A Little Bit of Bluegrass

Photo by Jackie Stewart “A little bit of bluegrass will chase your blues away.” Derived from that simple sentiment and written by David Stewart, “A Little Bit of Bluegrass” was released late last year by Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road. Currently, it sits at #1 on the Bluegrass Unlimited Survey chart (June and July 2023).  The song is the third by Stewart that Jordan and her band have taken to #1. The first two were “True Grass” and “Bill Monroe’s Old Mandolin,” the latter inspired as Stewart (and the rest of us) watched Ricky Skaggs play Monroe’s beloved instrument during Skaggs’s induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. “I watched as he held it like a bible and embraced it like a friend,” said Stewart. “He spoke to it and put his ear down to it like it spoke to him. Basically, I wrote what I saw.”   Writing what he sees—and hears—is a pattern for Stewart, whose songwriting builds around a strong hook and typically tells