I've been on a huge bluegrass and flatpicked guitar kick lately, teaching myself a lot of fiddle tunes, taking lessons, even went to a local bluegrass jam. So I've been listening to a lot of Bryan Sutton, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, and to an extent guys like Noam Pikelny, Chris Thile, Bela Fleck, and have been heavily into a new guy named Jake Eddy as well. Just figured we could use a thread for this somewhat ILM-neglected genre.
For starters, this has been my enter fall mood song lately:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS4Wj2khD-s
It's beautiful imo. Every fall I have one of these, it's always melancholic, and when I get bored of it I know my SAD has fully set in.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 22:10 (three years ago) link
you into Jerry Douglas?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu0gko-PqeI
― brimstead, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 22:31 (three years ago) link
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FWIW I play mandolin and bouzouki and guitar, in mostly acoustic settings. To an extent, this should be my wheelhouse. There's a lot of Americana and nu-old-tymey in the set lists of the bands I support. I respect man alive's approach. But it is not for me - I suck at memorizing single-note stuff. I play chordally, or chordally with embellishment.
― Extinct Namibian shrub genus: Var. (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 22:54 (three years ago) link
Jerry Douglas is good, although I haven't listened to that much. I'll try to just keep posting things I'm digging lately.
Jake Eddy's rearrangement of Goodbye Liza Jane:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urU6vFU6Ijk
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 1 October 2021 18:28 (three years ago) link
I love this Bryan Sutton duet with Russ Barenberg (that's Russ doing the opening lead, which sounds otherworldly)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzT8TiNMB3I
The name Big Sciota is funny and makes me think of sciatica.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 1 October 2021 18:29 (three years ago) link
Am I gonna get eaten alive if I bring up Billy Strings itt? Really digging him lately and he feels so much more "genuine" (for lack of a better word) than the legions of bluegrass leaning jam inspired bands we've suffered heard from over the last twenty years. Like normally any bluegrass artist that is embraced by the jam scene sends up "DO NOT WANT" warning lights, but Strings has gained a huge following and still seems to keep bluegrass front and center in his sound, while still exploring and pushing the edges with it (as opposed to say, Phish or whoever that just drops in a token "bluegrass" song now and then).
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 1 October 2021 21:42 (three years ago) link
all correct, imo
dude rips
― alpine static, Saturday, 2 October 2021 05:03 (three years ago) link
you can take that to mean he is cool or he's a hell of a player
both are true
― alpine static, Saturday, 2 October 2021 05:04 (three years ago) link
in case you haven't discovered the transatlantic sessions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsD4snTewqA
― that's not my post, Saturday, 2 October 2021 05:22 (three years ago) link
Is there anyone who has a problem with Billy Strings? I thought he was pretty much unfuckwithable
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 3 October 2021 01:58 (three years ago) link
I never heard of the guy, but I cast a gimlet eye on certain newer bluegrass acts until someone I trust gives me the signal so I think I will give this Billy Strings fellow a listen.
― He POLLS So Much About These Zings (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 October 2021 02:09 (three years ago) link
For instance I, like Yanc3y before me, never really liked the Bad Livers that much.
― He POLLS So Much About These Zings (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 October 2021 02:11 (three years ago) link
I don't know those guys really well, but he seems like he's about 5x the player they are.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 3 October 2021 02:23 (three years ago) link
One album I've been enjoying lately is the improbably titled/covered "I've Got a Bulldog" by Bigfoot - which, contrary to what you'd expect, is a very straightforward ensemble old time music record (albeit one with really nice, lively energy) and not a late 90s alt rock record.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mSWFchBocDVg0eeL3TD6L37qL9yZ6E1Fo
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 3 October 2021 02:25 (three years ago) link
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/618Xll3-67L._SS500_.jpg
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 3 October 2021 02:26 (three years ago) link
There’s a group called the Harmolodic String Band recording bluegrassy versions of Ornette Coleman tunes:
https://harmolodicstringband.bandcamp.com/album/the-shape-of-grass-to-come-vol-1
I saw the Bad Livers open for the Butthole Surfers in 1990 or so. In that context they were fine.
