East Nash Grass

East Nash Grass

How did East Nash Grass follow up their 2024 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award for Best New Artist? By earning a nomination for Entertainer of the Year, IBMAs highest honor, in 2025, and celebrating fiddler Maddie Dentons win as Fiddler of the Year. In short, East Nash Grass have quickly established themselves as the fresh new face of Nashvilles storied bluegrass tradition, a supergroup of rising stars: Grand Master Fiddle champion Denton is joined by banjo player Cory Walker (banjo player on the five-time nominated Carter & Cleveland album this year, among numerous accolades), 2022 IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year Harry Clark, and new guitar player Frank Rische. This is an all-star band that harkens back to the sort of talent collected in the original Blue Grass Boys and a powerhouse leader of the next generation in bluegrass excellence.

Rolling Stone had them among the best of what we saw at RockyGrass in 2025, praising their rowdy set of high-octane bluegrass numbers, and noting, The group itself is a rapidly-rising force on the national touring scene.

And rowdy is right. They are far more than just a group of impressive instrumental technicians, building on night after night of three-set gigs on Nashvilles East Side, playing tiny stages for the love of it between tours backing bigger acts. Its a hard-forged bond that translates into an infectious on-stage energy that audiences cant seem to get enough of.

With their new release, All Gods Children (Mountain Fever, August 22, 2025), they show a depth and feel, too, that goes well beyond the traditional bluegrass fair, with nods to Gypsy jazz and East Village folk, and eye toward moving bluegrass forward and keeping it from being too mired in the past. If East Nash Grass isnt the future of the genre its only because theyre already among its leading lights.