Bluegrass revival in the USA?

Subject: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: smallpiper
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 06:35 AM

Whilst enjoying my evening meal last night I had the dreaded TV on blaring (god that maks me sound old) out pop music. When me old ears pricked up 'cos the anouncer introduced some female (who's name I didn't catch) as being the leader in the current Bluegrass Revival in the states. Don't get me wrong she was very good and rather more country than bluegrass I thought but then what do I know about bluegrass. I digress... the point is....... the point is....the point is did anyone else know about this revival or has it just been sprung on us?
Did Bluegrass ever go away?
Or is it more media hype....in this case one that could be quite good?

I dunno any thoughts?
John

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 06:41 AM

FYI - I think you were watching TOTP2 and it was Alison Krauss and Union Station.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: smallpiper
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 06:49 AM

I was and I liked her and them.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 06:52 AM

I think Steve Wrights reasoning for saying that she is a leader of the Bluegrass revival hangs mainly on the fact that she and her band recorded music for "Oh Brother Where Art Thou".

Not that I know much more about it than you....

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 07:01 AM

It most likely would have been Allison Krauss, although I'm not sure that she is leading the Bluegrass Revival.

The Coen Brothers movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?" started ths current revival. While Bluegrass never did go away, it had a small group of devout followers. The O Brother soundtrack surprised everyone by selling over 4 million copies, I believe that its's Down From The Mountain concert tour is still going. I was at the Toronto show last year and was surprised to see many teenaged and early twenties fans in attendance, knowing all the songs, cheering as   enthusiastically as I would have at a Stones concert at their age.

This will pass, soon you will be able to buy as many copies as you would like of the soundtrack and it's various spinoffs such as O' Sister, The Women of Bluegrass in used CD stores pretty soon. Used banjos, mandolins, fiddles will be plentiful on eBay. But if only 20% of the people who bought the CD decide that they want to hear more of Ralph Stanley or Emmylou Harris or the Carters etc., there will be plenty of life long converts to Bluegrass & Old Time music.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Banjer
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 07:42 AM

Revival? NO.. A bunch of yuppies getting on the band wagon,? more than likely. For me Bluegrass and old time have always been a part of my life and those around me.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 07:59 AM

Banjer,

All I'm saying is that some will stay on the bandwagon for life. I think it was NGDB's Will The Circle Be Unbroken that hooked me in the late seventies. I had been a Rock and Blues guy prior to that. It was the disco era and I sure couldnt' listen to what the Music industry was shoving down my throat. I think that there are soem similarities today. There must be some young people who have better ears and taste than to listen to the crap being fed to them by the industry. They may not have had the benefit of growing up with Bluegrass, but if they hear it, like it, buy it, learn to play it etc. then the current revival has strengthened Bluegrass.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: smallpiper
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 10:59 AM

Amen to that Brother

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Bobert
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 11:00 AM

I gotta agree with Banjer on this one. Living in the Mid Atlantic region of the US all of my life and most within a hour or two of Washington, D.C., I'm here to say the Blue Grass music has always been healthy. And I'm not ven a Blue Grass fan, but that's maybe because, as a musican, I've just been around way too much of it in my life.

I did find it interesting and funny that the "Oh, Brother" CD was so hot, as if this stuff was new. Try Randy Scaggs, Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, et alout fir size. They been playing this kind of mountain music forever.

Bobert

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 11:43 AM

At about 1 in the morning I saw a complete concert on PBS by James King. So......I dunno...is that part of a revival? Will ANYONE actually go out and buy an album from one of the most evocative singers in bluegrass today, just from that show? Hope so.

By the way, King is in his mid forties , decidely NOT sexy (unless you like fat bald little guys, and has been touring for twenty five years. He played Ontario a couple of times recently, and I can tell you that the money he and his band earned was pathetic for someone of his stature. A mere fraction of what a "down from the mountain" act would get.

But my god he's real. What a TV program!

