MetaFilter posts tagged with bluegrass

"You don't need that many guitars. Bout two's enough."

timsteil — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:32:49 -0800

"They come in and, they may bring their instruments in, lay it in the back room, come out and eat some peanuts, talk with us, get some coffee, trade knives, tell a few jokes, settle the world's problems, and eventually, play music if and when they want to."

The Barber Shop, Drexel NC.

Smooth pickin' and sweet harmonizin'

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:49:45 -0800

Friends, neighbors, let's drop in on ol' Don Reno, Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cut Ups for a heapin' helpin' of some of that good old time country/bluegrass goodness, shall we? What say we kick it off with their fine rendition of Love Please Come Home? Mmm-MMM, so satisfying! You know, the boys had their own lil' ol' TV show, too, brought to you by the fine folks over at your local Kroger grocery store, and I'll just bet you'd like to watch the pilot episode, now, wouldn't you? Well, here's Part one, and there's... The Don Reno - Red Smiley Show pilot: Part two ("let's go Krogering!") Part three Part four 1957 Earliest Known Footage I'm Using My Bible For A Roadmap There's Another Baby Waiting For Me Down The Line ("the tie that BIII-IIIIINDS!") I'm Talk Of The Town I Know You're Married But I Love You Still Some Beautiful Day I Wouldn't Change You If I Could

Punch Brothers, Mandolin Brothers and Lloyd Loar

Bartonius — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:21:46 -0800

On Monday September 24th, Mandolin Brothers were visited by 3/5ths of The Punch Brothers: Chris Thile, along with Chris Eldridge and Noam Pickelny. Chris played their Lloyd Loar 1924 F-5 mandolin and their 1925 Fern. Among the numbers they played was a lovely rendition of Tennessee Waltz. Previously From the Mandolin Brothers website: Of our March 31, 1924 signed Loar, #75846, bearing Virzi Number (one of the lowest numbers seen although they seem to have been applied in no particular order) #10002, Chris said that it was one of the finest sounding "Virzi-equipped" Lloyd Loar F-5s he had ever heard. He said "this has an explosive low end that's awesome!" He added "You just don't hear F-5s with a Virzi that sound anything like this." He was also extremely impressed with our newest acquisition: the non-Virzi signed Loar dated February 18, 1924, bearing serial number #75318. Chris said: "This is one hell of a mandolin; it's a 'hoss.'" And he added "This February 18th Loar produces a sound that's right in between David Grisman's July 9, 1923 (the Bill Monroe date) and John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin)'s February 18th Loar. (scroll down) It is, he told us, "truly spectacular!" Chris owns the Lloyd Loar made two serial numbers before this one and added that he's come to the conclusion that for the finest possible sound of which a Lloyd Loar is capable you "can't depend on any other time period but February 1924 for the production of the signed Loar to be this transcendent in its response." They ended up doing several clips: Lloyd Loar F5 #75318 Bluegrass Duet: Chrises Thile and Eldridge ..And banjo makes three.

Pluck those strings

Wolfster — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:26:30 -0800

This winners for the MacArthur Awards have been announced , and among the fellows is Chris Thile. • A recent performance by Yo-Yo Ma, EdgarMeyer, Chris Thile, and Stuart Duncan in the NPR studio (Tiny Desk Concert) • Playing with his band, Punch Brothers,currently on tour • His previous band, Nickel Creek

RIP, Doc Watson

Shotgun Shakespeare — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:37:50 -0800

Iconic bluegrass guitarist Doc Watson has died in a Winston-Salem, NC hospital. Arthel "Doc" Watson, 89 years old at the time of his death, was one of the greatest traditional, folk and bluegrass guitarists in history. He is credited with popularizing the flatpicking style of guitar, and his involvement with the concerts in New York City, Boston and Newport helped popularize traditional mountain music and bluegrass during the 1960s. A life-long resident of Deep Gap, North Carolina, Watson lost his eyesight before his first birthday. His son Merle, died on the family farm in a tractor accident in 1985. Rather than retreat from society, Watson embraced it even more fully, creating Merlefest, one of the first multi-day destination concerts. Watson played at one time or another with every great bluegrass or traditional mountain music star you can think of. Here's an interview published in American Songwriter magazine.

