Virtuoso fiddler-turned-songwriter delivers modern bluegrass masterclass.
Rattlin’ Bones marks Bronwyn Keith-Hynes’ first foray into songwriting. For those unfamiliar with her name, here’s a brief résumé of the story so far. Raised near Charlottesville, Virginia, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Keith-Hynes was barely done with toddling when she started fiddling, cutting her teeth on Irish traditional music and getting into bluegrass as a teenager. After honing her skills at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, she was one of the founders of the progressive string band Mile Twelve, three of whose five members were alumni of that highly revered institution; they won the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) New Artist of the Year Award in 2020. Next on the Keith-Hynes CV came her debut solo album, the largely instrumental Fiddler’s Pastime (2020), on which her fiddle did the talking whilst guest vocals were supplied by the likes of Sarah Jarosz, Tim O’Brien, Chris Eldridge and James Kee. After picking up a pair of IBMA Fiddle Player Of The Year awards (2021 and 2022), Keith-Hynes stepped into the lead vocal spotlight for her sophomore release, I Built A World (2024), on which she interpreted the work of other songwriters. Her current album, recorded under the name of Bronwyn, unveils her own songwriting talents. Rattlin’ Bones‘most obvious musical reference point may well be Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, hardly surprising given that Keith-Hynes fiddled and sang harmony vocals on both of their IBMA Albums of the Year, Crooked Tree (2022) and City of Gold (2023). With her six-year progression from Fiddler’s Pastime to Rattlin’ Bones, she has joined the ranks of modern bluegrass virtuosos.
Straight out of the blocks, the exhilarating Pat McLaughlin co-write Sticks and Stones sets a blistering pace with sizzling instrumental interplay and the first of four consecutive Darrell Scott harmony vocals. The first of the Melody Walker co-writes, The Ride, brings tight three-part vocal harmonies and further fingerpicking finesse as Jerry Douglas’s Dobro joins the party, for a song Keith-Hynes describes as “reminiscent of Alison Krauss and Union Station’s Every Time You Say Goodbye”. The third cut, Johnny Ray, boasts a “bluegrass/americana sensibility reminiscent of Sturgill Simpson’s Cuttin’ Grass albums”, according to the track-by-track guide, no doubt helped by the presence of Simpson’s drummer Miles Miller. Those on the road may feel compelled to belt out its big chorus and chip in with steering wheel drums. AUK’s Andrew Frolish showcased a live version of this track last month (here). Next comes Chasing Storms, which concerns a relationship whose turbulence matches the meteorological conditions of the Florida thunderstorm that inspired the song, sonically a tip of the hat to Chris Stapleton’s Parachute. The looser groove of Gallatin Road, a duet with “Music City” soul-country musician Timbo, surveys the grit and edginess of an East Nashville thoroughfare, picking out attractions such as Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, the American Legion Hall and the Nashville Nightmare Haunted House. Blink of an Eye heads for jamgrass country, with a guitar and fiddle face-off encapsulating the thrill of a late-night festival set at high altitude.
Two further Melody Walker co-writes launch vinyl side 2: Hold Me Down and End of the Road may jog memories of Watchhouse, Kacey Musgraves, Billy Strings or John Hartford. Hooks and reels are an essential component of both fishing and bluegrass, and the laid-back cadence of Rainbow Trout, with Keith-Hynes’ husband Jason Carter on harmony vocals, provides the perfect backdrop for the narrator to “hang around with horseshit on my boots” and enjoy downtime pursuits such as angling and wine tasting. The first of Keith-Hynes’ impressive pair of self-written songs is The Wishing Well, a timeless Appalachian murder ballad whose site of betrayal and retribution is appropriately marked by a Judas Tree. Then there’s Virginia Gal, celebrating her free-spirited fiddling alter ego, which Keith-Hynes played at her solo Grand Ole Opry debut in April 2025. That was not the first time she’d been stood on that hallowed stage; one of her previous engagements there involved tying the knot with the aforementioned Carter, 6x IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year and former longstanding Del McCoury Band fiddler. The spontaneous, flamboyant Flower Child, “sonically inspired by Sierra Ferrell and Molly Tuttle”, would have made for a rousing set closer, but there’s enough gas left in the tank for Golden Hour Dream, apparently inspired by the imagery from a Bob Dylan song (Which one? Answers on a postcard please, Blind Boy Grunt fans).
A decorated bunch of pickers; seasoned harmony vocalists; acclaimed co-writers: if a certain Danish brewery did nimble-fingered fivesomes, they’d probably sound like this. These thirteen festival-ready songs are tailor-made for the great outdoors, and American roots music-leaning festival organisers will surely be on the phone to Bronwyn’s people. The impeccably produced Rattlin’ Bones is likely to be in the mix come IBMA, Grammy and Americana Music Award nomination time. Bluegrass may have an unpredictable dose-response curve, but unless, like the female protagonist in Guy Clark’s Rain in Durango, you’ve had all the bluegrass you can stand, Bronwyn’s latest is a must. For those yet to be converted to the genre, this album could be the golden gateway; regardless of any other skeletal impact, your auditory ossicles are in for a treat.
Related