Bluegrass covers a tremendous lot of territory. It's not all machine gun fast instrumentals and vocals. Boots Of Spanish Leather Del McCoury Band - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Emmylou Harris & Nash Ramblers - Walls of Time Peter Rowan Tony Rice Quartet "Land of the Navajo" September 8, 2006 Woodstock NY
I GUESS you'd call it Blue Grass music (two words. it's ALWAYS been 2 words in Bill Monroe's spelling and HE invented it!) but you could also call a piece like this Square Dance music. And MON was one of the best at it! The Gold Rush, recorded August 23, 1967 by Bill Monroe (mandolin) and Byron Berline (fiddle), with the incomparable Vic Jordan on banjo. Roland White guitar. James Monroe, bass. This is SO uplifting! Many people seem to have NO idea how noble this music is! (Bill and Charlie Monroe themselves were square dancers for a country music show out of Chicago in the 1930s.) The Gold Rush (flac) The Gold Rush (mp3)
Front row Don Reno, Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt Back row James Monroe (Bill's son), Mac Wiseman, Bill Harrell (?), Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin
Had the good fortune to see them all perform except for Lester Flatt, Don Reno, and James Monroe (bassist, guitarist, singer with the Blue Grass Boys and later his own successful band). Bill Harrell led his own band in the 70s-80s and I enjoyed him at the Gettysburg Blue Grass Festival ~1985-86. Jimmy Martin and Mac Wiseman also performed there. Saw Bill Monroe later at the Rocky Gap Country Music Festival near Cumberland Maryland also in the late 80s. This is a Hall of Fame picture, I've got to say! Man I wish I had seen Lester Flatt and Don Reno! Saw Earl Scruggs in early 70s with his Earl Scruggs Revue with his sons and Vassar Clements.
Anyone know why Molly Cherryholmes left Mountain Heart? They are now down to a four piece with no original members.
Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, With Body and Soul Kenny Baker and Bobby Hicks (?) on fiddle, James Monroe on guitar
Monroe Doctrine I saw them as an acoustic quintet - guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass - and they were spectacular especially on Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad. Frankly, the lp was a bit of a disappointment compared to the concert but that’s all I have or know about them. WDLGTBSS starts at around 5 minutes.
That might be the least bluegrass-looking stage set I've ever seen. Also love how you caught the bass player taking a little nip before the tune (or was it during?)
One of my all-time favorites from The Seldom Scene. What a great song from Norman Blake. I have all their albums on vinyl, purchased when they came out.
They were deep into a very long jam. That guitar player is about the most original I’ve ever seen. He played a lead rhythm style. He doesn’t pick notes as much as he strums chords for solos. Kind of face melting stuff.
a popular singer/songwriter in Australia is Paul Kelly. He did this magnificent acoustic/bluegrass album some years back, I think it's an absolute gem: It has some of Australia's best muso's playing on it. here's one: