The Caverns Sessions [formerly, Bluegrass Underground] will return to PBS for its impending 14th season. Considered one of public television’s longest-running music series, the program continues to delve into subterranean live shows at The Caverns in Grundy County, Tenn. The impending series will be filmed over many months, providing viewers the ultimate opportunity to enjoy the live music content in a unique environment. 

Todd Mayo, owner of The Caverns and co-producer of The Caverns Sessions, commented via press release, “Spreading the tapings out gives more folks the opportunity to be there, and with each performance, there’s that feeling in the air—knowing it’s being captured for a nationwide PBS broadcast. When artists and fans know the cameras are rolling, something shifts. There’s a charge in the room you can’t fake. That’s the magic of it all.”

On the performance docket are Flatland Cavalry (September 21, 2024), Violent Femmes (March 26, 2025), Shakey Graves and Ruby Waters (May 1, 2025), The Oak Ridge Boys (May 18, 2025), The String Cheese Incident, Jesse Roper, Armchair Boogie, and The Headhunters (May 25, 2025), The SteelDrivers and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (June 1, 2025) and Buckethead (July 25, 2025). 

In addition to the talent listed above, the forthcoming season will feature standing-room-only and reserved seating shows for those looking to experience the live experience. Prior to the latest announcement, Mayo spoke with Relix about his new memoir, Caveman Chronicles, the story of an independent venue owner and promoter looking to expand the live music ether with a unique locational offering. 

Amid a conversation on the happenstances which followed the start of Bluegrass Underground, and his work with the Music City Roots radio show, Mayo commented on its innate ability to create community: 

At Music City Roots, we were doing livestreaming every week when Netflix was still mailing people DVDs. Another thing is you would come to those shows and it would be old people and young people, urban people and rural people, hipsters and dorks—just everybody together. The artists would all be different. It’d be a rock band, and after that it would be a bluegrass band. Then you’d have an indie thing, then you’d have a blues artist, then everybody would come together at the end and perform. It was a joy because through the power of music, we were bringing people together.

Read the complete conversation here.