I once saw the Ebony Hillbillies playing in Penn Station in NYC and bought one of their CDs. They ruled.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 3 October 2021 03:00 (three years ago) link
haha, I was just talking about the Harmolodic String Band. Actually, I sort of feel like I willed them into retroactive existence, because I was talking to a friend about how something in a Tony Rice solo sounded like Ornette to me, and then I made some kind of pretentious (and probably stretched) connection between bluegrass and Ornette, and then it came to me later that day "The Shape of Grass to Come" - what a great idea. Except it had been done. And btw I really like it, it's really good. I wish there was more of it.
This track works esp well I thinkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DsYCZYPxw0
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 3 October 2021 03:07 (three years ago) link
Chris Thile is playing 10 mins from me. It would probably be a good show, but his persona and his facial expressions really irk me and I don’t know if I can stand watching him for an hour or more.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 4 October 2021 16:16 (three years ago) link
Not so much around here maybe but there are definitely corners of the internet that look askance at pretty much any bluegrass player who is young, successful and getting profiles in the NY Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/arts/music/billy-strings-renewal.html
Thought that was actually a good profile, had no idea his childhood was that rough.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 4 October 2021 19:56 (three years ago) link
Speaking of Ornettegrass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGVIrck0pNI
― dow, Monday, 4 October 2021 22:22 (three years ago) link
Reminds me of something I posted during a Rolling Country discussion of Americana:
I think Americana should mainly be what you make of it, from what you're looking for and what you come across, in any event. As with true cratedigger and trashdiver Harry Smith putting together The Smithsonian Anthology of American Folk Music, or more likely, something like this re Colorado etc.:
Some Saturday nights there were barn dances, way out in Elgin or Sonoita. In barns. Everybody from miles and miles would go, old people, young people, babies, dogs. Guests from dude ranches. All of the women brought things to eat. Fried chicken and potato salad, cakes and pies and punch. The men would go out in bunches and hang around their pickups, drinking. Some women too, my mother always did. High school kids got drunk and threw up, got caught necking. Old ladies danced with each other and children. Everybody danced.Two-step mostly, but some slow dances and jitterbug. Some square dances and Mexican dances like La Varsoviana. In English it's "Put your little foot, put your little foot right there," and you skip and whirl around. They played everything from "Night and Day" to "Detour, There's a Muddy Road Ahead," "Jalisco no te Rajas" to "Do the Hucklebuck." Different bands every night but the same kind of mix.Where did these raging wonderful musicians come from? Pachuco horns and guitar players, big-hatted country guitarists, bebop drummers, piano-players that looked like Fred Astaire. The closest I ever heard anything come close to those little bands was at the Five Spot in the late fifties. Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'." Everybody raving how new and far-out he was. Sounded Tex-Mex to me, like a good Sonoita hoedown.
------Lucia Berlin, "Homing"
― dow, Monday, 4 October 2021 22:31 (three years ago) link
Lucia Berlin is so good. Believe she was married to a jazz musician for a while, can’t remember his name.
― He POLLS So Much About These Zings (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 4 October 2021 22:39 (three years ago) link
who wrote the Billy Strings thing for the NYT? i don't have a subscription.
― alpine static, Tuesday, 5 October 2021 06:19 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfLJvXNeY-M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7FrSTXJPfE
I love this...
― earlnash, Tuesday, 5 October 2021 10:47 (three years ago) link
Awesome
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 5 October 2021 11:51 (three years ago) link
Something about this type of music just fits my life very well rn both for singing and playing. It's soothing and not loud, I can listen to it around the kids with only mild groans at worst, and as far as jamming all I need to bring is an acoustic guitar - no amps or pedals, no spending 20 mins "dialing in tone," no earache after a session, common repertoire of tunes for easy jams with strangers etc.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 5 October 2021 11:53 (three years ago) link
Molly Tuttle is another one I've been listening to a lot lately. Here's here with a banjo player I don't know but who seems awesome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duJa9vMZV2M
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 5 October 2021 12:00 (three years ago) link
Grayson Haver Currin
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 5 October 2021 13:30 (three years ago) link
thx
― alpine static, Tuesday, 5 October 2021 20:32 (three years ago) link
that’s quite a name
― tobo73, Tuesday, 5 October 2021 20:52 (three years ago) link
Spy magazine alumnus, sounds like.