RIP Doug Dillard

Fnarf — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:27:15 -0800

Doug Dillard was a pioneer of country rock with his band The Dillards, with his brother Rodney, who were perhaps the first to plug bluegrass instruments into amplifiers back in the early sixties. He died today at the age of 75. The Dillards album Wheatstraw Suite was recorded after Doug left the band to work with Gene Clark, but he worked on the songs and recorded early single versions of some of them. This album is arguably the best country-folk-rock album ever made, outstripping (IMHO) efforts by The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. His work in Dillard and Clark was magnificent, especially "Why Not My Baby", a forgotten masterpiece that somehow marries banjo with a string section (and Gene Clark's plaintive vocal), though it was generally lost in stupid band politics and the remarkable capacity of both principals for self-destruction. Perhaps The Dillards, and Doug's, biggest impact on the national stage was as The Darlings, the bluegrass band on The Andy Griffith Show, the first time most Americans ever heard this form of their own music. Here's Doug in (somewhat) later years on Ralph Emery's show Pop! Goes The Country.

RIP Everett Lilly

OmieWise — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:47:10 -0800

Everett Lilly, founding member and mandolin player for the Lilly Brothers, has died. The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover (on banjo) had a longtime residence in Boston in the 1960s at the Hillbilly Ranch. Although the band disbanded and moved back to West Virginia following the death of Everett's son in an accident, their influence on the folk revival was substantial. Here is their classic rendition of "Sinner You Better Get Ready" from their 1961 Folkways album Bluegrass at the Roots. Everett's mandolin is upfront and sweet. RIP

TBT

edgeways — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:08:11 -0800

Trampled By Turtles , (TBT) a modern Bluegrass band fronted by Dave Simonett from Duluth MN. Starting as a side project for the original members,

"...But as time went on, all those bands split and this band was all that was left. I was dead broke and left with just my acoustic guitar, after someone stole my electric guitar and my amp while loading out gear after the last show with my previous band. And like I said, the other bands were gone, and all my gear was gone, so this just naturally happened.”

Six albums. The last three (Duluth, Palomino and Stars and Satellites) have hit the top 10 in the Bluegrass charts. The latest album Stars and Satellites has just entered the overall top Billboard charts at number 32. (Simultaneously entering the charts as the #13 Rock Album, #7 Independent Album, #11 Alternative Album, and #2 Folk Album). Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Duluth Mayor Don Ness declared 4/11 TBT day and then went crowd surfing. The Turtles are scheduled to play David Letterman tonight after Tom Waits had to cancel. Then after a few more shows on the road, back to Duluth for their annual Homegrown Music Festival show. And now, some music: Codeine, Victory, November, Alone. and one song from Simonett's "other" side project Nicotine by Dead Man Winter.

Birdcloud is Two Tennessee Girls with Stringed Instruments and Potty Mouths

cmoj — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:10:05 -0800

"Birdcloud met in Murfreesboro and immediately didn’t like eachother. At a party in 2009 they had some whiskeys and became friends and started dicking around on guitar, writing their first song, a song about going down on your best friend, now lost to the sands of time. Despite a lukewarm reception at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe, they have been sitting on eachother’s faces ever since, showing eachother their bruises and generally doing whatever they want when it works out that way." Songs on the inside NSFW if you can't tell. Warshin' My Big Ol' Pussy Do What I Want Bandit Damn Dumb Saving Myself For Jesus Indianer Springwater

I think I saw this in a disney movie.

empath — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:56:11 -0800

Singers get all the chicks.

You shall Hear things, Wonderful to tell

Rhaomi — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:35:18 -0800

A decade on, the Coen brothers' woefully underrated O Brother, Where Art Thou? [alt] is remembered for a lot of things: its sun-drenched, sepia-rich cinematography (a pioneer of digital color grading), its whimsical humor, fluid vernacular, and many subtle references to Homer's Odyssey. But one part of its legacy truly stands out: the music. Assembled by T-Bone Burnett, the soundtrack is a cornucopia of American folk music, exhibiting everything from cheery ballads and angelic hymns to wistful blues and chain-gang anthems. Woven into the plot of the film through radio and live performances, the songs lent the story a heartfelt, homespun feel that echoed its cultural heritage, a paean and uchronia of the Old South. Though the multiplatinum album was recently reissued, the movie's medley is best heard via famed documentarian D. A. Pennebaker's Down from the Mountain, an extraordinary yet intimate concert film focused on a night of live music by the soundtrack's stars (among them Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Chris Thomas King, bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley) and wryly hosted by John Hartford, an accomplished fiddler, riverboat captain, and raconteur whose struggle with terminal cancer made this his last major performance. The film is free in its entirety on Hulu and YouTube -- click inside for individual clips, song links, and breakdowns of the set list's fascinating history. 1 | "Po' Lazarus" (lyrics) by James Carter and the Prisoners

