What's The Reason For This Podcast

🚨 Season 3 keeps rolling with Ben Wright of the Henhouse Prowlers and Bluegrass Ambassadors.
This one goes way beyond bluegrass.
🎻 We get into:
🌍 How the Henhouse Prowlers became musical ambassadors around the world 🪕 The wild story of Ben buying his first banjo for $199.99 🤝 Why music can connect people even when they don’t speak the same language 🇳🇪 Playing banjo alongside an ancestor of the instrument in Niger 🎶 Learning songs from the countries they visit and bringing them back home 🚢 Performing for refugees from dozens of countries in Rotterdam 🔥 Walking onstage with musicians they had never met and figuring it out in real time 🌱 Why community, curiosity, and making people feel seen sit at the heart of everything they do
Ben also opens up about how these experiences changed the mission of the Bluegrass Ambassadors, turning it into something much bigger than touring. It’s about using music to break down barriers, celebrate culture, and remind people that connection can start with something as simple as listening.
One of the wildest moments comes from West Africa, where Ben realized he was playing his banjo alongside an instrument widely considered one of its ancestors. Two musicians from completely different worlds, connected instantly through sound. 🪕🌍🤯
And in Rotterdam, that mission came full circle with performances for refugees and an unrehearsed collaboration that Ben described as scary, imperfect, authentic, and completely human. ❤️🎶
🎧 Watch or listen to the full conversation with Ben Wright.
🌎 Learn more about the Bluegrass Ambassadors and the work they’re doing around the world.
🔥 Follow What’s The Reason For This? for more conversations about the music, people, and community behind the scene.

🚨 SEASON 3 IS HERE — and we’re kicking it off with a bang.
For the first episode of Season 3 of What’s The Reason For This?, we’re joined by Cotter Ellis of Goose for a conversation from the Mishawaka in Colorado.
Since our last conversation, a lot has changed.
💿 Goose released Big Modern! 🏟️ Played Madison Square Garden ⛰️ Took over Red Rocks 🏠 Crashed a Colorado house party 🚀 And continued one of the wildest runs in live music
🥁 We get into:
💿 Creating Big Modern! and finding Cotter’s voice inside Goose
🏟️ What MSG and Red Rocks actually felt like from behind the kit
🪿 The Goose hate, internet critics, and musicians talking shit
🌱 Why growing the jam scene matters more than guarding it
🚌 The real grind of touring and life on the road
🥣 Going from vans and microwave oatmeal to sold-out venues
🥋 The story behind “Suck It, Storm” and “Kung Fu Fighting”
🧩 Goosemas clues, fan theories, and the world being built around the band
❤️ Why the people behind Goose might be the real secret to their success
Cotter also opens up about imposter syndrome, criticism, supporting other artists, success, and what it takes to keep chasing this life when there are no guarantees.
🔥 Season 3 starts right here.
🎧 Watch or listen to the full conversation with Cotter Ellis of Goose.
🪿 Follow What’s The Reason For This? for more conversations from inside the jam, bluegrass, and live music world.
💬 And send this episode to the friend who still thinks Goose is Christian rock. 😂

🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi sits down with the incredible Lindsay Lou for a conversation about bluegrass, motherhood, finding your voice, and shining a light on the women who helped build this music from the very beginning. 🪕🔥💙
Lindsay takes us back to growing up in a huge musical family 🎶👨‍👩‍👧‍👦, singing harmonies as a kid, and eventually heading toward a completely different career — earning degrees in human biology and Spanish with plans for medical school. 🧬🥼 Then she discovered the bluegrass community, fell HARD down the rabbit hole, and realized music could actually be her life. 🪕🤯🔥
Lindsay opens up about: 🎶 Discovering bluegrass and becoming obsessed with Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, and the Stanley Brothers 🚐 Years of touring, grinding, and even going without a real home base 🎤 Learning how to protect and understand that powerhouse voice 🏠 Moving to Nashville to surround herself with musicians — not chase fame ❤️‍🩹 How loss, divorce, COVID, and recordings of her grandmother helped shape Queen of Time 👶 How becoming a mother completely changed her body, brain, heart, and perspective on life 👑 The inspiration behind her new project Bluegrass Women — celebrating the women whose songs have been part of bluegrass history all along 🎻💪✨
Lindsay shares the incredible realization that songs many of us associate with legendary male bluegrass performers were actually written by women — women whose voices were always there, even if their names weren't front and center. 🤯🎶👑
She brings together an absolutely badass lineup of female pickers 🎻🪕🔥 to honor those writers, return to the original lyrics and source recordings, and remind the next generation of girls that there has always been a place for them in bluegrass. 💙💪🌈
And because motherhood doesn’t care that you’re recording a podcast… Bart crashes the interview to reclaim Mom. 😂👶🎙️
At its heart, this episode is about music, motherhood, representation, legacy, and authenticity — and the realization that women aren't new to bluegrass… they helped build the damn thing. 🪕👑🔥
🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts and check out Bluegrass Women! 🎶💙✨

🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi and co-host Shay welcome Bronwyn back to the dungeon nearly one year after their first conversation — and holy hell, a LOT has happened. 🪕🔥 From stepping away from Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway to building her own band, driving the van, writing her own music, and now releasing her new album Rattlin' Bones, Bronwyn is officially spreading her wings — and doing it entirely on her own terms. 💀🎻✨
After a transition year of rotating musicians, Bronwyn has assembled a seriously stacked lineup featuring Tristan Scroggins on mandolin, Frank Evans on banjo, Grant Dresnok on guitar, and Grammy-winning bassist Larry Cook. Together, they’re rooted deeply in traditional bluegrass while still having the chops to stretch songs into completely different territory. 🎶⚡
But the heart of this conversation is Rattlin' Bones — OUT NOW! 💀💿🔥 The deeply personal 13-song album represents a huge evolution for Bronwyn as a songwriter. After years of believing songwriting simply wasn’t something she did, she decided that if she was going to become a solo artist, she needed music that was truly her own. ✍️❤️‍🔥 That meant collecting random lines in her Notes app, finding inspiration everywhere, and getting outside her comfort zone to co-write with some incredible songwriters.
Bronwyn opens up about:
🎻 The first year of officially leading her own band — and why having a consistent lineup has completely changed the live show
🚐 Going from touring on a bus to personally driving the van, tour managing, and running the operation herself — and why it gives her an even deeper sense of purpose
✍️ Teaching herself how to become a songwriter and finding confidence through collaborations with writers like Pat McLaughlin 💀 Writing “The Wishing Well,” her own dark Southern Gothic-inspired murder ballad — complete with creepy houses, river mist, and somebody getting tossed down a well 😳
😂 🛣️ Turning the absolute chaos of Nashville’s Gallatin Road into a song because, apparently, anything goes on Gallatin Road
❄️ How WinterWonderGrass inspired “Blink of an Eye” and that wonderfully awkward question of whether someone in the crowd keeps looking at you because they like the music...or because they think you’re cute 👀😂
😵‍💫 The burnout behind “The Ride” and the complicated reality of achieving the dream you’ve worked toward only to discover that touring can still absolutely kick your ass
🔥 Why “Sticks and Stones” captures Bronwyn’s badass, don’t-give-a-shit side — and ultimately helped inspire the album title Rattling Bones
Bronwyn talks about building the record piece by piece across multiple recording sessions while she was still writing it — essentially “building the plane as it’s taking off.” ✈️😂
🎧 Listen to the episode now wherever you get your podcasts — then go stream Rattlin' Bones, which is OUT NOW! 💀🎶🔥
Go see Bronwyn and the band live. Stream the album. Buy the merch. Tell your friends. Support the artists putting in the miles. 🚐🪕❤️‍🔥

🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi and co-host Shay welcome North Fork Crossing into the dungeon for a hilarious, high-energy conversation about Montana bluegrass, life on the road, finding your sound, and what it really takes to build a band from the ground up. 🪕🏔️🔥
The Bozeman crew takes us back to the beginning — from meeting as teenagers at Montana Fiddle Camp to reconnecting years later at a house party and realizing, “Dude…we should start a band.” What followed was a steady grind of pizza joints, house parties, bar gigs, festivals, DIY recordings, and plenty of miles in the van. 🚐🎶
North Fork Crossing opens up about:
🎻 Their wildly different musical backgrounds and how they came together
🎸 Starting out with plenty of Billy Strings covers before developing their own sound 🏔️ Learning from Montana bands like Kitchen Dwellers, The Lil Smokies, Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs, and The Last Revel
💿 Recording their first album DIY before leveling up for their new record, Portland Rose 🌹 🎤 Working with Travis McNamara to strengthen their arrangements and three-part harmonies
🏆 The pressure of the Telluride Bluegrass Band Competition — and why not winning ultimately made them a better band
📱 Using social media, personality, and plenty of ridiculousness to grow beyond Montana
🤝 Why relationships with other bands and the larger bluegrass community have been such a huge part of their journey
And because it’s the dungeon, things obviously go off the rails. 😂 We get into ultimate frisbee 🥏, birding 🐦, questionable tour decisions, shaving heads, “North Fork Crotchley,” and the unforgettable story of a naked 1 A.M. sprint that ended with a busted toe. 🦶😂
Now the guys are starting to see the grind pay off — touring harder, releasing live recordings, building relationships with bands like Magoo, Armchair Boogie, and Clay Street Unit, and hosting Creekside Revival Festival at Pine Creek Lodge. 🎪🔥
At its core, this episode is about friendship, progression, community, and putting in the miles — respecting bluegrass tradition while figuring out exactly what North Fork Crossing sounds like. 🪕💛
🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, check out their Dungeon Session, and go see these boys live!
Buy the merch. Support the bands. Tell your friends. And LET’S FORKING GO! 🍴🪕🔥