― He POLLS So Much About These Zings (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 October 2021 21:18 (three years ago) link
Pitchfork alumnus (or maybe sometimes current still?) and great writer.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 5 October 2021 21:29 (three years ago) link
yeah, a dude worth reading for sure
― alpine static, Wednesday, 6 October 2021 00:46 (three years ago) link
both for his writing and, generally, the music he's writing about
― alpine static, Wednesday, 6 October 2021 00:47 (three years ago) link
Tony Furtado plays banjo, slide, dobro, etc. He's pretty good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpj-FZY_SeA
― Extinct Namibian shrub genus: Var. (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 9 October 2021 00:58 (three years ago) link
Yeah, he's been around a while; thanks for the reminder.
from my Nashville Scene ballot, re Best Reissues of 2016:
This isn't great, but fun, and gets better as it goes along (they credit New Lost City Ramblers for what they've lifted, and the folks NLCR lifted it from as well)(spoken stuff is is speedy, brief, and all at the beginning of this live-in-the-Stanford-radio-station set: no interviews, station IDs etc) orig posted on the ILX Garcia side projects thread,Jerry Garcia Solo/JGB/Grisman/etc. - S/D Hart Valley Drifters, Folk Time: not trying to sound strictly mountain-y---maybe a little too relaxed at times--but the picking is sharp and vivid, also without trying too hard, as Garcia trades off guitar and banjo with Ken Frankel; David Nelson's rhythm guitar and Robert Hunter's bass keep chugging along, and things get more engaging when Frankel plays fiddle for just about all of the second half (not much dobro that I've noticed, but Norm Van Maastricht gets bonus points for his name). Bluesier on "Sugar Baby" and then, right at the end, Mississippi Sheiks' "Sitting On Top Of The World", cool and bouncing us to another, contiguous world, just down the mountain aways, where Garcia has no prob suggesting Mississippi John Hurt sitting in with the Sheiks. I'd put this track in a Garcia acoustic comp (he's already the star here, but never ever hogging the spotlight, not that there is one).
― dow, Saturday, 9 October 2021 04:31 (three years ago) link
A couple years later, it got included in this!Jerry Garcia, Before The Dead: (Already have a couple inclusions, boot & legit, but 4 remastered CDs for $19.99, so no prob.)The whole thing starts on May 26, 1961, with a hootenanny at Brigid Meier's sixteenth birthday party (she's so excited!) Set is very nice, made distinctive by Garcia's instantly recognizable singing, which, as on most of the rest of the box, doesn't have that high lonesome Dead etc. pitch, but is clear and contemplative and unaffected. Usually with future New Rider David Nelson, pretty often with Robert Hunter, and several guys I really need to look up, he gets more and more into banjo--a bit more than I am, at times---but still got the guitar and those pipes.One blemish: a set of songs of the American People complaining about marriage/wives, carefully selected for polished performances with his own first wife (who sounds pretty good), about a week after their wedding (he calls the exact time). She and the audience chuckle when he mentions this, but it reminds me of a bootlegger who claimed that Jerry sold all their wedding gifts to buy a guitar, and I'm sure he played it well. This already-disenchanted evening's a bummer, man, but at least it's brief.
― dow, Saturday, 9 October 2021 04:38 (three years ago) link
He quickly masters (far as I can tell) lots of old-timey and bluegrass, wheeee!
― dow, Saturday, 9 October 2021 04:56 (three years ago) link
Now I really wanna hear his pre-Dead picking with David Grisman, where's that?!
― dow, Saturday, 9 October 2021 05:00 (three years ago) link
This is interesting - of course it makes sense that my 90s folk fascinations are now in the "been around a while" category. I still think of them as new because they're new relative to Flatt, Scruggs, Bill Monroe etc.
Furtado, yes, but also Brit/Scot peeps like Eliza Carthy, John McCusker, Nic Jones. Plus yr neo folkies like Richard Shindell, Kate Rusby, John Wesley Harding. Some or most of whom are put of the scope of this thread but still dear to me when I approach acoustic music.