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: artbrooks
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 11:57 AM

I visualize trying to do CPR on somebody who is alive, kickin' and playin'. Bluegrass is very alive and (as far as I know) has never left the American Southwest.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 12:25 PM

Bobert,

There was no need for a revival in your part of the world, it has always been and probably always will be strong. But in other parts of the world, Southern Ontario as an example, Bluegrass has a small but devout following. The Stanleys, Monroe et al are familiar to we few Bluegrass nerds in Ontario, but we have no Bluegrass or Old Time on mainstream radio. The only time I have heard Bluegrass on the radio is on Rick's radio show, Acoustic Workshop.

I know that Bluegrass isn't for everyone, that people in your area have heard enough of it to make an educated decision, but people in this area and a lot of other parts of the world have had very little exposure to it.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: BTMP
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 12:40 PM

I have been playing Bluegrass since the early 60s when I was a teenager. I liken the 'Brother Where Art Thou' craze to the 'Bonny & Clyde' craze of 1966 when Foggy Mt Breakdown could be heard as B&C raced away from a heist. Hey, Bluegrass has been around for quite a while and always will be, I try to tell people. But they just want to hear 'Man of Constant Sorrow' ...   It's a great song, but there are a lot of other great Bluegrass songs!

I think the person who should be thanked for 'reviving' Bluegrass is Ricky Skaggs. He gave up a lucrative country career and returned to what he loved to do, and many others have followed his lead.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 01:17 PM

I wonder how many people, inspired by "Oh, Brother"'s success and Ralph Stanley's Grammy have gone out and bought a Ralph Stanley CD only to have taken it home, played it once or twice, and never listened to it again?

Real bluegrass, as with real Irish music or real blues, is an acquired taste. It has to be listened to. I don't think most people are willing to work that hard. There are enough fans and pickers to keep the music healthy, but not enough to make it massively popular.

Cross-over acts like Alison Kraus, Marty Stuart and Vince Gill, who are massively popular, are something else altogether. They may incorporate bluegrass elements into their music, but it's not bluegrass. That's not to say it's bad. It's just a hybrid.

Bruce

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: wilco
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 01:38 PM

The problem with bluegrass, for young people, is not the style of music, but the fact that people like their grandparents play it. It is definitely not "cool" to be interested in a style of music that grandpa plays. Now, it's a different matter entirely if the performers are young and attractive. If a few more young, sexy performers play bluegrass, it will keep on chugging along. Us old geezers forget the "hormone factor!!"
    Last summer, I was practicing some old songs in the downstairs playroom, when I noticed several of my son's 17 year old friends standing there. They said (in an accusatory tone), "Where did YOU learn that song?!!!!" (Like I'd done somthing wrong!!) I think it was "In the Pines," which I think they said Dave Matthews band recorded on a hit CD. They also couldn't believe that I knew Jimmie Rogers tunes like "In the Jailhouse Now," "Waiting for a train," etc. they went nuts when i did the Delmore Brothers "Blues stay away from me."
Two of the boys could play guitar, so I took the fiddle and banjo, and did thinks like "Black Eyed Susie," Fly Around My pretty Little Miss," etc.
    I go to about 20 bluegrass festivals each season, and its been nice to see that the kids are gradually out-numbering us geezers. It is really neat to see these old-timers staying up all night playing, wearing these kids out, showing them runs and breaks, etc.
    Yeeeeehawwwwwww!!!!!

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 01:40 PM

As Bruce Phillips has said "The past didn't go anywhere." and neither did bluegrass. Around my part of the world, eastern Iowa, it's been healthy right along. I think a local public radio station still plays it on the air. Several of us around here used to go up there and play live broadcasts but I don't think they have those anymore.

There are several local festivals nearby each year and quite a few full-time professional and professional-level players.

