Bruce Molsky is easily one of the nation’s most talented old-time fiddlers. He is a renowned ambassador of this authentic Appalachian mountain music. He is an esteemed professor at Berklee School of Music’s Roots Music Program. He’s collaborated with the world’s finest musicians from Mozaik, Anonymous 4, Linda Ronstadt, Bill Frissell and Mark Knopfler. One of his many current projects is his old-time trio, Molsky’s Mountain Drifters. This trio will be appearing locally at the Parlor Room in Northampton on 1/20.

Our conversation covers a lot of ground including his early musical inspiration when the jazz great Billy Taylor visited his grade school in the Bronx. We talk about his love of this music, his teaching position at Berklee including a special anniversary concert of the Roots Music Program. We talk about his two events next week at the Parlor Room including an afternoon Workshop and an evening Parlor Session; both on 1/20.

Of course, our visit includes some great music. The setlist includes songs by the Mountain Drifters (Bruce on fiddle, Stash Wyslouch on guitar and Allison DeGroot on banjo),The Deadly Gentlemen (includes Stash), The Goodbye Girls (includes Allison)Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project (includes Bruce). The set concludes with a brand new tune from the upcoming Mountain Drifter’s second album called “There’s a Bright Side Somewhere”.