Tag: Tony Rice

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Bluegrass Guitar Bluegrass Music

Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton “Live at the Legion”

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.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music

Billy Strings Is At It Again (+ Bluegrass At Work)

Next weekend is the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival, so my blog may be later than usual or shorter, or both. I have enjoyed going to this festival west of Lansing for a few years now, but this year will be extra special.

Last week, there was an announcement that the Thursday evening concert will be headlined by Billy Strings. His touring schedule had a few days gap, and he has stated in a press release that Charlotte was the first bluegrass festival that he ever attended when he was a lad, and that he wanted to perform at it one day. I am not sure if he will be playing solo, with his band, or with his dad. It doesn’t matter, you can guarantee that it will be an amazing show.

Pretty much just hours after the announcement, tickets for the Thursday show were sold out, and the three-day pass sold out soon after. Of course, I purchased my tickets a few months back, so I was safe for getting in. However, I did contact my hotel and reserve Wednesday night as well, mainly so that I can get to the fairgrounds extra early on Thursday to set up my lawn chair.

I have tried talking friends into going to this festival for years, and as expected, no one has followed up. Now a few of them, including my nephew, are asking if there is a possibility of getting tickets. I have to tell them that these festivals are not like other concerts that you can maybe find a scalper to get a ticket from. You buy the pass and get registered online at most of these festivals, and the pass can only be used by you. I expect that with this show, it will be followed even more carefully.

I am sure that next weekend’s blog will be filled with highlights of the festival, especially with Billy’s performance. I apologize that it seems that every other blog has something to do with Billy, but you have to admit, he is in the music news a lot, he is a humble guy, and he has put bluegrass music on the map again, the first time it has been this popular in over 20 years, since the release of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

In related news …

Two people at where I work are now getting into bluegrass music (sort of), which was quite a surprise to me.

First, my supervisor, who unfortunately just secured a promotion in another city and moved away, was someone who listened mostly to hard rock and metal-oriented rock, as well as bands like Dave Matthews Band. A few days before he left, he asked me if I ever heard of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. I just about fell off of my chair!

I explained to him that I have been following Bela for decades, as he played banjo in one of my all-time favorite bands, New Grass Revival. He told me that it came up on his Dave Matthews Spotify playlist, and was knocked out by the banjho playing. So I made a suggestion for him to delve into other jamgrass bands like Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, and String Cheese Incident. Well, he can’t seem to get enough of Leftover Salmon, and I followed up with more artists that were early jamgrass purveyors, such as NGR, Tony Rice, and David Grisman.

I told my buddy Ken about this, and his response was, “Well, it’s a start.”

Another co-worker and I were recently talking. She and I both do a lot of woodworking, though mine is lutherie while she builds and refinishes furniture. I told her that I would be on vacation for a few days for the bluegrass festival, and that Billy Strings would be headlining one day. Her response was, “Billy Strings! I love his song ‘Dust In a Baggie’!”

I got right into it, telling her if she’s into his music, she would be into a lot of other bluegrass artists such as Molly Tuttle, Tony Rice, and a few others. She never heard of the other names that I mentioned, so I quickly showed her a short video of Tony Rice performing “Church Street Blues,” and she seemed hooked. The next day I gave her a bunch of duplicate CDs that I had of Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, and the OBWAT soundtrack. We shall see how she reacts. I have invited her a few times to hit local bluegrass shows with me, but while interested, she never seems to follow up. Perhaps when she gets more into the music, she’ll change her mind.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Mandolin Bluegrass Music

David Grisman at 80

I was reading an article online about a show that David Grisman was doing in Seattle to celebrate his 80th birthday. I had to look twice and research the information, and yes, on March 23rd, David “Dawg” Grisman will be turning 80 years old. Grisman has always been one of my favorite people in the bluegrass field, especially as he loved to push the boundaries of traditional bluegrass to include rock, jazz, blues and klezmer, which critics and fans alike labeled as Dawg Music.

