Bluegrass thread!

[songsmith]

I titled the thread so people who don't get bluegrass wouldn't waste their time, sorry if it's kinda generic.

So, here's what's going on in my local bluegrass-centric world:

Mama Corn's been busy working up our setlist for the spring/summer festival season... we're taking a somewhat progressive tack this year, of course we'll still be playing the classic Stanley Bros./Jimmy Martin stuff, but we're also adding some obscure songs by Pink Floyd, The Dead, and others; and some very obscure public domain stuff that's still fun as hell to play and sing along. We've also begun writing as a band, and the results are already impressive... I think you'll like what's up.
It hasn't been officially announced yet, but the Hillbilly Gypsies will be back to our area March 29th, at the Duncansville VFW, and Mama will be opening. It's a little further from town, but the acoustics are great for bluegrass, and there will be no more problems with too many people for fire code. If we have to shut the doors there, it'll be madness!
Also watch for Mama Corn on the Backyard Rocker March 9th, before we start playing the big shows like Smoked Country Jam, Mayhem on the Mountain in WV, and several others.

Mountain City Grass is doing fine, rehearsing often, and getting better and better. Look for us at local venues like the Valley View Amphitheatre, Blue Knob Bluegrass Festival, and others, all summer long.

I saw Sweetwater for the first time last weekend... Sweetwater is the new band fronted by Altoona wunderkind Sav Sankaran. They're instrumentally very tight, vocally sweet, and have a great overall mix of songs. I predict they'll do very well, they're already booked all over. The girl fiddle player's cute enough to make you forget she's a helluva player, too, which can't hurt.

I'm currently looking for a new home for live bluegrass in Altoona or the surrounding area. Alas, the Hitching Post has fallen through as a viable place, for now, many thanks to the staff and audiences there. I'd like to find a place that is easy to find, has a liquor license and maybe some food, an 8X10 area with a receptacle to play in, and a desire for customers who behave themselves and enjoy the music. Our jammers and audience are very loyal, and keep coming back month after month. Help us support local bluegrass music!

Now, what are we listening to?
I'm currently obsessed with a new band from Nashville, the Steeldrivers. They're exactly what I've wanted to sound like for years... a bluegrass band with a blues singer, doing a soulful mix of both styles. I'm blown away, I literally listened to ten seconds of the first song on their website, and said, "That's what I want to sound like." Think Mama Corn, with Johnny McKnight on vocals. Please check this out and thell me what you think. You don't even have to enter the site, just listen to the songs on the entry page:

www.steeldrivers.net

We're also hung up on a band called The Infamous Stringdusters. Fantastic musicians, capable of serious traditional grooves and progressive wizardry alike. Check out their take on the John Mayer song, "3X5."

www.thestringdusters.com

Finally, don't forget Delfest, Memorial Day weekend, in nearby Cumberland, MD. It's hosted by bluegrass legend Del McCoury, and as such, features the best in bluegrass, jam band, and New Acoustic music, like MO, Keller Williams, and Dan Paisley and Southern Grass. There's also a free band contest!


Hey, thanks for paying attention. JP's waaaayy better at this than me, but he's busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, so I thought I'd jot it down. If you'd rather not talk bluegrass and roots music, that's cool. If you do have some thoughts, post away!
------------------------------------------------------------------->JMS

[Fourth River]

Love some good grass.. my band is friends with the King Cotton Rounders in State College.. course, they're almost a little old folk as opposed to bluegrass sometimes.. but none the less awesome...

so do you have samples of your band? (maybe I missed it somewhere in the post)... if ya ever wanna make a trip to pitt, let me know... maybe we could set up a show for you to open... (we've had bluegrass bands open for us before)

if your gonna do some dead.. definately do cumberland blues.. hot buttered rum did it and it's awesome...

incidently, delfest looks awesome.. but unfortunately I have a kid on the way around that time... priorities suck...