Context: This plodding chain-gang chorus opens the film -- and suggests the whole story is an elaborate jailyard song in itself. Background: Despite the name, James Carter and the Prisoners isn't your traditional band -- it's the informal title of an actual 1950s Mississippi chain gang featuring Carter and a number of other anonymous convicts. Encountered by traveling ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, their worker chant was recorded and entered into his vast field collection (much of which is now available online). Four decades later, Carter was tracked down and paid $20,000 by the Coens for the use of his music in the movie. The song itself is a traditional fable about a larger-than-life prisoner. Mudcat.org explains: Lazarus was a worker on a levy camp, in the days when "you worked from can to can't and maybe they paid you and maybe they didn't." One evening at the mess hall he got tired of finding "meat in his greens" (worms in his salad). Then he did something for which [he] must be feeling really pissed off and had to really have some balls. He "walked the table". He stood up on the mess table and stomped everyone's plates with his muddy boots. Knowing he'd face a minimum of a whippiong for his deed, and with revolvers in either hand, he went straight for the pay window, took the money and ran. Our story (the song) begins with the high sherrif telling the deputy to go get "Po' Laz'us". In concert: The five singers of the Fairfield Four used a slightly more lighthearted take on the song to open the concert. Other versions: The Bright Light Quartet's harmonious rendition, also from Lomax's collection

2 | "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (lyrics) by Harry McClintock

Context: Everett, Pete, and Delmar make a break for it during the opening credits. Background: While the cleaned-up version by Burl Ives is more famous, Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock originally penned the song as an off-color riff on a hobo's idea of paradise, a Cockaigne-esque land of plenty where alcohol ran like water. In concert: Emcee John Hartford led a fiddle-based version.

3 | "You Are My Sunshine" (lyrics) by Norman Blake

Context: The official radio campaign song of Governor Menelaus "Pass the Biscuits" Pappy O'Daniel. Background: Adapting it from the Ukrainian folk song "Up There On the Mountain," original singer Jimmie Davis later used the tune as his own campaign song when he ran for governor of Louisiana (on a horse named Sunshine). It's now one of the state's official songs. Other versions: Too many to count, but Wikipedia lists many of them.

4 | "Down to the River to Pray" (lyrics) by Alison Krauss

Context: An argument is interrupted by a white-robed baptismal procession. Background: This traditional hymn was possibly written by slaves back in the 1800s before it wound its way to Appalachia. Choralnet.org goes into more detail. In concert: Alison Krauss performed the song with the backing of a full gospel chorus. Other versions: A peppy version by Laila Biala on piano.

5 | "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" (lyrics) by Dan Tyminski

Context: The popular off-the-cuff single that wins the Soggy Bottom Boys their freedom. Background: The most conventional hit of the album has its roots in a "Farewell Song" recorded by blind Kentucky folk singer Dick Burnett in 1913, though it almost certainly predates him. Dr. Ralph Stanley discussed the song and his attempts to revive it in this 2009 Diane Rehm interview, where he speculates it may be two or three hundred years old. (Fun fact: the accompaniment in the film, Tommy Johnson, was a direct reference to the real-life blues virtuoso of the same name, who likewise claimed to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for musical talent.) There were several variations on this piece throughout the movie, including two different instrumental interpretations. Video of the original singers. In concert: The lyrical version was notably absent, but the late John Hartford performed a haunting wordless solo of his fiddle interpretation, one of his last before cancer rendered him incapable of handling his beloved instrument. Other versions: Again, many, but some of the most notable: Bob Dylan (his first national TV appearance) - Roscoe Holcomb - Jerry Garcia (via the Pizza Tapes) - Ralph Stanley

6 | "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" (lyrics) by Chris Thomas King

Context: Bluesman Tommy plays a melancholy dirge at a pensive campfire. Background: Adapted from the keening original by Skip James, it reflects on the hard times faced by the nation's poor in the depths of the Great Depression. Other versions: Another, more ethereal take on the song by James (bio and lyrics in description).

