Tag: Gibson Brothers

BGS Long Reads of the Week // April 17

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

We’ve so enjoyed looking back into the BGS archives with you every week for some of our favorite reporting, videos, interviews, and more. If you haven’t yet, follow our #longreadoftheday series on social media [on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram] and as always, we’ll put all of our picks together right here at the end of each week.

Our long reads this week are pioneering, longsuffering, triumphant, innovative, and so much more.

Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue: A Conversation with Sam Bush

April 13 just so happens to be the birthday of this bluegrass pioneer, a man who has had an incredible impact on the genre over the course of his lifelong career. So of course we started off the week in long reads with this 2016 interview with Sam Bush, written by Mipso guitarist and vocalist, Joseph Terrell. Sam talks New Grass Revival, Bluegrass Alliance, the future of mandolin, and so much more. It’s worth a read, birthday or not! Happy Birthday, Sam! [Read more]

Canon Fodder: Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose

It just so happens, we’re featuring two birthday long reads in a row! On Tuesday this week we wished country legend Loretta Lynn a very happy birthday with a revisit to an archived edition of Canon Fodder on Van Lear Rose, her 2004 critically-acclaimed collaborative album made with Jack White. Lynn has changed and innovated upon country music in many more ways than one, and she continues to do so as her career goes on! Just like with Van Lear Rose. [Read more about the album]

Eric Gibson’s Family Shares Autism Story in New Film

We love a two-fer. With this look back into the archives, you get a film choice for tonight or this weekend, too. The Madness & the Mandolin is a documentary following the many challenges and breakthroughs of Kelley Gibson’s (son of The Gibson Brothers’ Eric Gibson) journey and evolution with autism. The film explores methods like exercise, meditation, reading, and music as tools that, combined, can often be the most powerful treatment. We spoke to the project’s producer/director Dr. Sean Ackerman last year. 

The Madness & the Mandolin is available to rent on Amazon Prime. [Read the interview]

Like Father, Like Sons: Del McCoury & the Travelin’ McCourys

2019 was a banner year for The Del McCoury Band and The Travelin’ McCourys, Del celebrated his 80th birthday, his Opry anniversary, and DelFest conquered the mid-Atlantic once again. While 2020 is certainly off to a rockier start, the entire bluegrass world — and roots music altogether, too — are so glad to still have this legend of bluegrass making music, laughing a lot, and killing the hair game. At BGS, we’re grateful we got a chance to chat with Del backstage at the Opry last year. [Read more]

Rose Maddox: The Remarkable Hillbilly Singer Who Made Bluegrass History

She’s not in the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, and Hollywood has never adapted her story for any sized screen. She’s certainly more than deserving of the former — regarding the latter, you’ll just have to read our feature to see why Rose Maddox deserves to be canonized and then some for her myriad contributions to country, bluegrass, and every other genre in between. [Read about this musical pioneer]

 

MerleFest 2019 in Photographs

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

MerleFest 2019 is officially in the books. The quintessential bluegrass, roots, and Americana festival — named for Doc Watson’s son, Merle — drew more than 75,000 attendees from around the world to the grounds of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The four-day event celebrated NC’s “Year of Music” with over 100 bands from all across the state, the country, and the world.

On Saturday night, BGS once again presented the ever-popular Late Night Jam, hosted by Chatham County Line, which featured performances from many of MerleFest’s stellar acts including Ellis Dyson, Jim Avett, Scythian, Molly Tuttle, Shane Hennessy, Donna the Buffalo, Jontavious Willis, Jim Lauderdale, Catfish Keith, Presley Barker, Ana Egge, the Brother Brothers, Steve Poltz, and many more friends and special guests.

Check out MerleFest 2019 in photographs and make plans to join us next year!

Lede photo: Michael Freas

11 Bluegrass Songs about Bluegrass

Posted on by Editor

Every genre of music out there has its self-referential moments, certainly, but bluegrass accomplishes these meta masterpieces with a specificity, nostalgia, and flair that is unparalleled. It just wouldn’t be bluegrass without bluegrass songs about bluegrass. (Now if that ain’t a hook for a song …)

Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice — “A Far Cry From Lester & Earl”

To start us off, this bluegrass chart smash hit is the perfect example of the bluegrass-songs-about-bluegrass phenomenon. But it isn’t just about the music; it also gets into the nitty gritty of how the music has changed since … well, Lester and Earl. Essentially, it’s the bluegrass “big tent” debate in song form!