I think the perception that bluegrass gains or looses popularity is based on whether it's on television or pop country radio. Those aren't really very good yardsticks for measuring the popularity of bluegrass. I think you'll find that the popularity of bluegrass has increased pretty steadily since it's beginning. It's never really been mainstream and has always taken a back seat to commercial country, pop, rock, etc.

It's always nice to see a wider audience introduced to the music and if Steve's projections hold it may get a little boost from the current "Oh Brother" activity.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: HonkytonkSue
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 03:17 PM

As with most other folks on this thread, I have been playing bluegrass for over 25 years. I was a founder of the bluegrass club in Vancouver BC, and over the years all the biggies have performed for us; Bill, Ralph, David Grisman, Hot Rize, The Kentucky Colonels, James King, Allison Krause, Laurie Lewis .... and many, many more.

Up here in Canada bluegrass is definitely not a mainstream thing. There has always been a small group of dedicated players and I have seen the membership of our club rise and fall over the years. I do think that O Brother has had a big effect on the popularity of bluegrass. I have been teaching beginning workshops (Slow Pitch Jams) for about 8 years. In the last year there has been a marked increase in the number of young people coming out to our jams and getting involved in our club. I experienced the same thing mentioned by wilco48, with In The Pines. It's one of the songs included in my instructional materials and the younger people went crazy when they heard me playing it.

My band played at a local ski lodge (not a bluegrass audience!) last year to a wild reception. We were invited back because we played so many songs from O Brother. We also played at a local mega-theatre on the opening night of the movie; the crowd loved it.

I also think the revival is partly due to the large number of yuppies who are seeking meaningful activities other than golf, cruising and other such retirement pastimes. I teach at the BC Bluegrass Workshop every August. It's a wonderful week-long camp on a beautiful Shuswap Lake with top bluegrass stars from all over North America as instructors. The two sessions always fill up quickly every year. Many of the students are middle aged people who spend their vacations travelling to music camps and festivals. They have expensive instruments and are very serious about learning music. It's very gratifying to see classes that span a wide range of ages learning together.

I think what excites people about bluegrass is the participation. That's what people tell me about the Slow Pitch Jam. At the BC Bluegrass Workshop I usually have around 80 people in the nightly jam!
Mostly beginners! I say that looks good for bluegrass in the future.
www.rhythmroundup.com/slowpitch

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 10:58 AM

Rick, right on !!

I found James King (if we are talking about the same fellow?) to be the best part of that OH BROTHER film. One o' these days I'll get off my butt and order a CD of his.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 11:24 AM

Beedubyaelll said:

"Real bluegrass, as with real Irish music or real blues, is an acquired taste. It has to be listened
to. I don't think most people are willing to work that hard. There are enough fans and pickers to
keep the music healthy, but not enough to make it massively popular."

ABSOLUTELY! and not only is what you say, 100% true, but you manage to say it without that bit of sarcasm that always seems to crop up in my posts about the music I'm fanatic about.

Yeah, Art, James is definitely real. He's also perhaps a bit TOO real to lead the next "Pop" bluegrass revival, although he sure has the talent and sincerity. He's a pretty "plain-spoken" (take that how you will) rural guy.

Steve.

There are several bluegrass concerts every year in the burbs of Toronto. They often take place in legions and road houses. They are SOOO far away from the "Down from the Mountain" kind of hype, that you really have to be part of "the network" to know they're happening. I've seen The Country Gentlemen, Doyle Lawson, James King, Third Tyme Out, Rarely Hurd, and Dan Yashinsky and even Scot Vestal. Steve Pritchard plays a LOT of Bluegrass on Radio Boogie every Thursday night. It's been there since the TBA (Toronto Bluegrass Association) was formed forty years ago, but it's a tad underground.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 12:42 PM

Hey, Sue and Bob,

You are doing something really important! Yes there is a "revival" taking place right now. It's because people are so sick of the commerialization of the music industry, disposable spending is down, and people like doing stuff in their own homes such as playing music.

The conditions are the same as when the States lived through the dark ages of the McCarthy era.