7 | "Keep On the Sunny Side" (lyrics) by The Whites

Context: The official campaign song of reform candidate Homer Stokes. Background + lyrics

8 | "I'll Fly Away" (lyrics) by

Context: A montage of light-hearted scenes from the middle of the film. Background: Ironically this gospel hymn was adapted from a line in a secular tune musing about jailbreaking from prison life. Other versions: Lots, including Johnny Cash (with a great singalong version from his TV show) and Gillian Welch/David Rawlings. One version by the Kossoy Sisters was used in the movie in place of the soundtrack version; it's included on the reissue.

9 | "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" (lyrics) by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch

Context: A trio of sirens seduces the group by a cold creek. Background: This eerie tune was said to be based on a combination of an old lullaby with the steady cadence of a prison work song (compare with the rhythm of "Po' Lazarus." In concert: The three original singers reprised the song together on stage.

10 | "In the Highways" (lyrics) by the Peasall Sisters

Context: The song performed by the Little Warvey Gals at the Stokes rally. In concert: Reprised by the three sisters.

11 | "I Am Weary, Let Me Rest" (lyrics) by the Cox Family

Context: A brief act at the Stokes rally. Background: Dating back to 1864, the tune was modified somewhat by the Coxes for their in-film cameo. In concert: Introduced with good humor by Hartford. Other versions: Jade Turner live

12 | "O Death" (lyrics) by Dr. Ralph Stanley

Context: The chilling KKK rally scene (similar to the infiltration of the witch's castle in The Wizard of Oz). Background + lyrics In concert: Bluegrass legend Stanley gives a striking solo performance shrouded in shadow. Other versions: Jen Titus

13 | "In the Jailhouse Now" (lyrics) by Tim Blake Nelson

Context: A holdover song done to buy time during the ending concert. Background: A somewhat silly yodeling vaudeville piece with a busy history.

14 | "Indian War Whoop" by John Hartford

Context: The celebratory ditty aired while hauling George Nelson to his execution. Background: An instrumental piece by Hoyt Ming with myriad variations; Old Weird America (a blog about Harry Smith's seminal Anthology of American Folk Music) goes into all the details complete with videos and links. In concert: John Hartford and his fiddle have some fun at Gillian Welch's expense. Other versions: An older recording from Smith's anthology, an exuberant take from Dr. Scantlin's Red Hot Peppers, plus some YouTube demonstration.

15 | "Lonesome Valley" (lyrics) by the Fairfield Four

Context: Echoing the movie's intro, a group of workmen sing an execution song in unison as the boys pray for their lives. Background: The earliest known date for this is David Miller's 1927 record, though it's probably much older. Other versions: A jazzy cover by the "Million Dollar Quartet" -- Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. Another uptempo version by Mississippi John Hurt, plus Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie/Pete Seeger, and Bruce Springsteen.

16 | "Angel Band" (lyrics) by the Stanley Brothers

Context: Bridges the epilogue and end credits. In concert: This uplifting song closed out the concert in a mass singalong featuring all the stage's stars. Other versions: Several, but the most unexpected is likely the Monkees.

Other original music featured in the documentary:

"Wild Bill Jones" - Alison Krauss and Union Station "Blue and Lonesome" - Alison Krauss and Union Station "Green Pastures" - Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch "John Law Burned Down the Liquor Store" - Chris Thomas King and Colin Linden "Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown?" - The Cox Family "Dear Someone" by Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and John Hartford (my favorite) "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll" - Gillian Welch and David Rawlings "Shove That Hog's Foot Further In the Bed" - John Hartford

Want more? The reissued deluxe edition soundtrack contains a second disc with 14 songs from the film never released on the original album.

