Beyond bluegrass with Molly Tuttle, and harpist Marshall McGuire on bravery and leadership

The harpist Marshall McGuire is Chair of the Australian Music Centre. He made his name playing impossibly virtuosic music by modern composers, often pieces written specifically for him. He has worked with the ELISION Ensemble for 38 of the ensemble’s 39 years, and for most of the last decade was Director of Programming at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Marshall joins Andy in the studio to talk about the harp, working with composers and the future of artistic leadership.

For a long time, Molly Tuttle’s name has been synonymous with bluegrass music in the US. She was the first woman to win the prestigious International Bluegrass Music Award’s Guitar Player of the Year, and she’s taken home two Best Bluegrass Album awards at the GRAMMYs (in 2023 and 2024). But she has more to prove. Her brand new album So Long Little Miss Sunshine covers varied musical ground, and sees her bringing those bluegrass traditions into pop. She chats to Andrew Ford about her approach to guitar (flatpicking, clawhammer, fingerstyle), writing a murder ballad, and what it was like growing up in a family band.