We did something like "Slow Pitch Jam" in November of 1957 which spawned the Old Town School of Folk Music. Then, I lead an ensemble class with various folk instruments and the School was built around that teaching idea.
The analogy to sandlot baseball is spot on.

I've admired what you folks are doing and if there is any revival of bluegrass, it will be because of what you are doing. People can participate at various levels and congratulations for making that available to everyone.

It might be remembered that bluegrass music is a part of a tradition called American folk music. When Guy Carawan, Jack Elliott and I rambled through the South in 1954 we played on some radio stations as the Dusty Road Boys. We stopped by WWVA in Wheeling (I think it was) and met Hugh Cherry there who said "Have you boys heard bluegrass music?" Well, we had heard Pete Seeger play something he had learned from Earl Scruggs but we were unprepared to hear there what we did which bowled us over. It was a young group of boys in their twenties called the Stanley Brothers with a wild fiddler named Ralph Mayo singing what Alan Lomax called eventually "folk music with overdrive".

I believe that the next folk music revival will start in the living rooms. For this reason, I am starting a beginning folk music class in my living room in February to teach people to play various instruments and sing together accessible folk songs. I'm going back to 1957, but it's going to happen again in 2003. Bluegrass is a strong part of it all.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 18 Jan 03 - 12:48 PM

Will you have one of those 'oildrum' basses (like in the famous picture) Frank?

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 11:33 AM

Hi Rick,

I'm afraid you lost me on that one. Which oildrum bass are we talking about? And please, what famous picture? If it was famous, I doubt I had much to do with it.

Cordially,

Frank

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 12:20 PM

Hey Rick,

Could you PM me the next time you hear any of those bands playing the Toronto area? Does the TBA have a Website?

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 12:37 PM

Sure Steve. Try to do a Google search on "Ontario Bluegrass" (they probably changed their name a couple of times since then. Also look out "COOT". He's my friend Tom Mcreight, and he know EVERYTHING about Ontario Bluegrass. He is able to get the most obscure albums very quickly, cuz he knows ALL the performers.

Frank. It was a picture that I've seen so many times I assumed you would be familiar with it. It was (I believe) from the article in Sing Out about the "Old Town School of Folk music". It showed you in front of a group of music students, keeping time with a one string (and apparently well-made) bass. Ring any bells?

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 12:42 PM

COOT

There ya go Steve. You are now officially on the BLUEGRASS INSIDE! Say hello to Coot for me (I played in his band the "Bluegrass Revival" about a hundred years ago)

The folks you'll meet through COOT have loved the music LONG before Alison Krause came along. In other words there are a LOT of old farts!!

Rick

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 01:34 PM

Thanks Rick, I searched on Toronto Bluegrass and came up empty. Ontario Bluegrass was very helpful, I'll subscribe to some of the Canadian Bluegrass mags that they are showing. I went to to the COOT site. Funny, he's in Udora, which is a tiny little hamlet. I used to work with a guy who was a very, very good banjo picker. I'm sure they'll know each other.

My Uncles Vinny & Don are up from New York, we're off to the Pineridge Bluegrass Society jam in Oshawa. We'll be jamming at my house later, after five if you and Heather would like to come out. Sue will be here, it should be fun (if we're not all played out, been going pretty strong the last few nights).

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 02:08 PM

thru WAMU.org you can access many shows, including http://www.bluegrasscountry.org/ for 24 hr a day Bluegrass programming.

It is a bit much for me, though I like some occasional Bluegrass, but there is overwhelming demand here. This program was started when the station tried to reclaim some of the 'live' radio time for other programming and was inundated with complaints.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 04:46 PM

It's funny Rick. Don't remember it. If it was a Sing Out! article it might have been over twenty-five years ago I think.

