Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam 2 pairs rare home recordings by Earl Scruggs and John Hartford with performances from Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Ferrell, and more.
Tony Trischka has spent more than six decades pushing the banjo forward while keeping one foot planted firmly in its roots, a balance that comes into sharp focus on Earl Jam 2, the long-awaited companion to his Grammy and IBMA Award-nominated 2023 release Earl Jam.
The project is built around a rare and intimate discovery: previously unheard home recordings of Earl Scruggs and John Hartford casually jamming together between 1987 and 1998. Rather than freezing the material in time, Trischka lets it breathe. Earl Jam 2 draws 15 newly selected performances from the same archive, moving fluidly between traditional standards, deep-cut fiddle tunes, and enduring American songs including “Gentle on My Mind,” “Red River Valley,” and “That’s All Right.”
As on the first volume, Trischka surrounds himself with an expansive cast of collaborators who represent the current heartbeat of bluegrass and roots music. Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sam Bush, Del and Ronnie McCoury, Sierra Ferrell, the SteelDrivers, Sister Sadie, the Gibson Brothers, and others bring their own personalities to the sessions, yet the focus never drifts far from Scruggs’ phrasing, tone, and rhythmic feel. The performances feel collective rather than showy, guided by respect for the language Scruggs helped define.
That sense of lineage has long been central to Trischka’s story. Born in Syracuse, New York in 1949, he grew up in a music-filled home and first fell under the banjo’s spell after hearing the Kingston Trio’s 1959 recording of “M.T.A.” As a teenager, he made pilgrimages to the Newport Folk Festival during the height of the folk revival, absorbing the idea that traditional music could evolve without losing its soul.
When Trischka moved to New York City in the early ’70s, he found himself among a community of musicians who viewed American roots music as a living language rather than a fixed form. That philosophy would guide his career, earning him a reputation as both a fearless innovator and one of the instrument’s most dedicated historians.
Earl Jam 2 reflects that dual identity. It honors the past without freezing it in time, using Scruggs’ own late-career playing as a bridge between generations. The album moves forward with purpose, connecting generations of players through a shared language shaped by Trischka’s deep understanding of the banjo’s history and its open-ended future.