― Extinct Namibian shrub genus: Var. (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 10 October 2021 20:08 (three years ago) link
* out of the scope
― Extinct Namibian shrub genus: Var. (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 10 October 2021 20:10 (three years ago) link
I've discovered and become fascinated by this solo clawhammer banjo record put out by, of all things, Vulf records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lor0-CB1ag
It's so outside the range of what Vulf typically releases (not generally a huge fan) that I was kind of baffled. If anything it has more of the vibe of a Fahey record -- what sounds like outdoor recording with the atmospheric noises left in (dog barking, cars), slightly off mic vocals, and a bit of experimentation surrounding an otherwise beautiful and semi-traditional sounding clawhammer performance.
Turns out there is a story behind why it's on Vulfhttps://www.reddit.com/r/Vulfpeck/comments/hw4mhm/question_who_is_rob_stenson_why_did_vulf_records/
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 10 October 2021 20:24 (three years ago) link
Don't know where else to put this, but a friend put this record out (Bandcamp-only) after working on it monastically for I don't even know how many years, and he's very bad at self-promotion. He's virtuoso jazz guitarist but dedicated himself to singer/songwriter-ing and recording over the last decade. It's not like I listen to tons of stuff like this, but I love his playing:
https://loukasound.bandcamp.com/album/testing-your-patience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz0UHAJBtCc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bYrKquLyP8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApSJCkluGLE
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 1 December 2021 20:58 (three years ago) link
sorry to jump over your friend, Jordan, but i'm wondering if anyone here can recommend to me other banjo players that do stuff similar to Rob Stenson in that video above?
― alpine static, Thursday, 2 December 2021 04:08 (three years ago) link
Alpine, a fair amount of Nora Brown's stuff has a similar vibe (some songs have vocals but a lot are instrumental like this one).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHrQZRDHIs
She is some kind of banjo/old-time wunderkind, I think she was like 15 when this came out, is maybe 17 now?
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 2 December 2021 04:20 (three years ago) link
generally speaking, what you are looking for is clawhammer banjo music
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 2 December 2021 04:21 (three years ago) link
Actually this dude who I follow on instagram (who I don't even think records or plays out) does some really nice clawhammer tunes that have that same kind of backwoodsy vibe
https://www.instagram.com/jeff_swann1975/
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 2 December 2021 04:23 (three years ago) link
This 2020 release is pretty good, if you're into early Doc---see link at end:Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton, s/t:
These largely unheard tapes were recorded at Doc Watson’s two earliest concerts, presented in New York City’s Greenwich Village in 1962. Those shows were among the rare appearances Doc’s father-in-law, fiddler Gaither Carlton, made outside of North Carolina. The instrumental pieces, including Gaither’s signature tune “Double File,” include intricate musical interactions developed through years of family music-making. On the songs and ballads, Doc’s instantly recognizable baritone voice is accompanied by his own guitar and Gaither’s fiddle, or by the traditional combination of fiddle and banjo.https://docwatsonandgaithercarlton.bandcamp.com/album/doc-watson-and-gaither-carlton
― dow, Thursday, 2 December 2021 17:48 (three years ago) link
Also 2020, from my Nashville Scene ballot comments---took me a few spins to get into all of this, but worth it:Jake Blount's Spider Tales is in the black Appalachian tradition, title referring to a subset of stories in song and vice-versa, w spiders making their way through all kinds of situations. Although it starts with some fairly humdrum instrumentals, and then begs comparison with many good versions of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"---but, past those first four tracks (which I may warm to, now that I know what's up ahead), "Move Daniel" moves good, with the confluence of his voice and fiddle also striking on "Brown Skin Baby," "The Angels Done Bowed Down, " "Boll Weevil," and the killer finale, "Mad Mamma Blues," a sexy murder ballad, Appalachian swing blues. Instrumentals work better when fiddle-led and fed, with his banjo's percussive support, esp. on "English Chicken," "Rocky Road To Dublin," which is not of black origin I take it, but fits, also "Beyond This Wall," which seems like it might be a modern original or recent trad.-arr. https://jakeblountmusic.bandcamp.com/album/spider-tales
― dow, Thursday, 2 December 2021 17:53 (three years ago) link
Speaking of xpost Appalachian swing, this 2018 set is a lot of fun: Roland White and Friends (lotta youngbloods, incl. from Grasicals), A Tribute To The Kentucky Colonels
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1jIH75WJtL._SL1500_.jpg
― dow, Thursday, 2 December 2021 18:00 (three years ago) link
Anybody heard the latest Norman Blake---? I still need to check it.
