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 Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:54 am Post subject: Bluegrass 2008 |
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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122514520289673681.html
Bluegrass music, more than 60 years after its founding by
Bill Monroe and company in the mid-1940s, has been getting
back to basics this year, decidedly favoring new acts that
emphasize the more traditional end of its modern-but-rooted
sound spectrum. And new bluegrass songs are featuring
traditional themes to match. Not just lots of chugging
trains (even now) and love gone bad, but also sung stories
of how God and spirit on the one hand and financially
challenging times on the other are affecting the day-to-day
lives of listeners and pickers alike.
It's a year in which the affable Del McCoury, host of the
International Bluegrass Music Awards ceremony, led off the
show with his especially timely song "Moneyland," with its
chorus that goes "It ain't so funny if you ain't got the
money."
These trends were manifest at the recent 2008 edition of
Nashville's weeklong World of Bluegrass, which offered a
clear snapshot of where the thriving genre stands. The
convention, sponsored by the International Bluegrass Music
Association, includes a business conference and performance
showcases for industry professionals; an exhibit hall full
of new banjos, fiddles, dobros and guitars to check out;
and the International Bluegrass Music Awards (the IBMAs). A
Bluegrass Fan Fest features dozens of acts, famed and less
familiar, for aficionados of picking pyrotechnics and those
famously lonesome harmonies. Since so many bluegrass fans
also play the music, the line between players and audience
is thin. The giveaway that the bluegrassers are back in
town? Signs in the convention hotel hallways designate
"jamming" and "non-jamming" areas.
Kyle Cantrell, host of "Bluegrass Junction" on XM Satellite
Radio and the winner of the IBMAs' Bluegrass Broadcaster of
the Year award, noted in a preceremony interview:
"Bluegrass fans understand that these artists are in this
for the love of the music -- and that the artists are
accessible to them and very down to earth. . . . The
sincerity of the music draws people to it -- and also the
creativity. The songwriting is better today, I think, than
it has ever been, and if you listen to these musicians,
even from a very young age they're developing truly high
levels of virtuosity."
Since the music is the heart of the matter, there's no
better indication of the latest bluegrass trends than a
look at the music honored by the IBMAs. Winners and
significant new contenders included:
Dailey and Vincent - "Dailey & Vincent"
(Rounder)
This new band is fronted by Jamie Dailey, previously
established as a great young higher-than-high tenor singer
in his years with Doyle Lawson's band, and Darrin Vincent,
known for his work with his sister, Rhonda, and Ricky
Skaggs. The two voices blend so effectively that the act
swept the IBMAs as no previous act ever had, winning seven
awards in all, including Entertainer of the Year (the big
one), Vocal Group of the Year and Emerging Artists of the
Year.
Their tunes, very much in keeping with current interests,
veer between hard-time songs like "Poor Boy Workin' Blues"
and gospel. "By the Mark," written by Gillian Welch and
Dave Rawlings, was named the Bluegrass Gospel Song of the
Year.
Dale Ann Bradley - "Catch Tomorrow" (Compass)
Ms. Bradley is a soulful, stunning, full-voiced vocalist,
and her winning the Female Vocalist of the Year award for a
second year in a row is a clear indication that traditional
bluegrass is fending off incursions by those who would make
the genre sound more like contemporary country pop. In
fact, Dale Ann is more likely to take a pop song (Ann
Peebles's "I Can't Stand the Rain" on this CD, for example
) and transform it into hardcore bluegrass. She deserves to
be as well known to general audiences as Rhonda Vincent --
or Alison Krauss.
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper - "Leavin' Town" (Rounder)
The astounding Mr. Cleveland, the fiddle virtuoso of this
generation, has now piloted his crack band to the Best
Instrumental Group award for two years running, and the
group's sound really gels on this current CD. They're the
most exciting band in bluegrass and, as that Flamekeeper
name indicates, they focus on hard-driving, head-spinning
traditional bluegrass sounds and themes.
Andy Hall - "The Sound of the Slide Guitar" (Sugar Hill)
Bluegrass dobro has been so dominated by two players in
particular, with Jerry Douglas of Union Station and Rob
Ickes of Blue Highway winning Dobro Player of the Year 17
times between them (including Mr. Ickes again this year),
that the emergence of Andy Hall of The Infamous
Stringdusters with this Instrumental Album of the Year is
of particular note. His playing is at once aggressive and
fluid, and the tunes -- mainly originals -- are catchy. He
trades off licks with Mr. Ickes on a number of tracks.
The SteelDrivers - "The SteelDrivers" (Rounder)
It's not that often that a band takes a really fresh
approach to acoustic American roots music, so while The
SteelDrivers, nominated for Emerging Artists of the Year at
the IBMAs, lost out to Dailey & Vincent in their cross-
category sweep, notice should be taken of their arrival.
Bluegrass instrumentation backs imposing lead vocalist
Chris Stapleton -- who looks like a younger Charlie
Daniels, but sings Deep South country soul and sounds more
like Greg Allman or Travis Tritt -- singing about whiskey
and midnight trains. He's often joined by fiddler Tammy
Rogers in affecting duo-harmony singing. The SteelDrivers
make you wonder why nobody had really worked out this
particular sort of sonic marriage before.
Everett Lilly - "Everett Lilly & Everybody and Their
Brother" (Swift River Music)
The Lilly Brothers introduced several generations of
Northeasterners to bluegrass, turning them into fans and
pickers. Their music is revisited by surviving brother
Everett (Bea passed away in 2005), along with members of
the Del McCoury Band, Everett's own family, Marty Stuart
and, as the title suggests, others from the top ranks of
Nashville bluegrass musicians. The lively result won
Recorded Event of the Year, an excellent call. |
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