DadGrass Podcast

About DadGrass Podcast

DadGrass Podcast is a family-friendly folk music podcast that uses American roots music to explore history, storytelling, and shared cultural memory, starting where modern podcasts are played. Hosted by a public-school music educator and folk/Americana musician Tim McWilliams, and written in collaboration with his wife Laura McWilliams, a Speech-Language Pathologist, DadGrass Podcast introduces kids (and the adults raising them) to the songs that have shaped American life: labor songs, regional folk, protest music, and storytelling ballads that help explain who we are and where we came from. Each short episode centers on a single song, its origins, the people who sang it, the moment it came from, and why it has lasted. Rather than telling listeners what to think or believe, DadGrass invites families to listen closely, ask questions, and notice how music carries values, conflict, hope, and identity across generations. In a media environment dominated by fast content and fragmented attention, DadGrass Podcast offers something slower and more connective: shared listening. Folk music gives families a way to talk about history, fairness, work, land, and community through stories and melodies that have endured long after headlines faded. These songs remind us that American history has always been shaped by ordinary people workers, parents, migrants, artists, and neighbors, using music to make sense of change and pass down meaning. Why this matters: Many families want ways to teach history and values without turning every conversation into a debate. Folk music offers a nonpartisan, historically grounded, and emotionally accessible entry point. Songs carry memory. Culture outlasts news cycles. DadGrass Podcast helps families build cultural literacy and historical awareness through music, before polarization, before arguments, before labels. It treats democracy, history, and identity not as abstractions, but as lived experiences passed from one generation to the next. This is music education. It’s cultural memory. And it’s an invitation to listen to the past, to each other, and to the songs that shaped us.

Publisher

tmcwilliamsmusic

Category

kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Feb 2026

Latest episode

18 Mar 2026

Latest episodes

6 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Mar 2026

   Tell Me Ma: A Celebration of Irish Folk Songs

   DadGrass Podcast is back with a song that’s been passed down through streets, kitchens, and crowded pub floors for generations “Tell Me Ma.” This week, we’re digging into the story behind the song, one that traveled across the ocean with Irish immigrants and took on a life of its own in places like New York, Boston, and beyond. It’s playful, a little mischievous, and full of the kind of rhythm that pulls kids (and adults) right into the music. But like a lot of folk songs, there’s more under the surface.This one carries pieces of migration, identity, and what it means to belong somewhere new while holding onto where you came from. We’ll talk about: How “Tell Me Ma” became an Irish American staple The hidden history inside a seemingly simple children’s song Why songs like this matter for passing culture down to our kids Whether you grew up hearing this song or its brand new to your family, this episode is about connection through music, movement, and shared stories. Give it a listen, try it with your kids, and let us know how it goes. DadGrass Podcast – handing down folk stories through song.

2. 

   17 Feb 2026

   A Call & Response for Mardi Gras: Iko Iko!

   In celebration of Fat Tuesday, today on DadGrass Podcast we’re heading to the streets of New Orleans for one of the most joyful, mysterious, and powerful songs in American roots music “Iko Iko.” You’ll hear the beat.You’ll feel the rhythm.And you’ll learn how to answer back. This episode is all about call and response, a musical conversation where one voice leads and everyone joins in. We’ll clap it, sing it, and try it together at home (because music is meant to be shared, not just listened to). We’ll also talk about the first group to record it, Sugar Boy & the Cane Cutters, as well as the group to really bring this song into the spotlight, The Dixie Cups. Three black women from New Orleans who recorded “Iko Iko” in 1965 during a time when the music industry (and much of the country) wasn’t always fair or welcoming. Their voices carried a Mardi Gras tradition into homes all across America. This episode is made for: Little listeners who love to sing loud Grown-ups who want to pass down music with meaning Families celebrating Fat Tuesday (or just looking for a reason to dance in the kitchen) Because on Mardi Gras, we don’t just listen to music. We answer it. Laissez les bons temps rouler- let the good times roll!

3. 

   10 Feb 2026

   Homeplace Songs: Blue Ridge Mountain Blues

   What feels like home to you? Is it a place you can point to on a map…or something you carry with you, like a tune that never quite leaves? Homeplace songs come from that ache, the one that shows up when a sight fades in the rearview mirror. When work pulls you somewhere loud and fast. When the land that raised you feels far away but not gone. Today's episode focuses on Homeplace Songs, and one of my favorites. Have you heard of the Blue Ridge Mountain blues? These blues aren’t just about sadness. They’re about memories of a place, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the feelings some get when they leave those mountains. These songs are of people who usually left because they had to, not because they wanted to. They carried the feelings, sounds and signs of home with them. This song brings feelings of creek water, porch steps, red clay, and Sunday hymns into mill towns and cities that never quite felt like home. These songs were how they kept things that make what feels like home, close. A way of saying: I remember who I am. I remember where I’m from. So listen close. Roots music is full of songs depicting places that are special. Homeplace Songs are some special ones. It’s a song calling out what home felt like and maybe it will help you talk about what home feels like to you.

4. 

   5 Feb 2026

   Lesley Riddle: The Human Tape Recorder, Folk & Blues Pioneer

   As we move through Black History Month, we’re taking time to honor Lesley Riddle, a Black Appalachian musician whose work sits at the foundation of American folk, blues and country music, even if his name was too often left out of the story. Lesley Riddle carried melodies when there were no recordings.He shaped songs that became standards.He influenced the sound of the Carter Family and, through them, generations of musicians, quietly, skillfully, and without recognition. So we slowed this one down. Because Black history isn’t a side note. Early Black Appalachian musicians like Lesley shaped the sounds we know and love today. Take him out of the story, and the music changes. Today's lesson is made for curious kids who want to learn more about the power of your brain and for families who want to understand how songs carried through history. It won't be the last time we talk about Lesley! This episode honors Black Appalachian musicians, and the grown-ups having that “wait… how did I not learn this?” moment.

5. 

   3 Feb 2026

   Wildwood Flower: Maybelle Carter & the Sound That Changed Everything

   In this episode of DadGrass Podcast, we listen to Wildwood Flower and learn about the incredible guitar playing of Maybelle Carter.

6. 

   2 Feb 2026

   If I Had a Hammer: Pete Seeger & the sound of everyday courage

   Welcome to DadGrass — a family-friendly podcast about folk music, history, and the stories we hand down through song. Best for kids and grown-ups to listen together. This episode sets the tone for DadGrass: short conversations, one song at a time, and music as a way to remember who we are and where we come from.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

Contact DadGrass Podcast

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.