― dow, Thursday, 2 December 2021 18:02 (three years ago) link
That Roland White isn't on Bandcamp, but this'un is, good too:I Wasn't Born to Rock 'n Roll (But I Love to Cook)Roland White's 1976 solo album 'I Wasn't Born To Rock 'N Roll', originally issued on the Ridge Runner Records label, is re-mastered from the original tapes and released for the very first time on CD.
Roland White, along with his brother Clarence, made bluegrass and country music history as members of the Kentucky Colonels. Roland also played in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass, and later in Country Gazette and the Nashville Bluegrass Band. Clarence famously played with the Byrds, among many others, until his tragic death in 1973.
This album features Alan Munde, Kenny Wertz, Roger Bush and Dave Ferguson playing traditional tunes, as well as a composition called "Powder Creek" co-written by Roland & Clarence. This was the first appearance of this special tune on an album, a song which Roland now describes as having been composed with his brother on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1963 !
The package includes original liner notes by Gene Parsons (The Byrds), new reflections from Roland, original album artwork, and one unreleased bonus track not included on the original LP.creditsreleased July 3, 2020https://tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/album/i-wasnt-born-to-rock-n-roll-but-i-love-to-cook
― dow, Thursday, 2 December 2021 18:11 (three years ago) link
A beautiful tune from this guy, who is sort of my instagram buddy now
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXHmbvNNiSR/
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 03:06 (three years ago) link
I hadn't heard about Bela Fleck's new album My Bluegrass Heart. Lead single (released in July) features Billy Strings & Chris Thile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCgjhl5g9PM
― Indexed, Monday, 13 December 2021 20:44 (three years ago) link
Huh, weird that I didn't mention the Bela Fleck record in this thread, thought I did - it's very good. Dense with a lot to dig into. I'm actually going to see him with a bunch of the people from the record on Sunday - I'm kind of shocked it hasn't been canceled, but I figure I'm vaccinated, recently boosted, and may also have had the virus a couple weeks ago, so now is as good a time as there's gonna be to see a concert for a while (and it will be my first indoor show in two years).
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 6 January 2022 18:39 (two years ago) link
Also, this dude, who I stan for, just put out a cool little tour EP that's very enjoyable
https://jakeeddycartereddygrahambrewerjohnduncan.bandcamp.com/album/live-on-tour-fall-2021
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 6 January 2022 18:56 (two years ago) link
This has some really good stuff on it, and I love the wholesome cover photo
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/qd4AAOSwcfdbFW1P/s-l1600.jpg
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 24 January 2022 19:14 (two years ago) link
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, January 6, 2022 1:56 PM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
This got featured in bandcamp's best country music Jan 2022
Last November, four young lightning-fingered bluegrass musicians hit the road for a quick tour, picking their way across the Southeast before the Omicron variant of COVID made that kind of thing a lot trickier. This collection compiles highlights from performances in Texas and North Carolina, with a heavy emphasis on traditional bluegrass played as if the band’s collective hair is on fire. The whole band is solid, but when guitarist Jake Eddy gets going, it sounds like someone accidentally hit the fast-forward button—in a good way.
