- Joined
- Mar 15, 2000
- Messages
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I agree that XM radio would be a great place to start. Satellite TV also offers genre specific music channels (just music, no video), and some have bluegrass offerings. There's so much bluegrass out there that you might want to spend some time listening before you plunk down your hard earned $$$. YouTube also offers a lot of clips of live music if you know who to search for.
Realize that bluegrass has its roots in a lot of traditional music and you can expand the range of listening pleasure even further. Dock Boggs, Clarence Ashley, and a host of other names can give you a sense of the traditional Appalachian music from which bluegrass sprang.
Here's just some names that come to mind in terms of different instruments.
Guitar: My favorites are Doc Watson and Norman Blake as far as flat-picking, though both delve heavily into "traditional" or "roots" music. There are a lot of up-and-coming young guys who can flat-pick with the best of them. Some of them are insanely fast. A lot of people like Tony Rice. I prefer his early stuff back before his voice went out on him.
Banjo: Earl Scruggs in his prime. Right now, my favorite bluegrass banjo player is Charlie Cushman. He doesn't miss a lick, and he can play just about anything by ear, it seems. Bela Fleck is a phenomenon here that transcends bluegrass, but he can play bluegrass with the best of them.
Fiddle: IMO Stuart Duncan is the best fiddler in the game, bar none . Nobody else has his ear and sense of nuance. He plays with his entire being. He does studio work for just about everybody, but he plays regularly with Nashville Bluegrass Band. Jason Carter (who plays for Del) is a good fiddler as well. Vassar Clements was good, but he also did some stuff that bled over into jazz.
Mandolin: Ricky Skaggs plays a mean mandolin. Sam Bush is up there too, as is Ronnie McCoury. Chris Thile (formerly of Nickel Creek) is no slouch. And of course, don't forget the man himself: Bill Monroe.
Vocals: Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley, Allison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Cherry Holmes band. All different. All pure in their own ways.
Realize that bluegrass has its roots in a lot of traditional music and you can expand the range of listening pleasure even further. Dock Boggs, Clarence Ashley, and a host of other names can give you a sense of the traditional Appalachian music from which bluegrass sprang.
Here's just some names that come to mind in terms of different instruments.
Guitar: My favorites are Doc Watson and Norman Blake as far as flat-picking, though both delve heavily into "traditional" or "roots" music. There are a lot of up-and-coming young guys who can flat-pick with the best of them. Some of them are insanely fast. A lot of people like Tony Rice. I prefer his early stuff back before his voice went out on him.
Banjo: Earl Scruggs in his prime. Right now, my favorite bluegrass banjo player is Charlie Cushman. He doesn't miss a lick, and he can play just about anything by ear, it seems. Bela Fleck is a phenomenon here that transcends bluegrass, but he can play bluegrass with the best of them.
Fiddle: IMO Stuart Duncan is the best fiddler in the game, bar none . Nobody else has his ear and sense of nuance. He plays with his entire being. He does studio work for just about everybody, but he plays regularly with Nashville Bluegrass Band. Jason Carter (who plays for Del) is a good fiddler as well. Vassar Clements was good, but he also did some stuff that bled over into jazz.
Mandolin: Ricky Skaggs plays a mean mandolin. Sam Bush is up there too, as is Ronnie McCoury. Chris Thile (formerly of Nickel Creek) is no slouch. And of course, don't forget the man himself: Bill Monroe.
Vocals: Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley, Allison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Cherry Holmes band. All different. All pure in their own ways.
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