Article Contributed by Mountain Home Music Company
Published on 2026-04-03
“I met Kenny Smith when I first moved to Nashville,” recalls master guitarist Bryan Sutton of his partner in the latest entry in his From Roots to Branches series of duets. “He had been there already a few years and was doing some work with Gallagher Guitars down in Wartrace. I forget exactly where I might have met him, but I went down and hung out with him. I had a guitar that I had some questions about, and he took a look at it, and then we played a little bit and I've known him ever since.”
“I love the way Kenny is so reverential towards fiddle tunes,” Sutton adds. “He really finds the sweet spot in his guitar artistry, but you hear the melody, and it’s such a classy sound. I found this old tune that I heard at a jam session in western North Carolina, and sent it to him and said, ‘What do you think? Here's one that neither of us have ever played.’ He didn't know it, but he was game to learn!”
“I didn't necessarily want to do an obvious low-hanging fruit kind of fiddle tune,” Sutton adds, “and here was a newer tune that he was game to do. So that's how we got into that tune, and I just love what he did with it.”
Surprisingly given its sweet and memorable melody, the tune, “Three Star Hornpipe,” has rarely gotten a reading in the recording studio. But between Sutton and Smith it gets a deliciously revivifying workout, as the two — who share multiple IBMA Guitar Player of the Year awards between them — trade expansively varied passes in what amounts to a relaxed musical conversation between two old friends who just happen to be acclaimed virtuosos.
“That's one of the more mellow tracks on the record,” Sutton notes, “and I love it because, again, it really features this beautiful melody. Kenny always puts tone and melody first, and when I hear qualities like that in players, I think, ‘I want more of that — I want to hear that in me,’ and that’s what I love about Kenny Smith's playing.”
"Three Star Hornpipe" is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
