Bluegrass and beyond, with Michael Barrett Donovan and Buster Sledge

The Folk Music Podcast

Michael Barrett Donovan, originally from Northern California, moved to Norway from New York City in 2019 after finishing a masters degree in music composition and gigging within a wide array of musical genres. Since coming to Norway Donovan has fronted the original-music-performing trio Buster Sledge with guitar player Jakob Folke Ossum and banjo player Mikael Jonassen, and immersed himself in the many folk fiddle-scenes that can be found around Oslo.

I speak with him and the rest of Buster Sledge at the Norwegian folk festival Folkemusikkveka the day after the release of their second album «Call Home»

Topics we touch are Michael’s meeting with the Norwegian folk scene, how his eclectic musical background affects his thinking about composing and arranging music, classical vs folk, the importance of boundaries is music making and differences between the American and Norwegian folk scenes. We also speak about Buster Sledge’s new album, how they arrived at their sound and how they work together as a band.