“I started playing with them then, and now they’re some of my best friends,” Owens continues. “They didn’t even speak English at the time, other than Robert Krestan, a little. There’s a really strange connection there…. It just feels like home when I’m in the Czech Republic. It’s a brotherhood, based on a lot of time on the road,” he smiles. “But you know, I have friends like that all over the world. I have a lot of friends who don’t speak English at all, and I don’t speak their language. Sometimes someone will translate for us, and sometimes we’ll just hang out. Music is universal language, especially when you’re in some country halfway around the world and you can’t talk to each other, but you’re singing harmony together! It’s a strange thing.”

Back in 1999 Andy sold everything, leaving Dallas, Texas to go on a 12-month musical walkabout he called “The Bluegrass Expedition” with his wife, Cathy and two sons. The musical family performed in 28 countries, before ending up back in the states 63,000 miles later, settling in North Carolina.

Andy loves the idea of touring internationally with bluegrass music. “It’s kind of funny,” he recalls, “I remember one of the last conversations I had with (Bill) Monroe; I told him one of the things I was doing was trying to take bluegrass to other parts of the world and that was something he told me to do. He said, ‘I want you to take bluegrass to as many countries as you can.’ I really like the idea of playing for people who don’t get to see what a bluegrass band from the U.S. sounds like, very often. They don’t take it for granted, and at the same time, you get to visit some incredibly cool places. During the Expedition, we probably spend 70% of our time in people’s houses vs. staying in hotels, and it’s such a better way to travel. I made so many friends all around the world, and it’s kind of a bittersweet thing. Most of my best friends are 8 or 10,000 miles away, and I only get to see them once or twice a year.”