If you have never checked out the YouTube channel World Bluegrass Day, you may want to, but not out of passion for bluegrass. More out of curiosity and a reason to question.
The channel has about 40,000 subscribers (including me), but if they are doing it like me, they are looking for errors. It seems that either the videos are made haphazardly, or with little or no research on the subject matter in the title.
Take for example the latest video posted – “Bluegrass Guitar Legends: 8 Unforgettable Solos.”
It starts off with an over-the-top solo by Billy Strings. Great performance? Definitely, but unforgettable? Maybe to some Billy Goat who was stoned out of his mind at that show.
The video follows with performances by Bryan Sutton, Clarence White, Doc Watson, Don Reno, Molly Tuttle, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice, respectively. To be honest, none of the solos on the video are “unforgettable,” even if the performers are legendary. For me, only the Clarence White and Norman Blake solos have that sound that is distinctive with the performer.
Then there are the Doc Watson and Tony Rice clips. They are not even solos! One shows Watson singing and strumming a Bob Dylan song, and the Tony Rice clip is of his Unit, with fiddle and dobro breaks only.
These types of errors are common among many of the videos posted on the channel. It makes me wonder who they are making these videos for. If it is for any fan with a basic knowledge of bluegrass music history, they are doing themselves a disservice, and keeping these mistakes up will make the channel the laughing stock of the bluegrass community.
If they are doing these videos to educate the newer fans of bluegrass, then they are doing those newbies a disservice. It also seems that they are putting up videos just to try to make the channel relevant. It is like those people who just have to post the most annoying videos on Tik Tok just to be noticed.
As for this video, I posted my concerns in the Comment section, and gave it a Thumbs Down. It seems like they are trying to create a topic of discussion with bad information. More research and professional production would make this and many other videos on the channel worthwhile to watch as well as being educational.
In last week’s blog, I talked about a bluegrass album that I was not too thrilled about. This week, I will be raving about an album that is absolutely fantastic!
Last April, bluegrass flatpickers Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton performed an intimate duet show at Nashville’s American Legion Post 82. They did two sets in one day consisting of bluegrass and old-time standards that have been a part of most parking lot jams over the past few decades. They have each performed some of them at their own shows, and almost all are recognized as being previously recorded by the likes of Doc Watson, Tony Rice, Clarence White and Norman Blake.
A few months back, I got word that the concerts were recorded and would soon be released as a double album by Reprise Records. I immediately put in a pre-order, and finally received the package a few weeks ago, I have been thoroughly enjoying these discs, going through each one at least five times over the past few days, and am just now sitting down to tell you about it.
Strings and Sutton are geniuses on the acoustic guitar. Everyone who reads my blogs know how much I love and appreciate Strings’ work. Sutton has been a go-to bluegrass guitarist for about 30 years, starting with his tenure in Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder, being on the A-list in the Nashville studios, and serving as guitarist in the re-formed Hot Rize, replacing the greatly missed Charles Sawtelle. Both gentlemen kept meeting up with each other at various bluegrass festivals, and would partner in after-hours jams as well as sit in on each other’s performances. Last year, when both of them had a break in touring, they decided to quickly book a venue for a day and do some picking together for a live audience.
Two of my favorite albums of all time, of any genre, have been the two Blake & Rice recordings released by Rounder records several decades ago. The sound of two acoustic guitars in the hands of masters working off of each other is Heaven to my ears. Live at the Legion has been that for me, with the added enjoyment of it being performed in front of a live audience. There is that beautiful intimacy that comes from a live acoustic performance, along with the between-song banter that is most definitely charming. It is the next best thing to being there.
A large majority of the songs are standards with bluegrass musicians, particularly guitarists and fiddlers. There are wonderful interpretations of “Nashville Blues,” “Walk On, Boy,” “Salt Creek/Big Sandy River,” and “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar.” Also included are some folk standards such as “Tom Dooley” and “Darling Corey,” as well as the Bob Dylan classic “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.”
Both players give it their best, and never try to outdo each other. There is no need to, as they ave both proven themselves to be the best at their work, and hold each other in high esteem as musicians. Both have always paid musical tribute to the aforementioned greats of bluegrass guitar, and both also have set up their own original expertise. Working off of each other on these discs is something that every guitarist, be they bluegrass or other genre, should listen to and pay attention. While the songs and even presentation have been performed and recorded similarly before, this album is so amazingly fresh to the ear of anyone wanting to hear what true bluegrass musical collaboration can be.
