Pickin' On Series

A tried and true tradition at CMH, the Pickin’ On series has triumphantly entered its third decade. Starting in 1993 with a collection of songs and themes from classic movies, Pickin’ On is dedicated to reimagining favorites across rock and pop in a timeless and heartfelt bluegrass style. 

With over 80 full-length albums, Pickin’ On delivers something for just about everyone, including bluegrass renditions of artists as vast as The Beatles, Kanye West, Linkin Park, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and Green Day. While there’s something undeniably playful about translating some of rock’s heaviest riffs to acoustic fiddle, guitar, banjo, upright bass and mandolin, Pickin’ On records are approached with the utmost sincerity, drawing on elements that make the tributees so beloved in the first place. 

Initially, Pickin’ On albums were instrumental, relying purely on the classic melodies and chords of the original songs. In 2003, however, the series took a turn, when the inimitable Alabama-based ensemble Iron Horse performed the music of Metallica, introducing vocal leads and harmonies on the collection Fade to Bluegrass. While many have leant their musical touch to Pickin’ On (including The Sidekicks, Honeywagon, Cornbread Red, Dennis Caplinger, David West and Mark Thornton), Iron Horse has led the charge for several of the series’ latest albums, including well-rounded and exhilarating tributes to Pearl Jam, Modest Mouse and Nirvana.

In 2023, Rolling Stone wrote that Iron Horse’s renditions of Pearl Jam are “how it was always meant to be,” adding that each song “reflects the sounds of Iron Horse’s Alabama origins, giving a Southern Gothic flair to the songs, turning Vedder’s words into something more akin to a Flannery O’Connor story or a Carson McCullers novel.” This is the sort of reinterpretation we strive for with every new Pickin' On project.