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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both.... wrote Robert Frost back in 1916.
Divergences.
We have had a lot of divergences in bluegrass this year and here is my take on the whole lot, assisted — in part — by Silver Dollar City’s Bluegrass & BBQ Festival (one of the nation’s more comprehensive bluegrass festivals and championship series).
Bluegrass is a recent and unique musical genre (c. 1939 at the earliest), influenced by old-time country, folk, Irish, blues and jazz.
Characterized by masterful playing of guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass and dobro — and noted for close-harmony vocals — bluegrass music is a still-developing artform.
But what constitutes good bluegrass?
Purists would maintain a close affiliation with Bill Monroe, who ostensibly invented and named the genre with the formation of his band in 1939.
But ever since Monroe (and his Bluegrass Boys) stepped up to the mic, evolution and divergence have been the name of the game.
The late ’60s and early ’70s saw the rise of D.C.-based groups Seldom Scene and The Country Gentlemen.
These groups would incorporate songwriting from the English rock scene and cite influences such as Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor and Kris Kistoffersson.
Some critics derided the music as “impure.”
Both bands would go on to produce a smooth, highly melodic sound — tasteful and almost haunted.
Today, the best example of this bluegrass genre is the Virginia-based group Nothin’ Fancy.
Purists in their masterful grasp of harmonies and instrumentals, the boys from Buena Vista, Virginia — led by Mike Andes (Plate 2) — are likely as not to cover songs by Credence Clearwater Revival or Bruce Springsteen.
Andes is a formidable songwriter and I predict a future generation of bluegrass artists will be singing his driving, melodic tunes like How Can I Lose or Your Love Takes The Pain Away.
Tom T. and Dixie Hall continue to exert their influence on the bluegrass scene as songwriters of extraordinary quality.
Country music fans from the ’70s will remember Hall from lilting works such as (Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon Wine. Nobody paints pictures with words like Tom T. Hall and the bluegrass world is lucky to have his contributions.
Really, the future of bluegrass is all in the freedom to experiment, to develop, and to diverge.
Nowhere was that more obvious than at Silver Dollar City last month. And the “state of bluegrass?” Here’s the overview:
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage and The Josh Williams Band cotinue to shine with the clarity and brightness of polished veterans. The Grascals exude a confident, pop-infused stage presence while their instrumental skills remain traditionally strong and consistently vibrant.
Men of the Week, led by 21-year-old C. J. Lewandowski, is a Missouri-based group bent on winning awards.
SPBGMA awarded Lewandowski “entertainer of the year” in the regional awards held at Jefferson City in January while the group got “traditional band of the year.”
Lewandowski’s on-stage presence entertains audiences. Bordering on campiness, he certainly attracts attention with his white suit, matching derby hat and overall theatricality (Plate 3).
Whether the group will continue to develop musically or is just a flash-in-the-pan remains to be seen. Mandolin player Leevon DeCourley, however, has a great picking style and an unpretentious energy that is both traditional and refreshing (Plate 4).
The women of Kansas City’s Hootin’ Annie bring an odd, albeit high-energy, kitsch to their performances.
Veteran “new-old” group Special Consensus shines this season.
Under the guidance of master banjo picker and past-IBMA president Greg Cahill (Plate 5), the Illinois-based group has been something of a “paid-internship” for a number of still-young bluegrass greats, including Josh Williams
To date, Special Consensus is fielding impressive talents, including Ryan Roberts, songwriter and guitar player from Nova Scotia (Plate 5), and Rick Faris (Plate 6). Faris, whose star-power, vocals and mandolin skills are rapidly becoming obvious, is someone I predict will become a top bluegrass headliner in the next few years.
The Spinney Brothers from Nova Scotia have a shining, traditionalist sensibility while Bobby Osborne (Plate 7) proves he still has it — 43 years after the Osborne Brothers’ song Rocky Top hit the country charts.
