Recommend to me some "listening" bluegrass...

[Bluemonk]

To the OP, I haven't read the whole thread, so there may be similar comments to mine, but here goes.

No disrespect intended, but how can someone enjoy playing a style of music they don't enjoy listening to? That, to me, doesn't compute. What is it about bluegrass that makes you enjoy playing it, and what is it about listening to it that turns you off?

[Flyingtigre]

Me again.

Back in 1975 there was an album by Norman Blake / Tut Taylor / Sam Bush / Butch Robins / Vassar Clements / David Holland / Jethro Burns.

If you get an opportunity to listen to it, don't pass it up. Sauerkraut 'N Solar Energy is a classic!

[L20A]

Originally Posted by Bluemonk

To the OP, I haven't read the whole thread, so there may be similar comments to mine, but here goes.

No disrespect intended, but how can someone enjoy playing a style of music they don't enjoy listening to? That, to me, doesn't compute. What is it about bluegrass that makes you enjoy playing it, and what is it about listening to it that turns you off?

I know where the OP is coming from.
I'm not a fan of early Bluegrass recordings.
That High Lonesome sound doesn't do anything for me.

Then the music started to evolve and bands like New Grass Revival took it to a new level.
I love a lot of the old songs but I really like them sung in a lower key that isn't so piercing.

After listening to the newer artists, I have become more tolerant of the older sound but I still prefer the newer artists work.

[grayback]

+1 for Hot Rize, 40 years and still going strong. The band that lives on their bus, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, can play some good western music as well.

[djg]

Originally Posted by Johnny K

Trampled by Turtles is pretty good.

Oh, I meant to get tickets -- thanks for the reminder.

[varmonter]

If you like different i might suggest the Stev'n Seagulls.
https://youtu.be/ay_jN3KHp5c

Or run c&w
https://youtu.be/9E9vYd04OtQ

[PiousDevil]

Punch Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, Stapleton era Steeldrivers are my favorites.

I play banjo, and agree that an aggressive banjo can be very offputting. Noam Pikelny and Jens Kruger are two of the most dynamic banjo players that really use the banjo musically. Check out the banjo work in these tracks.

[Mycroft]

Did we really go 5 pages without anyone mentioning Sarah Jarosz?

[PiousDevil]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Did we really go 5 pages without anyone mentioning Sarah Jarosz?

I'm not sure I'd categorize her under bluegrass. I know most of these bands stretch the boundaries of the definition of bluegrass, but I'd really put her more squarely into the "folk" spectrum of Americana.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by PiousDevil

I'm not sure I'd categorize her under bluegrass. I know most of these bands stretch the boundaries of the definition of bluegrass, but I'd really put her more squarely into the "folk" spectrum of Americana.

Works for me...

At some point definitions begin to bleed from one into another. Bluegrass to Folk to Old Time to Country to Blues to Jazz to Traditional to Americana to Classical to...

Perhaps I think of Jarosz in a Bluegrass contest because I first heard her at a Bluegrass Festival.

[PiousDevil]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Works for me...

At some point definitions begin to bleed from one into another. Bluegrass to Folk to Old Time to Country to Blues to Jazz to Traditional to Americana to Classical to...

Perhaps I think of Jarosz in a Bluegrass contest because I first heard her at a Bluegrass Festival.

Yeah she's definitely in with the bluegrass crowd, and she's awesome. And most traditional bluegrassers probably turn their noses up at some of my suggestions of modern bluegrassers. When I think of bluegrass I think of ensembles of specific instruments played be supremely proficient players of those instruments. Clawhammer banjo and octave mandolin aren't instruments that I think of in that genre, though I'll listen to her play them all day long. Let's just listen to her cover of Radiohead's "The Tourist," recorded with Punch Brothers on the strings, and call it bluegrass (though no bluegrass purist would call it bluegrass. I do, though).

[golfreggie]

Originally Posted by varmonter

Maybe i missed it but i don't think anyone
mentioned
Russell moore and third tyme out.

Just getting ready to do so. Russell sang with Doyle Lawson for a while if I am not mistaken. His voice is distinct and recognizable.

[varmonter]

There is a whole side genre to bluegrass that
I love . Sarah Jarosz fits squarely in this realm.
as does chris Thile ,Aoife O Donovan , Gillian Welch.
Sort of acoustic roots music. Tim o'Brian does a good
job of crossing tradgrass with this more roots acoustic.
If your in the "it's bills way or the highway" frame of mind
You need not apply here. But i would wager Bill was considered a bit radical
Back in the 40s.. It all came from scottish irish folk songs and
slave blues.. Folks in Rosine must of thought him a hippie..ha
Evolution is inevitable.
Here's a utube link to Aoifes Oh Mama.
(pour me some bourbon) ��
Sorry i don't know how to imbed the link.
https://youtu.be/gSmZCCtyq3Q?list=PL...-dYRTkQlxLvCrk

Sorry you got me going i love this stuff.
chk this out.
https://youtu.be/vIVrCZ5sNwE

[PhilipSteen]

+1 to Bryan Sutton.

But also: Chris Thile. Quite likely the best mandolin player I've ever heard (although admittedly, I haven't heard many). He started out playing classical, writes brilliantly witty songs (look up Songs on a Mandolin), and he can properly tear it up with bluegrass legends - but I like him best for his chilled BG-inspired compositions. Have a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yad9ieXw68E

You might also enjoy bands like Milk Carton Kids, First Aid Kit and Mandolin Orange - not bluegrass so much, but rootsy with that American feel.

[BFD]

Originally Posted by PiousDevil

...When I think of bluegrass I think of ensembles of specific instruments played be supremely proficient players of those instruments.

Just an observation . . . it seems to me (fortunately for all of us non-Nashville A-list session musicians), most everybody even tangentially involved with the bluegrass genre - national pros, local pros, event promoters, jam organizers, acoustic instrument instructors, anyone who builds or sells guitars, mandolins, banjos, fiddles, dobros etc . . . and so on, view bluegrass as possibly THE most popular of-the-people/by-the-people music there is.

Well . . . ukulele orchestras might be #1...but bluegrass can't far behind...