The Flatt & Scruggs song “Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’” has a message followed by many in the bluegrass field. Basically, the theme is do not forget where you came from, and do not forget who helped you achieve any success that you have had along the way. Billy Strings proves once again that he is a true follower of this sentiment.
Last September, Strings and his wife Ally were blessed with the birth of a son. Unfortunately, due to immediate health concerns, the infant was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Through 24-hour monitoring and care, his son gained normal health and was able to leave the hospital after some time.
Last week, to show his appreciation to the staff at the hospital, Strings not only visited the hospital, but also participated in a video for the facility’s music therapy program, as well as performed mini-concerts on each of the floors for the patients, including at the NICU floor.
The video performance is part of the Corwell Health’s Blue Glass Studio program that broadcasts pertinent information related to music therapy. Of course, for this particular video, the name was changed to Blue Grass Studio to honor Strings.
While many entertainment figures take time out of their careers to do charitable acts, most of these actions are usually done on off-time or when the career is in a lull. Billy Strings is at the height of his career, selling out concert venues and working with some of the biggest musical artists in the bluegrass, country, and rock worlds. While his adolescent past has been filled with a number of demons, he has fought them off and offered thanks to the people and prayers that have been there with him.
This incident shows that Strings is grateful for everything good that has happened to him, be it in the music field or his personal life. For that, I continue to have a great respect for him.
I stopped my subscription to the hard-copy of American Songwriter magazine a few years back. The articles were getting way too politically left leaning. It was like the magazine was trying to compete with Rolling Stone.
A few weeks back, an online article popped up on my computer entitled “10 Bluegrass Songs Everyone Should Know” (https://americansongwriter.com/10-bluegrass-songs-everyone-should-know/). The article is written by Peter Burditt, who seems to be a regular contributor to the magazine and/or website. However, I highly doubt that he is a go-to person when it comes to bluegrass music. A Google search did not find any credible information on the man, unless he is also a financial consultant or a lacross player.
The article chooses the following as “must know” bluegrass songs:
“Dueling Banjos” – Eric Weissberg
“Man of Constant Sorrow” – Dick Burnett
“Blue Moon of Kentucky” – Bill Monroe
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” – Ada R. Habershon & Charles H. Gabriel
“Rocky Top” – The Osborne Brothers
“Foggy Mountain Breakdown” – Flatt & Scruggs
“Nine Pound Hammer” Unknown
“With Body and Soul” – Bill Monroe
“Tennessee 1949″ – Larry Sparks
“Tortured Tangled Hearts” – The Chicks/The Dixie Chicks
OK, where do I start?
In the article, Burditt states that these are 10 bluegrass songs that you should know. As a writer? As a musician? As a band? As a listener of bluegrass? He never defines that. In all instances, he is off target. Speaking for myself as a fan, musician and writer of bluegrass music, I only see three songs that are “must-know” contenders: Numbers 2, 3, and 5. These have been standards in bluegrass bands for a number of years. I could even go to say that “Man of Constant Sorrow” has not been a contender until the release of the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? back in 2000. It was popular with the Stanley Brothers back in the 1950s and 60s before Carter Stanley passed away, but rarely heard until the movie brought it back to life.
Numbers 1 and 6 are instrumental songs, but “Dueling Banjos” is rarely performed by any bluegrass band. It has become more of a novelty song with bluegrass bands, the musicians joking around when tuning up or between-song banter. There are a lot more popular instrumentals that that one, including “Shucking the Corn,” Orange Blossom Special,” and “Back Up and Push” to name a few.
Number 4: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” is pretty much a folk standard, and yes, many bluegrass bands perform it. However, it is usually as an unexpected encore or when two or more bands get together on stage to perform. So yes, it is one that bluegrass performers should know, but it is not on a regular set list.
Number 7: “Nine Pound Hammer” is better known by its country-picking version from Merle Travis, and is rarely played among bluegrass bands on stage. Occasionally, you will hear it in jam sessions, so, yes, it is one that you should probably know. That is, if you are looking to do some parking lot jams. If that is the case, then there are a dozen or more jam standards that you should know that are not on this list. I recommend checking out Pete Wernick’s website, where he lists over 100 songs that one usually hears at bluegrass jams (https://wernickmethod.org/jam-favorites).
Number 8: “With Body and Soul” is one that I would consider on a secondary list, not necessarily a “must know.” A few bands do this song justice, and it has a unique chorus, if you can get your tenor singer to do some falsetto on the line That’s how she loves me. Because it is not as common as “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” it does make a nice change of pace when a band does a rendition.