Joined by a cluster of quality musicians (the Rocky Top Xpress), Osborne makes a good show. Bass player Daryl Mosley has one of the smoothest voices I’ve had the privilege to hear and is regularly teamed on stage with SPBGMA-award-winning dobro player, Tim Graves.
Summertime Road has a lot of gospel-tinged energy in their show while Dailey & Vincent continue to pack houses.
The addition of bass singer Christian Davis — as well as the release of the Cracker-Barrel-sponsored album Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers — prove the “super-group” created by Jamie Dailey and Darren Vincent are first and foremost a quartet who happen to come packing their own instruments rather than a soundtrack.
Meanwhile, a number of groups are working to brave new ground with varying amounts of jazz, rock, hard-driving blues and an increasing amount of punk.
It is considered, by some, to be a west-of-the-Mississippi revolution.
Sacrificing gracious melody and the haunting qualities of the eastern mountains, groups such as The Wilders, The Hillbenders and Big Smith draw inspiration in the urban hillbilly grit of cities like Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri.
Big Smith of Springfield is equal parts back-porch hillbilly string band and 1970’s era Midwestern rock group with a strong nod toward the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.
They are known for their raucous stage shows.
The Wilders of Kansas City have a strong honky tonk punch to their music, a pounding, nearly punk, beat, vocals to match, and songwriting as infused in midwestern grit as is their style.
If musical bookends can exist, then The Wilders’ Betse Ellis (Plate 8) and Nothin’ Fancy’s Chris Sexton (Plate 9) are those bookends.
Both trained in classical violin, Ellis’ style is a modern take on the scratchy, high-speed old-time fiddle tunes of the hills.
Old Ozark mountain fiddling is an important part of our regional heritage but that doesn’t keep it from often sounding as discordant as a strung-out cat.
Sexton, on the other hand, brings an extraordinary sense of gracious melody and innovative brightness, having been compared to fiddle great Vassar Clements.
Topping the heap is The Hillbenders (of Springfield) with a polished honky-tonk style, top-notch musicianship, vocals that are one-part raucous country and two-parts blues, and an on-stage confidence bordering on arrogance.
Without a doubt, The Hillbenders bring a funky, bluesy, urban grit to bluegrass and their inflated, self-indulgent stage presence — led by guitar player Jim Rea — attracts and energizes audiences.
These groups bring expansion and divergence to bluegrass. If this urban-grit-blues style continues to develop, we may end up with an entirely new genre of roots music.
Only time will tell.
Silver Dollar City’s festival also highlighted several outstanding newcomers, including The Boxcars, CountyLine Bluegrass, Lonesome Meadow and The Jed & Harry Clark Band.
The Boxcars are all bluegrass veterans (Adam Steffey, Ron Stewart and John Bowman have had close working ties with Alison Krauss) though the band itself is less than a year old.
This group is one to watch. Their individual talents are well documented but together they bring a brightness that is hard to match.
It’s one thing to impress an audience with musical prowess — it’s quite another to use such prowess to draw an audience in; to create an emotional experience.
The Boxcars create that experience. Alison should be proud.
CountyLine Bluegrass (who won third in the Youth in Bluegrass Championship) is made up of four teenagers with tremendous talent and a quality presence wonderfully lacking in glitzy arrogance.
Fiddler Ramsey Carpenter combines a style as smooth as good Kentucky bourbon and looks to outshine Carrie Underwood (Plate 12).
Lonesome Meadow of Westerville, Ohio (second place winners) brought their game to the competition with solid, gracious harmonies and a musical prowess far beyond their years.
Lonesome Meadow’s Gary Jackson — an already advanced banjo-playing 14 year old — is definitely someone to watch in the future (Plate 13).
Gary is extremely good now. I believe he will be great.
First place winners were the Jed & Harry Clark Band of Searcy, Arkansas (Plate 1).