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-country/the-best-country-music-on-bandcamp-january-2022?utm_source=notification
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 27 January 2022 15:23 (two years ago) link
I saw Billy Strings' live thing at the Capitol Theater last week. It was unfortunately just way too loud for me and that diminished my enjoyment a lot, have never heard a louder "acoustic" show. Mandolin was downright ear piercing. It also was extremely jammy and spacey, which isn't entirely my thing, but I don't think I would have minded if not for the loudness, and in fact some of the jams were quite good. Incredible players, all of them, extremely tight and together band even when they went way out there. Billy is a charming presence and a bit of a ham. Overall I like the band and think they are a good force in music right now.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 11 February 2022 16:25 (two years ago) link
I say acoustic in quotes because they have massive pedal boards and use their instruments more like electric instruments about half the time.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 11 February 2022 16:26 (two years ago) link
Someone posted a pretty big cache of Tony Rice live shows to reddit (including Rice/Blake, Superpickers, J.D. Crowe & New South etc.)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GxOds0DpFDKtiQWFSqteioB1Co8z1-jm
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 13 October 2022 03:33 (two years ago) link
incidentally, what would be the easiest way to make all that stuff playable on my phone without having to click one track at a time (specifically thinking for car listening). Is there a way I can keep them online but in a better streaming format?
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 13 October 2022 03:34 (two years ago) link
Lately I’ve been trying to push a little into the jazzier Tony Rice Unit albums, like Backwaters. It still feels a bridge too far into cable menu channel music for me, but his playing on them is incredible.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 27 November 2022 20:52 (two years ago) link
Not sure this is the correct thread for this band. They refer to their own sound as "transcendental twang". But I'm super psyched for this forthcoming release:
https://arborlaborunion.bandcamp.com/album/yonder
― o. nate, Friday, 2 December 2022 18:28 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3c0hrKiPco
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 20 February 2023 18:06 (one year ago) link
There's a new Tommy Emmanuel "Accomplice" album out ("Two") that follows the one he released in 2018. Features duets with a number of talented players including Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, and Yasmin Williams.
https://open.spotify.com/album/17sn081QrEUaQEI3t2oiJb
Here are the videos for the recordings with Billy Strings (doing Doc Watson tunes) & Yasmin Williams, both great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnUG-SgILy8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SSCzfft4Gw
― Indexed, Friday, 12 May 2023 21:13 (one year ago) link
the billy strings record with his dad from last year is so great! i mean, just fantastic. the songwriting is excellent and the arrangements are so tasty and basically catnip for old school bluegrass nerds.
― budo jeru, Thursday, 18 May 2023 17:34 (one year ago) link
My dudehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teA-If9JxMY
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Saturday, 22 July 2023 23:48 (one year ago) link
new Nora Brown EP with Stephanie Coleman is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T67bfkm2Bw
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 3 August 2023 06:59 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjqeQ5cylFk
Love this Dan Crary (of awful album art "Lady's Fancy" fame) performance
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 16 August 2023 04:26 (one year ago) link
That Nora Brown vid is lovely too. She's great.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 16 August 2023 04:27 (one year ago) link
Saw a video of her playing John Cohen's banjo, which was also played by Roscoe Holcomb. She also mentioned a banjo her father made. So it sounds like she's got a deep connection to the old time music world? Not sure what the story is, but she sure is great.
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 16 August 2023 16:25 (one year ago) link
Did not see this coming---given his formative-years impressions of Django and Bob Wills, would expect at least some of it to tend toward swingrass (swine grass?), a la xxxpost Roland White:
Bluegrass, Willie Nelson's 151st album, presents 12 classic Willie Nelson compositions--including "On the Road Again," "Yesterday's Wine," "Still is Still Moving to Me," "Good Hearted Woman" and more--freshly interpreted by Willie and his bluegrass ensemble. For the album, Willie picked 12 personal and fan favorite compositions from across his career to perform anew. All songs on Bluegrass were written by Willie except "Good Hearted Woman" which has music and lyrics written by both Willie and Waylon Jennings. CD Release Date: 9/15/2023Vinyl Release Date: 9/29/2023
― dow, Thursday, 17 August 2023 01:14 (one year ago) link
The first ever thread I discovered ILM through was an awful album art thread that featured this classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh4NDOo3XtE
