Thursday, February 20, 2014

WLEM AM

Where the sidewalk ends.



Who loves bluegrass?

25 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

Have played in a number of bluegrass bands.

Played with Vassar Clements at a festival once. He was traveling alone to gigs, then gathering up a band in each locale where he played.

I passed the backstage audition.

My favorite bluegrass tune of all time by the master. I like sad songs.

The Alison Krauss song is good too!

I sit in with a bluegrass band at the club in Woodstock on Thursday nights from time to time. Bill Keith, the master of rock and roll banjo plays in that session.

Shouting Thomas said...

I really like that very lean version of the Bill Monroe tune.

For those of you who like an orchestrated version, try this one.

It's even sadder.

Michael Haz said...

Bluegrass is my favorite musical genre, especially 'roots' bluegrass.

Bluegrass is the jazz of country music.

Allison has stopped touring. She has lost her voice - dysphonia - and is working with medical specialists to somehow rebuild it.

Icepick said...

Bluegrass is acoustic thrash metal.

Patrick said...

I love bluegrass and am very sad to hear that about Allison Krauss. On a brighter note, Nickel Creek, while not strictly bluegrass is touring. Love to see that show.

chickelit said...

Who loves bluegrass?

I do, even though it feels like micro-aggression towards drummers.

Unknown said...

That was wonderful

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I do! Bluegrass is the heart and soul of America.

The O'Kanes are a group that IF you can find their music. Kieran Kane and Jamie O'Hara. Bluegrass rock. You should buy it!!! Very hard to find.

Their version of Bluegrass Blues is awesome. Another from their first album Can't stop my heart

So sad about Allison Krauss' voice. I sure hope she can overcome this.

bagoh20 said...

Love it. I've been listening to a lot of Nickle Creek type stuff and popular country lately. I'm a new fan. My dad used to play guitar and sing country songs at little bars around town when I was just a baby, but I can't remember it. I'd love to have a video of that.

Michael Haz said...

Dan Tyminski and Ron Block are two members of Alison Krauss' band Union Station. They also played and sang the music for the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

Here's a sample of Tyminski and Block singing Man of Constant Sorrow.

(You didn't think George Clooney sang bluegrass, did you?)

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I guess my previous post didn't make it.

I love bluegrass. It is the heart and soul of America

The O'Kanes are a group that did some fabulous modern bluegrass/rock work. The song Man with Bluegrass Blues is very hard to find. Their first album is not available as a remastered digital format. Almost everything they did was great. Good luck finding any of their CDs, cassette tapes or LPs.

Here is another one that I like Gonna Walk That Line

Very sad about Allison Krauss' beautiful voice. I love her music. Hope she can get over it.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Bill Monroe done by Emmy Lou Harris and the Nash Ramblers.

Get Up John

Michael Haz said...

DBQ - Sam Bush! Best mandolin player on earth.

Here are Sam Bush and John Cowen of Bluegrass Revival covering (of all things) a Little Feat song, and doing it just brilliantly.

Link.

bagoh20 said...

That's awesome, Haz.

Patrick said...

Jerry Douglas, the finest Dobro player the world has ever known.

I also enjoy Dan Tymanski's solo stuff.

deborah said...

"I sit in with a bluegrass band at the club in Woodstock on Thursday nights from time to time. Bill Keith, the master of rock and roll banjo plays in that session."

Road trip! Who's in?

Great Monroe song, I hadn't heard it, I don't think. I love Jerusalem Ridge.

A shame about Krauss. Such a lovely voice.

deborah said...

Ice:
"Bluegrass is acoustic thrash metal."

Translation, please.

Michael Haz said...

Road trip? How about taking in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival?

deborah said...

Hmmm...pro: more centrally located; con: Shout won't be playing.

Bookmarked, thanks :)

Icepick said...

Thrash metal (also called speed metal sometimes), bands such as Megadeth (misspelling is VERY metal!), Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, place a premium on speed and musical ability with stringed instruments, just like bluegrass players.

I've made the assertion before, as here. Of course, that was Motorhead done up as bluegrass, but Motorhead are kind of the Ur-thrash metal band, though Lemmy considers them more punk. That group has done up some non-thrash metal standards, too, such as Black Sabbath's "War Pigs".

Christy said...

I'm a fan and here in East Tennessee bluegrass is easy to find. In fact the local senior center has at least a couple dozen players show up every Thursday morning to jam.

Not long after O Brother.... T Bone Burnett put together a concert tour. I caught it at a stadium up in the Smoky Mountains one night. Fog started rolling in as Ralph Stanley sang "I am a man of Constant Sorrow." Excellent evening. Saw Krauss another time at the Naval Academy, smaller venue and great if you're more interested in the music than in a party. Sorry to hear she's out of voice.

deborah said...

Thanks, Ice.

Christy seeing Stanley sing Constant Sorrow, too cool.

The Dude said...

I saw Doctor Ralph Stanley at a local festival - he was great, sadly he had outlived all of his band members and the crew he was with just wasn't up to the task.

O Death.

Christy said...

Deborah, 'twas. "O Death" was pretty special, too. Thanks for reminding me, Sixty Grit.

For me O Brother Where Art Thou is just about the most perfect movie. Ulysses was always my hero..., until a friend pointed out he lost all his men. Anyhow, I love a movie where I catch most of the jokes. I grew up swimming in lakes created by the TVA where you would suddenly be in the middle of the lake and find yourself able to stand up on some old road that hadn't eroded away yet. I can remember seeing river baptisms when Daddy took us out Sunday driving.

The Dude said...

"Whole country's going to be on a payin' basis!"

O Brother is a great movie, it truly captures a time and place.

It's been a couple of years since I read The Odyssey but it seems to me that Odysseus lost his crew due to circumstances beyond his control - you know, bein' messed with by gods and such.

A woman at market was upset with Odysseus for cheating on his wife, she who remained faithful for the 20 long years he was gone.

I liked him for not giving up and fighting with all his might to return to hearth and home. His dog lived long enough to see him come home, too, so Homer knew what really mattered in story telling.