[songsmith]

www.myspace.com/mamacorn1

That's our studio demo aimed at club & fest bookers.

www.myspace.com/johnnymusician

That's some cool stuff we recorded at a show, and a work demo for a bluegrass record I'm working/not working on.
We played with The King Cotton boys at the Altoona Folk & Bluegrass show at the Railroaders Museum last year. I had to get to the day job before they came on, but my bandmates liked 'em pretty good!
I'll talk to the Mama crew about The Burgh, we played that area a couple of times last year, a fest in Avella, and the former Union Baptist Church, and did pretty well. We've been asked to play at a place called Mr. Smalls, is that a cool place?---------->JMS

[Fourth River]

smalls is one of the largest stages you can play at in Pittsburgh.. they get all kinds of national acts.. we've played it like 4 times in the past year... I'm not exactly always crazy about the sound of the room (an old Catholic church, it's HUGE) but it's definately a great oppurtunity that you don't want to pass up...

[zman1200]

Every week the sound of blue grass is in air at least in 2 locations within a couple of miles around THE GUITAR WORX and that dosent include the practice sessons . there is a 4day festival in MAY and AUG many bands from across the country attend camping is available . a new open air stage in the middle of the woods will be completed in the spring. THE HARMONY FAIR IS THE PLACE FOR BLUE GRASS

[songsmith]

if your gonna do some dead.. definately do cumberland blues.. hot buttered rum did it and it's awesome...

I got the guys to play me Cumberland blues the other night at rehearsal... started out sounding like a good bluegrass tune, but then, in typical GD style, got too fiddly-iddly and kinda ruined it for me. We still do some Dead stuff, but that one's just not for me. I like my grass mixed with blues or country, as opposed to jazz, but your mileage may vary.


That's awesome that bluegrass is doing so well up there, Zman... that area is a fountain of picking talent in all genres of music, really. Mama Corn really needs to get up there and join in, they have the kind of audiences I like... people really KNOW traditional music.

Incidentally, The Steeldrivers were at #4 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart this week (yes, there's a bluegrass chart... the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack has sold 10 million copies, Alison Krauss goes multi-platinum on every record, Rhonda Vincent has a few gold records... bluegrass is BIG!). If they can attract some high-fallutin' LA talent agency, they'll be a huge crossover, I think. Everything's there, excellent songwriting, down-home arrangements with a bluesy edge, top-notch picking by some Nashville session heavyweights, the obligatory hot fiddle-player, and that freaking amazing lead vocal. They also have a song that's a surprise hit... a Civil War battle story that's told from the viewpoint of an ancient tree that saw the whole battle. It's a brilliant piece of poetry set to a beautiful, quiet melody that sets the scene extremely well. The imagery is just so clear in the lyric... it makes me jealous of the writer.---->JMS

[Bag]

Hey Johnny, is it wrong for me to dislike Del McCoury without even really knowing him? I was a "peacekeeper" (security guard) at Sunrize 2005, and was manning the backstage gate. Our supervisor radioed a bunch of us and said "Mr. McCoury wants 6 peacekeepers to escort him from his dressing room/trailer to the stage." His trailer was maybe 30 yards from the stage, BACKSTAGE, and the only people back there were other musicians. So the 6 of us walk over and have to surround him and walk him to the stage. I remember thinking, "who in the hell does this guy think he is, Mick Jagger? I sure as hell hope he doesn't think I'm gonna take a bullet for him." I'd never even heard of the guy. Is he really THAT big of a deal? The whole thing was just so ridiculous.

[songsmith]

Sounds like he was afraid of the "Gurm Factor."
"Gurm" is Nashville slang for a fan who wants to monopolize a performer and take all his time, usually it's folks who don't realize they're keeping you from doing your job, or when you're finished, from moving on. People around here sometimes call them "superfans." Often, they're really just nice people who REALLY like the artist, and just get carried away when they meet their hero... many times, it's someone who wants to be able to tell his buddies he's "friends" with the star. While we all love the attention, it can be problematic.
Del has the distinction of not only being popular among grassers, who EXPECT to be able to shake hands, but with the jam-band crowd as well, many of whom are high as hell. He's become a major force in the genre, and people probably won't leave him alone.
I probably wouldn't. ------->JMthegurmS

[bassist_25]

Hey Johnny, have you heard that No Depression is going to be out of print very soon? Their last issues is going to be in May. Apparently, many of the indie advertisers in the mag just can't afford to advertise anymore.

[BDR]

Hey Johnny,

You need to come to a bad daZe show sometime and rock the harp during a Static X tune ...

r:>)

[DrumAndDestroy]

Hey Johnny,

You need to come to a bad daZe show sometime and rock the harp during a Static X tune ...

r:>)

yes!