Thanks for all the music, Warren

gingerbeer — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:49:56 -0800

Warren Hellman, billionaire, financier, and sponsor of the best free music festival around, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, died today in San Francisco. "A rugged iconoclast whose views on life rarely failed to surprise, Hellman was a lifelong Republican who supported labor unions, an investment banker whose greatest joy was playing songs of the working class in a bluegrass band, and a billionaire who wanted to pay more taxes and preferred the company of crooners and horsemen who shared his love of music and cross-country “ride and tie” racing." Part of Golden Gate Park was just renamed Hellman Hollow for him. Hardly Strictly has changed and grown over the years, but I think it's been a Metafilter meetup site pretty much every year, and it's seen a lot of truly excellent free music. This year was a tribute to the incomparable Hazel Dickens, who was there every year before she died. I wish all billionaires spent their money on free music festivals.

I'm Only Going Over Home

Miko — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 07:05:48 -0800

Remembering Bill Monroe, the “father of bluegrass,” on what would have been his 100th birthday. Check out the tributes in visual art, too. "But a fraction" of the songs Bill Monroe wrote and arranged. Here's Bill Monroe singing a haunting rendition of Wayfaring Stranger. And here's one of my favorites of his, sung by Allison Kraus.

Galax, VA. Old Fiddler's Convention since 1935.

priested — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:13:38 -0800

Nothing to do this coming week? Head over to Galax, Virginia to catch the Old Fiddler's Convention, a mountain music festival & competition that has been ongoing since 1935. Galax, located on Virigina's Crooked Road is in the heart of Virginia's musical heritage trail, a well mapped excursion that takes you way off the interstate's beaten path to experience old time Appalachian music in some of the most beautiful settings in the Blue Ridge Mountains. If you take the trail outside Galax, make sure you stop at the Floyd Country Store for daily (and nightly) jams inside the store, much like the Fiddler's convention's campgrounds' awesome impromptu jams

East meets... South?

BuddhaInABucket — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:55:05 -0800

You've never heard bluegrass quite like this! Featuring Red Chamber and the Jaybirds.

Sleepy Man Banjoy Boys: not at all like the Jonas Brothers

filthy light thief — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:22:16 -0800

Let me introduce you to the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, fans of the Earl Scruggs style and sound. Don't be fooled by their name or their youth, as they have two speeds: fast and faster. Their name comes from their youngest member, Jonny Mizzone, who often played the banjo on a bed. Though their website is thin at the moment, they have more clips in their YouTube collection.

"A two-piece band called Gillian Welch" releases its first new album since 2003

liketitanic — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:53:25 -0800

Singer-songwriter Gillian Welch has released her first new album in eight years, The Harrow and the Harvest. Welch, who writes, plays, and tours with her partner David Rawlings, combines multiple influences that extend well beyond the borders of Appalachian folk, bluegrass, and Americana, to what Alec Wilkinson has called "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms" in his 2004 New Yorker profile. Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles and educated at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA, she has collaborated with David Rawlings since 1992, writing and playing with his band, the Dave Rawlings Machine, on a 2009 release. (Though they have always been billed under one name, never as a duo, their process is deeply collaborative.) (Previously).

Country Classics

crunchland — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 09:31:00 -0800

Joe Bussard has a podcast called "Country Classics," (mostly old bluegrass, but there's also a couple featuring old-time jazz) ... also available over the air on WREK (91.1 Atlanta, GA) every Friday afternoon. Sponsored by Dust-to-Digital, a publisher of obscure and old recordings. Here's a sample of some of what they offer. (Joe, previously: 1, 2, 3)

Jubilation Day

hippybear — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:56:03 -0800

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers prove that music videos are truly for the birds.

1 electric mandolin + 1 Fender amp = Burn

Ardiril — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:27:57 -0800

Donna Stoneman - Mandolin Shredder . Winning Arthur Godfrey with The Bluegrass Champs (2:10), "Under The Double Eagle", and The Stoneman Family - "Big Ball In Monterrey".

Where's the musical saw?

rageagainsttherobots — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:17:58 -0800

The musical saw is an instrument with close to a 300 year history. The musical saw sprung out of the Appalachian hills with mountain music, and then it found a home in Vaudeville. Despite its spotty documentation, the musical saw lives on.