Frank

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 05:20 PM

I seem to remember the article and the photo. I think it was in the very early 1960s. The bass was probably a thirty or thirty-five gal. metal drum built onto a stand with a fixed neck running up one side and a single string from the top (inverted bottom) of the metal barrel to the top of the neck. As I recall, the neck was constructed so that the elevation of the string over what would be the fingerboard approximated that of a string bass. I think the frame and neck were all made of 2x4 framing lumber. If memory serves, they didn't really sound as good as a galvanized wash tub and broom handle but they definately looked much better.

The OTSFM used to offer these basses for sale in the shop. (Or maybe it was just plans or kits.) I no longer remember who made them. I don't have that issue of Sing Out! any more but someone on their staff may be able to look it up for us.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 06:01 PM

25 years!!??

Ha ha Frank, I think we're talkin' FORTY YEARS! Scary isn't it? Brother Mark has nailed it. It always amazes me that I have virtually a photographic mind about stuff that I was (or am) interested in, but am practically useless with anything else.

Anyway, you were leading that class and seemed to be having a good time.

Cheers

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: moineau nordique
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 09:42 PM

The station, on which you saw James King, was WNED, PBS station out of Buffalo, and is called Jubilee. On Star Choice Satellite, it airs Friday nights at 12:30am, right after Austin City Limits. It's filmed by KET (Kentucky Educational Television), which films several festivals in Kentucky and Tennessee, mostly bluegrass. Since the first part of December, we've taped Dry Branch Fire Squad, Lonesome River Band, Mountain Heart, Rhonda Vincent and Rage, James King Band, Dave Parmley and Continental Divide. Inbetween songs/tunes, they interview the group leader.

In my little corner of Northern Ontario, bluegrass is very much alive and mainstream, in that most of the people in town have a real appreciation for bluegrass music. There's usually a big jam every weekend and at least one smaller jam during the week. We always have a few guitars, mandolins, doghouse basses, fiddles, and banjos. At our jams, you will hear a lot of traditional bluegrass, old country, some Lightfoot, some Tyson, French Canadian and Appalachian fiddle tunes, and even some Stompin' Tom Connors. There are three bluegrass bands in our little town of 6,000. Four hours away in River Valley, there is a huge bluegrass jamboree, the first week of August, and another has been added the week before Labour Day, starting this year.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: John Hardly
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 10:55 PM

King not sexy?! damn, there's no hope for me neither then!

Actually, I think that there have always been those sparks in the mainstream (like, as S. Latimer said, NGDB, or Pure Prairie league) that have kept interest alive in a public that was otherwise likely to get disconnected. Most of these sparks aren't exactly "pure" but they kept the interest alive.

And, of course, there have always been "the faithful" -- especially regionally.

Alison Krauss and NPR and PBS however are symptomatic of a new revival (IMHO). Music and culture have never been so fractured. NPR and PBS were there to take advantage of what would, under normal trends, be a market too small for the "industry".

Now, with the "industry" suffering for what used to be their undisputed, uncontested share........suddenly "Americana" shows on the cultural seismograph.

Technology, however, may (ironically) be the biggest single shot in the arm of this "backwards" music. It is the internet, and cheaper means of mass marketing that have made this music so much more accessible.

While most of pop music is a spectator sport, bluegrass is participatory. Never have the festivals been so well attended (nor so many of them) and bluegrass camps, Homespun Tapes........jeez, the genre's ubiquitous! When I was young there was exactly no way for me to learn how to play the music that interested me (shy of hovering over a 33.3RPM LP and bouncing the needle 'til I get it right). Now I can click around the internet and within seconds have the tab for the most unbelievable array of tunes.

What a time to be alive!!

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: GUEST,Townes
Date: 19 Jan 03 - 11:32 PM

The first thing you hear on a Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder album is the statement in a deep voice "Country Rocks but Bluegrass Rules" I think that says it all.
I enjoyed the Oh Brother CDs and purchased both. But I would call most of the music Old Timey more so than true Bluegrass.(I stand corrected). Hasn't stopped me leaning then all though. be it Old timey/Bluegrass why care it's all great picking and singing.
Regards
Townes

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 20 Jan 03 - 10:59 AM

Hi Mark,
I did apparently pose with the makeshift bass I guess. It was not something I played very often. I've always preferred the sound of an upright accoustic standard bass because it seems that many of the homemade bass players didn't always get the notes right on. I guess intonation on a non-fretted instrument is always a problem. I'm wrestling with that on my fiddle, these days.

