Brittany Haas

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Brittany Haas is widely regarded as one of the most influential fiddlers of her generation. In this wide-ranging conversation you’ll be hearing about her early career, touring with Darol Anger at age 14, the bands Croooked Still, Hawktail and Punch Brothers with Chris Thile. She reflected on the challenges and thrill of a touring life, the Nashville scene, her teaching through Artistworks, and dynamics of being a woman in Bluegrass. We talked about mentors Bruce Molsky and Tony Trishka, her time at Princeton studying Evolutionary Biology, and the need for self-care and boundaries.

We are featuring music from several of her albums, including her recent projects with sister Natalie and the Swedish musician Lena Jonsson.

Like all my episodes, you can also watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/brittany-haas

See below for other suggested episodes, linked for your convenience, along with links for newsletter and support pages!

Brittany Haas website

Hawktail

The Snake with Lena Jonsson

Haas with sister Natalie

Impromptu Sessions (banjo album)

Brittany Haas debut album

the Punch Brothers website (Energy Curfew Music hour podcast)

I’m sure that you’ll enjoy my conversations with Adam Hurt

Janie Rothfield

Joe K. Walsh

Martin Hayes

Tracy Silverman

Alexis Chartrand

Gina Burgess

Guy Donis

and Kirsty Money

It’s a joy to bring these meaningful conversations to you, but this project costs me quite a bit of money and lots of time; please support this series through either my merchandise store or buy me a coffee on my Ko-fi page

For the merch, it features a unique design by artist Steffi Kelly and you can browse clothes, stickers, notebooks, water bottles and more, everything printed on demand https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful-shirts-and-more

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Please check out my back catalogue, with episodes going back to 2021.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:31) Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School, childhood mentors Bruce Molsky Darol Anger, Alasdair Fraser, family support

(05:43) sister cellist Natalie, new album Haas

(08:26) The Rose Gardener from the album Haas (link in description)

(11:23) gardening, creativity, debut album at 17, touring with Darol Anger at 14

(15:16) Ora Lee from album Brittany Haas (link in description)

(19:48) Darol Anger

(24:53) early career, Crooked Still, challenges of touring life

(27:46) Princeton, decision not to go to music school, Tony Trishka

(29:11) band Hawktail, album Place of Growth

(30:31) Antilopen from Hawktail’s ablum Place of Growth (link in description)

(34:46) new album with Väsen and Hawktail

(36:21)Punch Brothers, Energy Curfew Music Hour

(37:49) other episodes you’ll love, different ways to support this series

(38:37) Punch Brothers, balancing creative time, Nashville scene

(43:29) Lena Jonsson, new album The Snake

(45:49) Låt efter Bach: Vals, from The Snake with Lena Jonssen (link in description)

(48:15) jazz, teaching Artistworks, self-awareness and injury prevention

(53:27) self-care, boundaries, touring life

(56:45) women in Bluegrass

(01:01:07) Steve Martin, love of banjo, Impromptu Sessions album, Adam Hurt, composing versus interpreting

(01:04:30) Lost Girl from album Impromptu Sessions (link in description)

(01:07:23) learning music, Bruce Molsky

(01:09:26) finding balance in life

(01:10:32) upcoming projects