Reaching beyond the expected, brothers Jed (19) and Harry (15) brought effortless showmanship and superlative instrumental abilities to the stage.
It is rare to see performers this young and yet so unpretentiously capable in the spotlight.
“I want our audiences to be comfortable,” says Jed. “I want them to just be able to sit back and enjoy the music and not worry about us.”
The band currently includes John Meyer (banjo), Cindy Clark (bass and vocals), and Will Rhodes (fiddle), while Jed hits the flat-top guitar in a driving style reminiscent of Josh Williams. Harry apparently took to the mandolin like a duck to water years ago. His playing is crisp, direct and substantive.
Already nearing national level in their quality, it will be exciting to see what these two Arkansas boys — and their accompanying band — will do.
The state of bluegrass in 2010. It’s a good place to be, divergences and all.
— Joshua Heston, editor
June 12-13, 2010
PLATE 2. MIKE ANDES OF NOTHIN’ FANCY. Photo courtesy of Nothin’ Fancy.
KEEP WATCHING THE (BLUEGRASS) OZARKS...
Here in the hills, there are a number of regional groups to keep an eye on:
The Petersen Family (Branson) continues to improve and exude a warm, unpretentious quality that draws in their audience.
The Millers (Springfield) have developed considerably in the past two years with a traditionalist quality and tasteful selections. Coming from a solid background (Joanne Miller’s uncle was renowned songwriter, Johnny Mullins), the group’s increasing maturity is worth noting. Megan Miller’s fiddle playing has a spare, beautiful quality.
Lonesome Hill Bluegrass (Steelville, MO) are made up of the Jacobsons, a family both talented and self-effacing. Nathan Jacobson and sister Natalie are notable on their respective instruments (guitar and mandolin). Keep watching this young family. They are already displaying a good deal of classy greatness.
Highway 32 (Salem, Mo.) is a new group with a lot of potential. Randy Hubbs plays a solid guitar while Angie Haage-Hubbs (usually on bass, sometimes on dobro) has beautiful, unpretentious vocals. The group also includes Robbie Bryant, a solid instrumentalist (formerly with Lindley Creek), as well as Joe Dodson on mandolin.
Meyer Family Bluegrass (Sheldon, Mo.), led in part by John Meyer (also banjo player for The Jed & Harry Clark Band) bring great instrumentals to the stage.
The Farnum Family (Galena, Mo.) have a traditionalist Ozarkian quality to their style and Southern Raised (Crane, Mo.) has proven they can win awards as well as entertain.
— Joshua Heston, editor
June 13, 2010
PLATE 3. C.J. LEWANDOWSKI OF MEN OF THE WEEK. Photo courtesy of Men of the Week.
PLATE 4. LEEVON DECOURLEY OF MEN OF THE WEEK. Photo courtesy of Men of the Week.
PLATE 5. (L to R) RYAN ROBERTS AND GREG CAHILL OF SPECIAL CONSENSUS. Photo courtesy of Special Consensus.
PLATE 6. RICK FARIS OF SPECIAL CONSENSUS. Photo courtesy of Rick Faris.
PLATE 7. BOBBY OSBORNE. Photo courtesy of Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top Xpress.
PLATE 8. BETSE ELLIS OF THE WILDERS. Photo courtesy of The Wilders.
PLATE 9. CHRIS SEXTON OF NOTHIN’ FANCY. Photo courtesy of Chris Sexton.
PLATE 10. JIM REA OF THE HILLBENDERS. Photo courtesy of The Hillbenders.
PLATE 11. ADAM STEFFEY OF THE BOXCARS. Photo courtesy of Adam Steffey and James Phillip Wuest.
PLATE 12. RAMSEY CARPENTER OF COUNTYLINE BLUEGRASS. Photo courtesy of CountyLine Bluegrass.
PLATE 13. GARY JACKSON OF LONESOME MEADOW. Photo courtesy of Lonesome Meadow Bluegrass.