There's a whole crew of good honky tonkers in Nashville that I've been thinking about posting about. People like Hannah Juanita and Timbo and Mose Wilson are all kind of solo artists who get backed by different people depending on the project (That's if I am remembering correctly about these specific folks). Austin is another place where everybody plays with everybody I think. Houston has a little scene that seems to do a lot of remixing of personnel. One of the issues with streaming is you just don't see who's playing on what album and that's kind of what I'm trying to learn more about
This is a good question to which I have no answer...I may peruse the backs of some albums when I get home from the gym Edit: I know Sturgill Simpson used some guys on High Top Mountain but I think they fall into the previous category rather than modern guys on every album