Dan Crary, born in Kansas in 1939, picked up the guitar around age 12 but pointed his life toward theology and academia, enrolling at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago after high school in 1957, studying at the University of Kansas in 1960, and gigging at night in San Francisco while at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in 1965. This episode explains why the acoustic guitar was historically buried in the bluegrass rhythm section and how Crary's flatpicking dragged it into the solo spotlight.

The hosts follow his 1967 move to Louisville for a PhD, the co-founding of the Bluegrass Alliance and its house-band crucible at the Red Dog Saloon, and the landmark 1970 album Bluegrass Guitar. They then cover his decision to leave the band the same year after adopting his daughter Jennifer, the five-year hiatus, the return with Byron Berline ...