The 2022 IBMA Hall of Fame inductees this year include three well-deserved champions of the music format. The awards will be presented to radio broadcast pioneer Paul “Moon” Mullins, multi-instrumentalist Norman Blake, and vocalist/guitarist Peter Rowan. Allow me to speak a bit on Blake and Rowan.
For Norman Blake, this award should have been presented long ago. His history with Americana music is legendary. After service in the US Army, he moved to Nashville to become a sought-after studio musician. His early career in Music City included a long-time stint with Johnny Cash, appearing on a number of his albums and the much-heralded television show. His friendship with Johnny and June Carter lasted long after that tenure, as he appeared on June’s final album, released just after her death in 2003. He also appeared on Bob Dylan’s classic Nashville Skyline album.
What he is probably best known for is his guitar work on the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? film. His style fit perfectly with the time period of the film, and I do believe that no other guitarist could have captured those period sounds. He also toured with many of the other artists for the Down From the Mountain world tour. He and his wife Nancy have always been an institution in acoustic music performance, switching between guitars, violins, mandolins, and cellos to create one of the most beautiful acoustic musical atmospheres. I still remember an incident years ago at the Wheatland Music Festival near Mount Pleasant, Michigan. At a smaller stage, a local artist failed to show up, and the two of them took it upon themselves to get up on stage and entertain the crowd. It was a beautiful moment in musical time.
Musically, what I value most about him is the work that he did with Tony Rice. The two Blake & Rice albums are amazing to listen to. Both men are geniuses on the six-strings, and complement each other with their unique styles. Both of these albums continue to remain on my “often played” list, and I implore anyone out there reading this to buy one or both of these classic acoustic guitar albums. In many articles that I have read regarding Blake, either as a direct interview or a third-party observance, he has never really considered himself a bluegrass guitarist. However, just one listen to any of his classic songs, such as “Whiskey for Breakfast,” “Ginseng Sullivan,” or “Church Street Blues,” there is no denying that his style of guitar playing has influenced a number of today’s bluegrass pickers. Search him out on YouTube, or check out some of his performance and instructional videos on www.homespun.com .
Peter Rowan came to recognition as one of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys back in the mid-1960s. While his time in the band was not long, it was enough for bluegrass fans and critics to see how powerful of a singer this kid from Massachusetts really was. During his time there, he co-wrote with Monroe one of bluegrass’ most popular standard songs, “Walls of Time.” As the 60s progressed, Rowan left the Blue Grass Boys and looked for alternative means to express himself. He worked with David Grisman in Earth Opera, then formed Seatrain with fellow ex-Blue Grass Boy Richard Greene along with former members of The Blues Project.
By the early 1970s, his bluegrass roots came calling back, first in the progressive bluegrass project Muleskinner with Greene, Grisman and guitarist Clarence White, then with the jam-session-turned-legend Old & In The Way with Grisman, Vassar Clemens and Jerry Garcia.. Throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, Rowan would perform in various folk, bluegrass, and reggae projects, including working with his brothers in The Rowans, as well as his daughter Amanda. His most popular project during this time was the country/Western swing band The Mexican Air Force.
During the early 2000s, he recorded two phenomenal albums with guitarist Tony Rice as the Rowan & Rice Quartet. During a tour to support the second album Quartet is when I got to see what a charming and personable man Rowan is. I was finishing writing an article on the band’s mandolinist Sharon Gilchrist, and was backstage at the show in Ann Arbor talking to Gilchrist, Rice and Rowan, who had a dozen people around him like he was some sort of prophet or preacher. He looked a bit tired, but you could see that he truly enjoyed talking about his personal history as well as anything musically related. He never took advantage of his status in the bluegrass music field, instead enjoying listening to others who had stories as well.
Rowan’s catalogue is massive. However, I do recommend checking out the Old & In The Way albums as well as the Muleskinner CD/DVD recording of a television show that the band did, replacing Bill Monroe due to the bus breaking down on the way to the studio. Songs like “Midmight Moonlight,” Panama Red,” and “Knocking On Your Door” showcase a beautiful voice that will stand the test of time in bluegrass.
