COVID tour break gave Kentucky fiddler the recording itch. Now he’s playing The Burl.

That we find Jason Carter at home on an early January afternoon is something of an anomaly. The Greenup County-born fiddler is usually on the road as a charter member of two multi-Grammy winning, bluegrass troupes — The Del McCoury Band and its Del-less offshoot The Travelin’ McCourys.

So what is Carter indulging in during a brief post-holiday break from touring duties? Why, rehearsing for a run of dates with a third group — one under his own name that brings him back to Lexington for a headlining performance at The Burl on Jan. 10.

“The hardest part in doing my shows is just trying to find time when we’re off from everything else,” Carter said. “Actually, on this run, I’m missing a Travelin’ McCourys show. They’re doing an Earl Scruggs 100th birthday celebration over in Shelby (North Carolina). I already had the time off from the band when I booked my shows. Then this other gig came up for the Travelers. I had already hired these other guys to come out and play.”

“All those guys have done shows with me, but not all together. This run will be the first time with this band configuration. Doing these shows ... it’s not the role that I’m used to playing in a band, but I’m having a blast.”

Solo album recorded during pandemic

What has prompted Carter to squeeze a few concerts under his own name into a calendar dominated by dates with the two McCoury bands is a 2022 solo album titled “Lowdown Hoedown.” Though very much rooted in traditional bluegrass in terms of sound and style, its repertoire borrows from a broad sampling of sources. It boasts compositions by Bruce Hornsby, John Hartford, Ola Belle Reed, Vassar Clements, Danny Barnes and the Grateful Dead. Bandmate Greer contributes two tunes, as well. In terms of players, “Lowdown Hoedown” sports an A-list of bluegrass, country and Americana support. Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Billy Strings, Marty Stuart, Sarah Jarosz, Dierks Bentley, Aoife O’Donovan and the full lineups from both McCoury groups perform on the recording.

“It had been since, like ’96, that I put out a solo record, and that was mostly instrumental stuff,” Carter said. “I’ve played guitar and sung my entire life, just not with the band. A lot of these songs I had in mind to do for a long time. Then when the (COVID) pandemic hit, I was like, ‘If I’m ever going to do it, now’s the time.’ That’s because I had the time off from touring. Since then, I’ve gotten the bug to do more. There’s a new Del McCoury Band record coming out this year. There’s a new Travelin’ McCourys record, too. And I’ve also got new songs I want to do for another record after all this one.”

Learning from Del McCoury on the road

Carter’s taste for bluegrass was nurtured while listening to his father’s bluegrass bands while growing up in the Greenup community of Lloyd. He initially sat in with one, James River Bluegrass, on guitar before infatuation with the fiddle set in. After working with the Goins Brothers from nearby Mercer County in West Virginia, Carter connected with Bill Monroe veteran Del McCoury, who was solidifying a new band in Nashville with sons Ronnie and Rob McCoury on mandolin and banjo, respectively. Carter joined in 1992 and has remained with the Del McCoury Band ever since.

The group earned the fiddler his first two Best Bluegrass Album Grammy Awards for “The Company We Keep” in 2006 and “The Streets of Baltimore” in 2014.

“When I first started playing with Del, he would drive the bus. He did 90% of the bus driving. I would sit up and ride shotgun with him through the night and I would play the fiddle. I would think, ‘Man, I’m going to probably really aggravate him with this scratchy fiddle playing while he was driving.’ But he was always so supportive. He always tried to get me to play a tune my own way, to play however I felt the song. Man, he would sit up there while he was driving and sing to me, sing to me melodies. That’s a big part of how I learned to play. Between my dad and learning a lot from a lot of those local musicians there in Kentucky and then going with Del ... I mean, all of that was huge for me.”

It was father Del who encouraged his sons, Carter and bassist Alan Bartram to consider touring on their own in addition to work with his group. The suggestion was a bit of pre-emptive planning for when — or, more properly, if — the band patriarch decided to retire. Thus, the Travelin’ McCourys were born in 2009 with the same lineup as the Del McCoury Band except for a succession of guitarists taking Dad’s place. Guitarist Cody Kilby became the permanent guitar picker in 2015.

The Travelin’ McCourys’ self-titled debut album won Carter his third Grammy in 2019.

“Del is 84 years old now, so we’ve been doing this for a long time,” Carter said. “But when we first started, Del said would say, ‘You know, you guys should start doing shows and build a name on your own because when you have to start over, that can be a really hard time for you. We can still do the Del Band gigs, you know.’

“Of course, that was the biggest part of our living. We had the security of a good job, but we were also able to go out to do our own shows and start to build a name for ourselves.,” Carter said. “That’s another thing about Del that’s kind of unheard of with any other bandleader that I know of. He would tell his own band to go do their own thing. I mean, that just doesn’t happen.”

Jason Carter with Willy Tea Taylor

When: Jan. 10 8 p.m.

Where: The Burl, 375 Thompson Rd.

Tickets: $20

Online: theburlky.com/shows