Rick,
I did have a good time with classes and I have forgotten about that. I don't care about teaching privately anymore but classes have always been more fun for me. I like the interaction of musical folks. I think the bass adds so much to the ensemble sound in the hands of a tasteful and simple player, don't you?

Re: Bluegrass. When we talk about a "bluegrass revival" are we talking about the media and it's acceptance? As our Ottawa friends are telling us, bluegrass is already "revived". Where I live, in Georgia, bluegrass is popular and we have the Southeastern Bluegrass Association which is very active. I see bluegrass as an extension of the folk music revival. I know a lot of bluegrassers make the distinction between folk and bluegrass (a semantic thing) but I think it's because they associate "folk music" with a narrow view of the "folk scare" in the Northern cities of the US.

On thing that really bothers me though. I don't see many black people at bluegrass festivals. I feel reasonably sure that if black musicians were to become interested in this form of expression, there would be pickers that would add so much to it.

For example, wonderful players like Taj Mahal can play lovely old time banjo.
i bet he could make a helluva Scruggs style player.

Are there any black musicians in bluegrass today? And if not, why not?

Frank

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 20 Jan 03 - 11:11 AM

Frank,

I have to agree with you about Taj Mahal, he plays Old Time banjo beautifully. Interesting point about blacks in Bluegrass.

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 20 Jan 03 - 11:47 AM

Actually Frank, there ARE (or have been) some black folks in Bluegrass. Now I'm talkin' traditional "strict definition" type bluegrass. Many years ago I played with a black fiddler named Brent Williams who loved Bluegrass. Three other guys come to mind (two brothers and a cousin) who had a bluegrass band. Now they were ALL from the Cape Breton area of Nova Scotia, and the music that most influenced them was American Country. I doubt if they'd ever even HEARD blues until they moved to Toronto.

Bill Monroe, Mac Wiseman and Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper (sort of Bluegrass) toured every year throughout Nova Scotia and were more popular there than everyone but Hank Snow.

Funny thing but I can't remember ever seeing ONE black person at a Bluegrass Festival, either in The States or Canada....and I can't think of ONE Black musician in an American Bluegrass band. Several folks in "old time style" music...but strictly bluegrass? Nope.

M.N. thanks for the info.

John Hardly, I pictured you as tall and thin, with a pencil thin moustache!

Rick

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: smallpiper
Date: 20 Jan 03 - 12:49 PM

I'm pleased I started this thread I've learne dmore than I ever knew about bluegrass! excelent

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: John Hardly
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 09:11 AM

Rick, the wife made me choose -- either the pencil-thin moustache or the comb-over. As I wish to keep my youthful appearance, I shaved the 'stache.

...actually, as further evidence of a "bluegrass" revival here in the States -- most of the guys that participate in my fiddle tune jam are in their twenties (more reason for me to keep my youthful appearance -- they'll quit asking me to gig with 'em if they find out how old I am! -- You know these kids.....playin' the bluegrass music to attract the chicks! An old man like me might represent a drag on their trolling).

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: GUEST,/f
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 10:33 AM

Subject: RE: Bluegrass revival in the USA?
From: Richie
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 11:42 AM

Rick,

The bass player for my group, Bluegrass Messengers, is African-American and we do some black gospel tunes. It's an amateur group made up mostly of students. We will be opening for Doc Watson this Sat. at Guilford Colege's Dana Aud. in Greensboro NC. Doc usually picks with us. Come on out if you're in the area. Doc is almost 80 but he is still an awesome performer!

-Richie