Things have come full circle as I’ve now discovered it’s a fucking masterwork of flatpicking guitar.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 18 August 2023 19:10 (one year ago) link
I didn't know this guy until a few days ago, but pretty incrediblehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsZ968M5D0Y
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 23 August 2023 17:50 (one year ago) link
Enjoyed this live performance of Alison Brown and Steve Martin's duet from her new album On Banjo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doBcW7Hx9SY
― Indexed, Tuesday, 26 September 2023 18:00 (one year ago) link
Gotta throw out a mention of my buddy Devon, a fantastic young banjo player. Killer baritone voice too. Great guy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZHqcdU_rAs
― ian, Tuesday, 26 September 2023 22:01 (one year ago) link
Everybody needs to listen to Summer Dean
"She's In His Arms But I'm In The Palm Of His Hand"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ_hFtAIw4g
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 26 September 2023 22:12 (one year ago) link
Is her throwback sound better than others who are also singing old school style country? She does it well.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 16:29 (one year ago) link
Veranda are a Mom & Pop operation, with just the right helpers (guests x regulars always tight x fluid): Quebec Francophone originals with French airs further lifting bluegrass and old-timey. Results don't usually make me think "Cajun," but Arcadian refreshment out on the front porch, yeah. They've got a bunch here, but so far I'm totally detained by the latest, Là-bas:https://verandamusic.bandcamp.com/album/l-basOne of their colleagues is banjoist Guy Donis, and given the title of Guy Donis & The Montreal Bluegrass League, I was hoping for more like this, but nope, it's just good strong American-associated tradgrass-folk, with "Deep Ellum Blues" etc. stirring the jar:https://guydonis.bandcamp.com/album/guy-donis-the-montreal-bluegrass-league
― dow, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 17:53 (one year ago) link
More originals with arresting use of trad elements: singer-songwriter-flatpicker Molly Tuttle's aptly titled Crooked Tree, with some twisted plots and relationships flying through grassy tunes played by heavy hitters, also mellower trips like her childhood memories of Daddy taking her to Cali situations involving for instance "dawg music" of Grisman.
Speaking of whom, he is, without showboating, romping all over 2022 reissues of Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard's 1965 debut, Who's That Knocking?---along with
Chubby Wise, arguably the architect of bluegrass fiddling...and Lamar Grier, who played banjo as a member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in the 1960s.
I haven't played the earlier reissue of Rounder Records' 1973 Hazel and Alice yet, but bow bad could it be?https://hazeldickensandalicegerrard.bandcamp.com/album/hazel-alice
And this is real freaking good, from 2018:
set of newly unearthed recordings, Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969, out September 21 on Free Dirt Records. Sourced from Alice's private archive and digitized with help from the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC Chapel Hill, the recordings invite us to witness the creative process of these towering figures—just two voices and a handful of instruments working out arrangements at home. Across 19 tracks the duo sings the classic country of The Carter Family, The Louvin Brothers, and Jimmie Rodgers; contemporary hits of the 1960s penned by Dolly Parton and Merle Haggard; and barn-burning traditional standards that blur the line between old-time and early bluegrass. Sing Me Back Home is a raw, unfiltered listen to Hazel & Alice at the height of their collaborative energy.
― dow, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:27 (one year ago) link
My parents have the 1973 Hazel and Alice and of course it's great. Thanks for these links, I didn't know about all these reissues.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:35 (one year ago) link
As entertainment anyway, don't know that I've taken in any ideas beyond that in his yarns. If so, they went in one eye and out the other.Although I can't help missing Bradbury and even ER Burroughs, most of the new retro Old Mars is Big Red Fun, as concisely described here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mars
― dow, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 22:13 (one year ago) link
Welcome! I covet your parents' album. Also: Alice's Hiss Golden Messenger-produced Follow The Music, from 2014, when she was 85---here with a lot of others I haven't heard yet, incl advance tracks from Sun To Sun, which comes out Oct. 20!https://alicegerrard.bandcamp.com/music
― dow, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 22:24 (one year ago) link
I *have* heard Follow The Music, and dig it. Some more originals w trad elements.
― dow, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 22:26 (one year ago) link
Just dropped. Amazing recordhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbXwZ_PAp_0https://open.spotify.com/album/1GhQW4Cs0dcMELeXF20pYE?si=Ir8TrfEiTq2m6M0r8EwxeQ
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 April 2024 16:04 (eight months ago) link
I think this is my favorite track:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd-Z16tga10
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 01:22 (eight months ago) link