At RockyGrass 2025, guitarist and educator Tyler Grant spoke with KGNU about teaching at the RockyGrass Academy, his fundamentals-based approach to flatpicking, and the inspiration students gain from immersing themselves in bluegrass. He reflected on the high level of musicianship in the genre, its connections to classical training, and the joy of community playing. Grant also previewed his special RosenGrants set with Charlie Rose, featuring an all-star band and surprise guests, calling RockyGrass “the Disneyland of bluegrass music.”
Robin Claire: Greetings, everyone. We finished up the contest. I’m down one cup of coffee on the betting back here. I don’t think it’s illegal.
Tyler Grant: I’m down two myself.
Robin Claire: Oh dear. Let’s talk about the Academy, because that has already happened—and what a brilliant experience for everyone.
Tyler Grant: Oh my gosh. It’s just a full musical immersion. The thing about camps like this, in general, is that students come wanting to learn, and they’re thrown into it. Everyone’s trying to teach them everything they need to know and send them home with things to work on. But the true benefit is being immersed in the music—being able to participate and jam with others.
You gain great insight from the instruction, obviously, but for me as an instructor, and for the students, I believe it’s more about just getting fired up. It’s like a revival meeting. Everyone gets so excited about music by being here and participating. We had a blast at the Academy.
This is one of my favorite music camps, and this festival is where it all started for me as a bluegrass musician.
Robin Claire: So Tyler, tell us a little bit about your protocols—or the way you like to teach guitar.
Tyler Grant: I have a method. I studied classical guitar in college, and I was able to apply the step-by-step classical guitar method to learning flatpicking. When I got into flatpicking, I was already a strong guitar player and deeply into the classical path. So I created a step-by-step method for myself to learn the style. For the past 25 years, that’s how I’ve been teaching flatpicking, refining it over the years.
A couple of years ago, I launched my own guitar school on ArtistWorks.com. That was my best opportunity to fully lay out the method I’d been teaching for so many years. Having done video lessons for a long time, it was the perfect chance to get on camera and put that method together.
When I teach at a camp like RockyGrass, I condense it. I try to give people bits and pieces, but I always start with fundamentals. Whether you’re an advanced player or a novice, you always go back to the fundamentals—you never outgrow them. So I’m very fundamentals-oriented.
Robin Claire: Right, and it’s good to bring up the fact that someone may be a classical player or may have been playing rock and roll their whole lives. They can still come to this camp, even as experienced players, and learn so much—and really make those connections by playing with other folks.
Tyler Grant: Absolutely. Talking with my guitar students this week, many of them are experienced players—adult learners, some retired, who have been playing rock, folk, blues, country, or classical their whole lives. Now they’re finally taking the time to learn bluegrass.
It’s just one step away from anything else you’re doing. And the beauty of learning bluegrass and traditional music is that the technical proficiency you gain applies to everything else you play.
Robin Claire: I always have to chuckle. I know fiddle players who are Juilliard-trained, yet they’re playing bluegrass. I wonder what their parents think: “I put you through Juilliard, and now you’re playing bluegrass?” But it is so technical.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Telluride Bluegrass All-Stars. I had seen all the individual artists, but when they formed that band, it was pure perfection. I thought I might never need to hear another show again! Bluegrass musicians are truly some of the finest in the world, no matter the genre. And they all end up here.
Tyler Grant: Right. That’s another thing about the movement over the past 30 years—the “new acoustic” movement with players like Tony Rice, Darol Anger, David Grisman, Sam Bush. The Telluride House Band—those A-team musicians—elevated bluegrass to a classical level.
You could put a band like that in a chamber music hall. And this goes all the way back to Flatt and Scruggs. Their Carnegie Hall album is so clean, so pristine—that’s one of the things that drew me in as a college student studying classical guitar.
Bluegrass is something I’m culturally connected to. It’s fun to perform with others, but you can also take it to that chamber-music level. That’s part of the beauty, and you hear it with the young kids coming through these academies. The standard of musicianship in this style has been raised to a very high level.
Robin Claire: Absolutely, yes.
Tyler Grant: And yet, you can access it at any level you want.
Robin Claire: Exactly. Anyone is welcome at the Academy. Just get a little bit of a base—of playing, I mean—and then who knows where it will lead.
Tyler Grant: Right, and that’s your denominator: one, two, three, four. The melodies are simple. The rhythm is simple.
Robin Claire: Great. And Tyler, you’re playing tomorrow with Charlie Rose.
Tyler Grant: That’s right.
Robin Claire: It was a little bit of a mystery—“Who is this woman?” Well, that was intentional.
Tyler Grant: We thought we’d get clever. The name “RosenGrant” had this funny Shakespearean sound to it, so we thought, “Let’s call it that, maybe keep an air of mystery.”
We’ve assembled a great band: Aaron Youngberg on bass, Sharon Gilchrist on mandolin, Bevin Foley on fiddle, Abby Gardner on dobro. That’s our core band. And then we’ve got special guests like Rebecca Frazier, Brad Murphy, Leslie Nael, and Darol Anger all sitting in.
In the tradition of the Sunday sets that Casey Groves has so masterfully curated for years, we’re gathering all our buddies and involving everyone we can.
Robin Claire: Yes, it’s always such a great set, and this year certainly sounds like it will be. So many people look forward to it.
Tyler Grant: Get here early—10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. And if you can’t be at the festival, you can tune in at KGNU.org.
Robin Claire: That’s right. Thank you so much, Tyler.
Tyler Grant: RockyGrass is the Disneyland of bluegrass music.
Robin Claire: Thank you. We’ll be looking forward to tomorrow.
Tyler Grant: All right.