Number 9: Larry Sparks is a modern legend in the bluegrass world. He performed with Ralph Stanley after Carter’s passing, went on his own in the late 1960s, and has been giving us great music ever since. Is “Tennessee 1949” a must-know bluegrass song? Again, probably secondary. Incidentally, this was written by Bill Emerson and Pete Goble, not Sparks. However, Sparks always had a good ear for good songs. When he originally released this song in 1987, it was a bluegrass smash hit, and yes, parking lot jammers started including it in their repertoire. A few bands cover it, but it is not as common as the article makes it out to be. This is a good example of the author trying to make out like he is “in the know” with bluegrass music.
Number 10: Really? REALLY? I have NEVER heard this song played on stage by any bluegrass band, nor have I ever heard it in my years of playing at or listening to multitudes of parking lot jams! Even when jamming with female bluegrass singers, they tend to go for tunes by Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, or Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard. Way more common tunes include Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” and “Jolene,” or Lucinda Williams’ “Can’t Let Go.” Again, Burditt is trying to look like he is “in the know,” while also being inclusive, which is popular with the Left these days. All that it tells me is that he has probably never attended a bluegrass festival.
So what songs would I include in a Top 10 list? Here are a few: “Hard Hearted” – Jim & Jesse “Sunny Side of the Mountain” – Jimmy Martin “Freeborn Man” – Jimmy Martin “Salty Dog Blues” – Flatt & Scruggs “Doing My Time” – Flatt & Scruggs “Rolling in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” – Flatt & Scruggs “Thirty Years of Farming” – Fred Eaglesmith/James King “Dooley” – The Dillards “Angel Band” – The Stanley Brothers “Dark Hollow” – Bill Browning/Mac Wiseman/Muleskinner “East Virginia Blues” – The Carter Family “Love Please Come Home” – Reno & Smiley “In the Pines” – Bill Monroe “Sitting on Top of the World” – Bill Monroe (among others) “Wabash Cannonball” – Mac Wiseman (among others)
As for instrumentals, before “Dueling Banjos,” I would include standards such as “Bill Cheatham,” “Cripple Creek,” “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” and dozens of other old-time fiddle tunes, as well as the instrumental songs mentioned previously. I am also aware of a few Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Gordon Lightfoot songs that seem a lot more common with jammers than some of what is mentioned by Burditt.
I wrote a blog a few years back on bluegrass fake books (https://luegra.design.blog/2020/07/17/a-brief-look-at-bluegrass-fake-books/). I would recommend checking out Bluegrass Fakebook by Bert Casey for some “must know” bluegrass songs instead of going on the opinion of Peter Burditt. He truly seems like he did very little research on popular bluegrass songs and just googled his way through the article.
It is considered by many to be the National Anthem of Bluegrass. Every good bluegrass band keeps it in its repertoire because it knows that all music fans, bluegrass or not, love the song. Every budding banjo player MUST learn it along the way, most playing it nuance-for-nuance like Earl. Flatt and Scruggs re-recorded it in the 1960s for the movie Bonnie and Clyde. The song fit the film perfectly.
However, it is the original 1949 recording for Mercury Records that true bluegrass fans adhere to. While the duo recorded a similar song “Bluegrass Breakdown” with Bill Monroe, Earl wanted one that defined the Foggy Mountain Boys. A change in chord structure and more emphasis on the banjo work made this song more popular as well as a bluegrass standard.
The arrangement is perfect – banjo solos for a few breaks, fiddle solo changes it up, then back and forth one more time until we end with the banjo wrapping it up with a “shave and a haircut” outro. No bridges or changes in keys. The G to Em chord change (although the tuning on this recording makes it sound more like it is in the key of G#) catches the listener’s ear. In this particular recording, Earl truly sounds like he knows what he is doing, yet it sounds improvised in many ways. You don’t really “hear” the rest of the band, you FEEL them! Lester’s rhythm guitar is more like a brush on a snare drum and hi-hat, until the end of each verse when his trademark G-run can be made out. The upright bass is definitely felt more than heard, but if it weren’t there, there would be a lot less drive to the song. Also, Earl only does two counts of lone banjo intro before the band kicks in. Usual arrangements give the banjo a full four counts. It makes one think that the band was caught off-guard with his playing right away. However, it sounds fantastic! Two minutes and forty seconds of pure energy!