The way that young girls follow Taylor Swift’s every action, my buddy Ken and I always had a keen interest in the bluegrass musicians that gathered in other musical influences to create the Newgrass movement that began in the early 1970s. Along with New Grass Revival, John Hartford, Tony Rice and the Seldom Scene, Grisman made a name for himself with other musical formats while still keeping one foot in bluegrass.

Somewhat of a musical prodigy on the mandolin, though he also played piano and saxophone in his early age. He grew up in the Jewish community of Passaic, New Jersey, but discovered folk and bluegrass while attending New York University. He was a member of Red Allen’s band The Kentuckians, and also recorded with Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard on their early beautiful Folkways recordings. He delved into rock music with former Blue Grass Boys guitarist/vocalist Peter Rowan to form the short-lived Earth Opera. The two would also form the legendary bluegrass band Old & In The Way with Vassar Clemens and Jerry Garcia. His friendship with Garcia lasted for decades. He recorded on the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty album, with standout work on the songs “Ripple” and “Friend of the Devil.” During this time, he also worked with Rowan, Richard Greene, and Clarence White in the band Muleskinner, which disbanded due to the untimely death of White. Only weeks prior to White’s death, the band performed on a local television show in California, meant to be a warm-up for an appearance of Bill Monroe which did not happen. Fortunately, a video of the band’s performance was saved and is available as Muleskinner Live.

In the 1970s, Grisman formed the David Grisman Quintet, which had a revolving membership that included Darol Anger, Tony Rice, Mark O’Connor, and Todd Phillips among others. He recorded a number of Dawg Music albums during this time, which were critical favorites, and are cherished mainly by Deadheads.

The Garcia/Grisman collaborations continued throughout the years, with gems such as Jerry Garcia/David Grisman and Not For Kids Only. A wonderful documentary on their relationship was released in 2001 called Grateful Dawg, directed by Grismans’s daughter Gillian. The film includes a number of live performance by the duo which are near perfection. Probably the best storied collaboration was with the two and Tony Rice. During two evenings in February 1993, the three musicians sat down in Grisman’s home studio and recorded a number of standard folk and bluegrass tunes. A copy of the tape somehow got into the hands of a pizza deliveryman, and within months, the songs form the recording were being bootlegged across the country to thousands of Deadheads. At first angered, including confiscating bootlegged CD, Grisman eventually released some of the recordings in 2000 as The Pizza Tapes (an extended version was release online in 2010).

In 1990, Grisman formed Acoustic Disc, a record label that would specialize in unique bluegrass, folk, and jazz recordings, particularly live performances. Along with The Pizza Tapes, the label has released other recording by Grisman, Rice, Jesse McReynolds, Old & In The Way and Doc Watson. The label’s catalogue is a wealth of great acoustic music, and I personally have at least a dozen releases from there.

Grisman was FINALLY inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2023. This was an honor that should have been given decades before, as his music was what was getting many younger musicians and fans into bluegrass. He never strayed away from bluegrass music, as his love was so deep that he names one of his children Monroe after the great Bill Monroe.

I saw Grisman only once, and it was at an Ann Arbor Folk Festival many years ago when he performed with Doc Watson. There were a number of bands performing at that festival, but that to me was the highlight, as two legends were trading licks and presenting an acoustic format that forced you to pay attention and appreciate it. My only other connection with Grisman is that we both had music played on the NPR program “Car Talk.” His composition “Dawggy Mountain Breakdown” was the shows theme song.

I totally recommend that you get some of Grisman’s recordings. Traditional bluegrass fans will want a copy of one of the Old & In The Way live discs. Acoustic music fans will love The Pizza Tapes or just about any other album on Acoustic Disc (www.dawgnet.com), and I encourage you to check out the documentary Grateful Dawg as well as the performance of Muleskinner Live.

Happy Birthday, Dawg! You have made my musical life, as well as thousands of others, so much more rewarding and enjoyable!

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music

Norman Blake and Peter Rowan

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.

Chew on it and comment.

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