Bluegrass Music

wintermute

wintermute

Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
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Anyone have any recommendations for "gateway" bands or albums? My wife and I have loved the limited amount of this music that we're exposed to since we bought the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack and have a CD of a local band, but, there's very little exposure to this type of music in this neck of the woods.
 
Being one of bluegrass's greatest fans, I think I can help. If you're just getting into bluegrass, you should start out with the standards like Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs (google "Flatt & Scruggs"), Ralph Stanley, The bluegrass stranger( This band is up and coming), Allison Kraus and Union Station, Ricky Scaggs, Bill Monroe, The Osborne Brithers, the list goes on and on. Your choices really are not limited, there's a whole world of bluegrass music out there, sometimes you just need to know where to look, and what to look for. Feel free to PM me for some good suggestions, those are some of the best artists out there, but there are a million small, local bands that are truely awesome, you just never hear about them.
 
One of the best bluegrass albums that I have is Ricky Scaggs and Friends,Singing the Songs of Bill Monroe,on cassette it's called Big Mon,they changed the name when they put it on CD but if you can find the cassette version,it's worth it,John Fogarty does a kick ass version of Blue Moon of Kentucky on the cassette,that they changed for the CD,it's still good but it lost quite a bit.Another favorite is Will the Circle Be Unbroken,it's some religous songs,but still great music and great artists doing them.I've got a couple of CDs from group in N Carolina called The Grass Cats,they're worth a listen.There really isn't much bad bluegrass.I've got Mother Maybelle and the Carter family on my hard drive and CD,they're not for everybody,but I mix them in.
 
wintermute said:
Anyone have any recommendations for "gateway" bands or albums? My wife and I have loved the limited amount of this music that we're exposed to since we bought the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack and have a CD of a local band, but, there's very little exposure to this type of music in this neck of the woods.
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It's not easy to find at Walmart either but what they do have is usually for sale cheap.Check out the compilations like somebody else said,there are some good groups redoing popular rock songs and some of that even comes out real good,theres another group,I thinkit's AC/Dixie or something like that that does the new stuff into bluegrass that sounds good.
 
DaveinNY said:
Well wintermute you are in luck. There is a large bluegrass festival this weekend up in the Catskills. Should be about 3 hours drive for you. It's up in Oak Hill NY and some of the best of the best will be there. Wait till you hear Bill Keith run up and down those banjo strings. http://www.greyfoxbluegrass.com/artists/artists.php
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Nuts! unfortunately I'm not in luck...We were heading up to the Tannersville area this Saturday until my wife forced me to admit that we are spread too thin this summer and need a weekend to plan the long weekends we have coming up.

Beau - it's Hayseed Dixie. funny stuff - i used to have some of their stuff.
 
If you're really adventurous, you can check out Uncle Monk, a bluegrass duo featuring T. Erdelyi, a.k.a. Tamas Erdelyi, a.k.a. Tommy Ramone. :eek::eek:
 
I've been known to pick and grin a little...In fact, I just built a banjo. Starting another one. Mostly guitar, though.

I tend to like the less-traditional stuff; the sort of thing they were calling "Newgrass" a while back. The White brothers, Bela Fleck, Newgrass Revival, those sorts of things.
Just downloaded a great David Bromberg live set from the Del-Fest a few years ago. Bromberg can play anything, but he's a credible 'grass picker.
 
I love Blue Grass music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing like a banjo and a fiddle gittin down together, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! :D
 
smitty0331 said:
Being one of bluegrass's greatest fans, I think I can help. If you're just getting into bluegrass, you should start out with the standards like Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs (google "Flatt & Scruggs"), Ralph Stanley, The bluegrass stranger( This band is up and coming), Allison Kraus and Union Station, Ricky Scaggs, Bill Monroe, The Osborne Brithers, the list goes on and on. Your choices really are not limited, there's a whole world of bluegrass music out there, sometimes you just need to know where to look, and what to look for. Feel free to PM me for some good suggestions, those are some of the best artists out there, but there are a million small, local bands that are truely awesome, you just never hear about them.
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I agree with the Stanley, Flatt & Scruggs recommendations, as well as Monroe. I am not exactly a Bluegrass fan, but I grew up with it; my dad played banjo in a medium-successful band when I was growing up, and I was constantly dragged to festivals and other gigs where they performed. I never developed a real taste for it (over-exposure maybe?), but I have a sort of nostalgic appreciation for the music since it reminds me of my upbringing and my father.
 
A second vote for the great "Circle Be Unbroken" album, especially the first one. The lads from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band secured the cooperation of many of the greats of bluegrass and traditional country music to produce a landmark album.
Doc Watson, Mother Maybell, Vassar Clements, Earl Scruggs...On and on. You'll hear some of the finest picking recorded on this.
 
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