Bluegrass, Finger Lickin' Good! The Top 10 Best?

[Hakim]

Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

To all Bluegrass Lovers!

I am a big fan of bluegrass music, but admit to being pretty ignorant beyond Vince Gill and Bill Monroe. Care to give me your list of say the All Time Top 10 Bluegrass bands/performers? I'd like to expand my library. All entries welcome!

 

[Hakim]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

Okay I am entering my own contest, so what. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Actually one of the best songs I ever heard, and I am not sure if purists would call it bluegrass of not. But it is "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," by the Weavers. Has to be by the Weavers, though there are a few other fairly good versions (Linda Ronstadt).

 

[JohnMiller3]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Okay I am entering my own contest, so what )</font>

Nothing like talking or arguing with one's self... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I'm not that in to Bluegrass, but I like Country... so who's the top 10 on your list there...? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Hakim]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

Well .. hey... in the End, it's Merle Haggard of course. Don't you remember that we went to see him a few months ago, front row seats? Really great show. I even toyed with the idea of getting a new guitar, the custom Thinline Telecaster that Fender made for him ($6,000).

What a lot of people don't realize is just what great musicians many country players are. Merle's band--The Strangers--were twice nomiated for album of the year, in the JAZZ category. If you play guitar (like I do), you realize some great sidemen have been around country music for a loooong time.

But, you oughtta start yer own thread (this was SUPPOSED to be Bluegrass) !!! That's what this was all about! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Dozernut]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

Dell McCroury is an excellent modern day Bluegrass artist. His sons play with him and are top notch musicians. I would also recommend Alison Krauss and Union Station. They did a lot of the music for the sound track of "O Brother Where Art Thou". Ricky Scaggs, Doc Watson, The Osborne Bros. are some older established and very good Bluegrass muscians. Nickle Creek, Chris Thile, the mandolin player is fantastic.
Last week the wife and I were down in Tennesee around Gatlinburg, and heard a group called the Smoky Mountain Travelers. They were really good and we picked up their album. Guess I am three short but my brain has now turned to mush, there are many good artist out there. One of our members, 5 String, has a Bluegrass band. he could probably fill in the blanks. Hope this is what you were looking for and helps you out.

 

[rmorgan]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

Hakim--

Sorry, man, but triple-nix on the silver threads as bluegrass, although it, the Weavers, and Linda are all good music. Vince Gill, well, some of the really early stuff, but what a nice guy he is even if he defected to country.

Dozernut gave you a good selection; Del McCoury, Allison Krauss (she crosses over a good bit, but it's so good nobody cares), and Nickel Creek are all at the top of the heap right now. Some other top-flight bluegrass choices are: New Grass Revival; Sam Bush; Peter Rowan, during and after The Rowan Brothers; Flatt & Scruggs; Doc Watson (just about any; he, Earl Scruggs, and Ricky Skaggs have a brand-new album out); Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Vol I is a top-10-lifetime sort of record; the others less so); Dolly Parton's two newest albums (Little Sparrow and The Grass is Bluer); a good bit of Emmylou Harris's music; at least the first three albums of Gillian Welch/David Rawlings; Old & In the Way, as well as many other Jerry Garcia albums without the Dead; anything with the words "David Grisman" associated with it.

Sorry--that's more than 10 /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Others?

 

[pruntyc]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

In my opinion, we use to have country and bluegrass, and I liked both. But country went more or less pop, or what ever, till its not really country music anymore. So bluegrass is all we have left that is worth hearing. There is still a few country singers, that are getting pretty old. When they are gone, there won't be anything left but bluegrass, I sure hope it don't go the way of country. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[RobertN]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

I love Blue Grass, but my only exposure these days is to a couple programs on a local public radio show on Saturdays. They play an excellent selection! In fact, you can even listen to it, at www.kvmr.org or if you happen within the greater Sacramento area, 89.5FM. KVMR is out of Grass Valley, and is a great station!

My favorite band is/was "Hot Rize". They were great! They moved apart years back, and then one member sadly passed away.

You may recognize Tom O'Brien; he was a member of Hot Rize and is still very active.

I liked the older stuff from Flatt and Scruggs.

I saw Ricky Scaggs at a festival in Grass Valley in the early 90's. He was GREAT! I was a little dissappointed though, that he played his Country and Bluegrass show at a bluegrass festival. I wish he would have concentrated solely on his bluegrass. It was great though.

Of other note, if you get the chance, pick up some "Red Knuckles and the Trail Blazers". It was Hot Rizes alter-ego. The guys would go back stage, change hats, shades, ties, and come back out and play amazing traditional country and country swing. Great stuff!

I saw Patty Loveless singing on a Blue Grass show on the local PBS station a few weeks back. She should think about doing more of that; she was really good!

 

[Hakim]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

Thanks Dozernut! Great list!

One of my favorites is Doc Watson. I met him in 1962 at my college, which brought him in as part of their "visiting artist" series. He's blind of course, and it was quite amazing to see someone lead him up on the stage of the chapel, and then, the sound that came out of his guitar was simply astonishing.

Later that night a few of us students got to sit with him, jam a little bit (I also played guitar), and I asked him how he could play like that, and even TALK to people at the same time, seemingly without effort. It amazed me, at 19 years old, and still does, I can tell you.

He turned to me and in a very kindly voice said, "Well, you know, you just get to a point, when to conceive is to execute; that's how you do it."

I have kept that phrase with me all my life, and often repeat it when trying to explain to young people how far you have to go to truly be a Master of anything. Doc Watson, what a superb example of a human being.

 

[Hakim]

Re: Bluegrass, Finger Lickin\' Good! The Top 10 Best?

Robert,

Thanks for the tip on Hot Rize. I was not familiar with them. I was just able to hear a couple of short clips of them on Amazon. You can download several whole songs there for free too.

I agree with those who complain about the commercialization of country. I grew up on the "real" folks, like Hank Williams Sr. who really was on the jukebox with Jambalaya.

I always felt so-called "pure" country and bluegrass are the most authentic anglo American music we have. Blues is also a purely authentic American music, which I also like. I saw a special on public TV about two years ago that traced the migration of country music from Ireland and Scotland to rural Southern US. Bluegrass of course arose right here. But they are related. Quite interesting to me anyway.

I went to college in Indiana and there was a lot of bluegrass and country influence in rural Indiana. That's where I first came across that kind of music. As I get older, I am more or less returning to my musical roots as it were. I am back to playing acoustic guitar, and don't care at all for the extravaganza-type of productions that is called music these days. I also like music played live for small groups, instead of in front of 20,000 people.

In my thirties, I lived in India and the Near East for almost a decade, and expanded my musical horizons considerably. The "Qawwali" madrigal style music of the mystics is practically impossible to listen to without sighing or crying.

Nasrat Fatah Ali Khan and The Sabri Brothers are a couple of the greatest groups of this type. They both passed on in the past decade, but there is nothing to compare them with. Very stirring, and of a clarity and purity I have not encountered in any other music of any time or place.

Public TV recently had a long special on Nasrat Fatah Ali Khan, and it was brought out on DVD -- "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Voice from Heaven" It really is like that.

In India, people have expired from the extreme spiritual ecstacy experienced while attending their concerts, which attract hundreds of thousands of people.

Also, thanks for the tip on KVMR's Internet Broadcast. I am listening to it as I write. Fantastic!