High on a Mountain, Wind Blowing Free

MonkeyToes — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:56:59 -0800

Ola Belle Reed came down from the mountains and carried that old-timey sound with her. Her voice and her banjo took her from family sing-alongs to rubbing elbows with some of America's best-known country and bluegrass musicians. Radio stations played her work, and with a little help from friends like Marty Stuart and Del McCoury, her musical legacy lives. Or, as Reed herself sang, "I've worked for the rich, I've lived with the poor; Lord, I've seen many a heartache, there'll be many more; I've lived, loved and sorrowed, been to success's door; I've endured, I've endured." Born in rural Lansing, N.C. in 1916, Ola Belle Campbell was one of 13 children born to a family that loved music. By the time she was a teenager, she was playing guitar and clawhammer banjo and, together with her brother, Alex, started performing as the North Carolina Ridge Runners. The Depression forced the family down from the mountains, and the Campbells migrated to Maryland, near the Mason-Dixon line, looking for work. Ola Belle kept playing and singing. In 1949, she married; together with her new husband, country singer Bud Reed, they founded New River Ranch near Rising Sun, Md., where they performed as The New River Boys. A few years later, they crossed the border into Pennsylvania and opened another performance space--Sunset Park, in Oxford, Pa. That site hosted some of country music's finest performers, including Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, as well as up-and-coming bluegrass players like Del McCoury. Ola Belle continued to perform on that stage for 26 years, even as other artists discovered her work and covered it themselves. Reed's musical accomplishments attracted the attention of historians, too. She recorded what would become "My Epitaph" for Smithsonian Folkways, and the liner notes (.pdf), based on an interview, are her commentary on mountain life, death and song. Of her mountain upbringing and how it shaped her: "There's one point I'd specifically like to make and want to make is that I don't believe there would be any way in the world that you could possibly describe it. There could be no fun made of it, because it was alive with the earth, your elements as the old people called it, the birds, the animals, the bees. You knew every season; you could tell when a storm was coming. You could always tell this because you could see the leaves turning in the summertime, particularly. In the winter you could tell when it was going to snow because of the color at the base of the trees. So many things you just grew up with that you get away from as you go through life if you're not careful." The liner notes also address her wish that the music be remembered. As she told her interviewer, "Well, I have lots of material, and I sincerely hope before I leave this world that I can have a building, not to show people what we have collected, but a place to put it." Her paper legacy found a place at the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where the Ola Belle Reed Collection can be consulted. She died on August 16, 2002, a day before what would have been her 86th birthday. Her signature song, "High on a Mountain", has been covered by Marty Stuart (skip to 1:30), Tim O'Brien, the Del McCoury Band, and, most recently, by Marideth Sisco (on the "Winter's Bone" soundtrack).

The Cleverlys

finite — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:28:14 -0800

Bluegrass covers of popular songs, by The Cleverlys: The Bangles' Walk Like an Egyptian, Beyoncé's Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), Shaggy's Angel, The Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling, Yes' Owner of a Lonely Heart, Fergie's Clumsy, Stevie Wonder's Superstition, Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl

Fiddling On The Edge Of The Grave

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:52:49 -0800

Progressive bluegrass takes the original “melting pot of American music” and infuses it with strains of punk and rock, often giving rise to performances of intense musicianship. Some of the tunes might be familiar to you, such as Crooked Still’s cover of Johnny Cash’s Ain’t No Grave, featured on the True Blood soundtrack, or their aching, gender-twisting rendition of Robert Johnson’s Come On In My Kitchen. Some might be entirely new, such as Seven Story Mountain, by Railroad Earth, or Codeine, from Trampled By Turtles. Live Tramped By Turtles and Railroad Earth shows are updated regularly at the Internet Archive.

"I just don't know what the limit is!" - Earl Scruggs

Kattullus — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 07:39:43 -0800

In 1969 banjo virtuoso and bluegrass innovator Earl Scruggs parted ways with his longtime musical partner Lester Flatt and the band they led to great popularity and acclaim, The Foggy Mountain Boys. Scruggs wanted to push his musical gifts as far as they could go. In 1970 he was the subject of a PBS documentary where he played with artists such as Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, The Morris Brothers, The Byrds, Charlie Daniels, Bill Monroe, Joan Baez, various friends and family members, and even records a track accompanying a Moog. You can watch the whole thing online: Earl Scruggs, His Family and Friends.