What makes it unique is that it was recorded the way all recordings were done back then — with one microphone and the band standing around it, all the while maneuvering back and forth to let the soloist get closest to the mic. You can close your eyes and literally see them dancing around each other to get to the mic. That is the charm of the recording – everyone knowing his job to get the best recording possible. Recording engineering was in its youth. Studio engineers were more scientists than music aficionados. The mic went into a very primitive mixer, which was then wired into the cutter, which cut the music directly onto a wax disc. Any big mistake meant having to do the whole thing over again. Minor mistakes were often ignored as long as the results were satisfactory.
I also prefer this version over the 1960s version because it is so raw and untouched. The later version adds harmonica and other studio tricks to make it sound professional. The original version is just the band doing what they do best – performing live!
Which leads to listening to this particular recording. With the chord changes from G to Em and back, sometimes the guitar and bass go four counts on the Em, sometimes six counts. Occasionally the guitar goes fout counts while the bass stays on the E for six. Because the banjo and fiddle are so up-front, it really isn’t noticeable to the casual listener. However, it does tell a lot about how wild it must have been to first record this great song and everyone being slightly in his own world for a few moments. Today, most bands are pretty much sticklers to the four counts of Em, but I have always loved the six-count, as it makes the sone a lot less “pop” and more “rock.”
Yes, one could say that this is a precursor to rock-and-roll music, especially the emphasis on instrumental solos having short breaks to mix the overall song up a bit. There were tons of recordings of instrumental songs prior to this, but most stuck with simple arrangements – the soloist sticking to mimicking either the vocals or the main instrument, usually the fiddle. Here, Earl goes off on his own, creating breakneck-speed solos that could not be easily duplicated. The banjo rolls were innovative to say the least. Bill Monroe knew this when he had Earl join the Blue Grass Boys in 1945, and Lester and Earl knew how to make it a power to be reckoned with by 1949.
I have always loved this recording, but really knew how important and great it was a few years back. Eddie Stubbs was DJ-ing one of his late-night shows on WSM, and on the anniversary of the song’s 1949 recording, he played it on the air, then followed up with the statement, “Are there any questions?”. That to me says it all.
A few years ago, when I was still part of Leadership Bluegrass, I was involved in an online discussion with other members about bluegrass bands performing original versus cover material. The discussion led to the band the Earls of Leicester. I stated that I would compare what they are doing to what tribute bands like Beatlemania are doing. I then received lots of backlash for my statement, after which I asked what the Earls are doing in relationship to Flatt & Scruggs compared to what Beatlemania (or any other Beatles tribute band) is doing with the Beatles’ music and image.
I never got a definitive answer, only that it is a different situation. I stood by my statement, and still do. I left Leadership Bluegrass shortly thereafter for other reasons. However, this is just one of many ideas that leaders in the bluegrass industry tend to keep a closed mind to. What’s wrong with the Earls being labeled a tribute band?
Dobroist Jerry Douglas purposely formed the Earls as a tribute to the 1950s-era lineup of Flatt & Scruggs. The members of the Earls also serve in other bands doing original material. The Earls dress the part, play only those songs that F&S did during that time, and even take on the vocal inflections of the original singers. The Earls won the IBMA Entertainer of the Year Award at least once, and for good reason – they are extremely entertaining! However, to put them in the same category as, say, the Del McCoury Band, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, or Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder is apples and oranges. These other bands are performing mostly original material with a traditional sound. It would be wrong to think of the Earls as moving bluegrass into new territory.
The original
The tribute
There is nothing wrong with tribute bands. Besides the Beatles and Elvis, there are hundreds of other tribute bands imitating (aurally and visually) such artists as the Rolling Stones, the Smiths, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, Frank Sinatra and many others. These tribute bands give the audience a different kind of escape. They help some people remember what it was like with a past musical experience, or show off to others what they may have missed the first time it came around. They are living versions of old photographs or concert films. They are imitators, many excellent at what they do, but are not originals. For the most part, they accept that.
The problem is when I see professionals in the bluegrass music industry, those who should realize the importance of their positions as they relate to bluegrass music fans, that do not look at if from this perspective. The Earls won a Grammy a few years back. Why? A recording of a dozen or so songs originally done by F&S re-done nuance for nuance like the original should not be considered pushing the genre forward. Yes, the Bluegrass category for the Grammys is not that big of a deal in the overall music industry, and those that voted most likely didn’t recognize the other nominees. But part of that is the fault of the promoting from within the bluegrass industry.
I hope that promoters of bluegrass will start looking at originality as a major factor in giving attention to bluegrass talent. It is the one way that others will see how much we want bluegrass to be a viable and competitive format going forward.
Luegra 