Tom T. Hall — “Bill Monroe for Breakfast”

Country Music Hall of Famer Tom T. Hall gives us a textbook example of the pure reminiscing and sentimentalism that makes these songs just so dang easy to love. Bill Monroe: an important part of a balanced breakfast.

Steep Canyon Rangers — “Bluegrass Blues”

Do you think the Steep Canyon Rangers still got those blues? Probably not. The road-dogging required of bluegrass bands will get just about anybody down, so we understand where this one is coming from. It’s just one of the many causes of the “bluegrass blues.”

Jerry Salley — “The Night Flatt & Scruggs Played Carnegie Hall”

Not to be outdone by bluegrass songs that are simply about the genre itself, or its founders, or an iconic song, Jerry Salley goes a step further and writes a song about a specific album that was recorded at a specific concert. Does it start with applause, like the record? Yes. Is each banjo break a reference to a different song from said show/album? Yes. Do the pickers each take turns referencing licks played by the Foggy Mountain Boys? Yes. It’s a 3:34 distillate of what ended up being an almost 70-minute double album in its final form. Bluegrass sparknotes!

The Gibson Brothers — “They Called It Music”

This may technically be a song about the music(s) that preceded bluegrass, but when you know a little about the Gibson Brothers’ approach to creating and performing, you know that this is a pure-and-simple reference to their worldview. Other people may call what they do bluegrass, but to them, it’s just music.

Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time — “Black Diamond Strings”

There’s a joke that pickers and guitarists have been making for as long as we can remember about how Black Diamond Strings were so great, they used to come pre-rusted! After a dose of Larry Cordle’s longing for the simpler times and simpler strings, it makes you miss those pre-rusted wires bad enough that you wish you hadn’t laughed. Wonder if they still make ‘em …

Donna Ulisse — “It Could Have Been the Mandolin”

Donna Ulisse conjures Bill Monroe’s mandolin wafting over the radio in a classic Cadillac on lover’s lane — it could’ve just been love, but it could have been the mandolin. Let’s be honest: We already knew that good ol’ traditional Monroe style is pretty much an aphrodisiac.

Rhonda Vincent — “Bluegrass Saturday Night”

Rhonda poses an important question herein: How is anyone supposed to resist bluegrass and its intoxicating call? Oh, and heaven apparently has a bluegrass band. Our heaven definitely does. Hope yours does, too.

Irene Kelley — “My Flower”

Thanks to Irene Kelley for straightening out one of the most perplexingly crooked traditional songs ever written … and in a beautiful, catchy, heartfelt homage. Doing meta bluegrass right.

The Osborne Brothers — “Fastest Bluegrass Alive”

Now, the Osborne Brothers definitely did accomplish some of the fastest bluegrass known to man (with musical integrity entirely retained … an important caveat). Interestingly though, this is not a particularly fast song. But those speedy bluegrass playin’ outlaws mentioned need to be fast to outrun the tempo sheriff and his posse! Run ‘em right outta town!

Bill Monroe — “Uncle Pen”

If you assumed that this style of song came long after the first generation of bluegrass, oh no, you are mistaken. Bill Monroe — the pioneer, master, father, and creator of the form — had more than one bluegrass inception song; “Heavy Traffic Ahead,” considered the first bluegrass song ever, is arguably a song about … bluegrass. So this tradition is well-entrenched in the genre for good reason. If Bill was singing about what he was doing on stage while he was doing it on stage and playing songs about tunes that quoted those tunes from the beginning, who are we to change course? Bluegrass bluegrass forever!

Photo by Joerg Neuner on Foter.com / CC BY-ND

ANNOUNCING: 2017 IBMA Award Nominations

Posted on by Editor

Nominees for the 2017 International Bluegrass Music Awards were announced today with Balsam Range and the Earls of Leicester leading the pack with eight nominations each. Balsam Range received six nominations for the band and two for their individual members, while the Earls pulled in five nominations, plus three for individual members. Close behind are the Gibson Brothers, with seven nominations (band and individuals), and Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, with five nominations (band and individuals). On an historic note: Molly Tuttle is the first woman ever to be nominated for an IBMA Guitar Player of the Year Award. 

The IBMA is also proud to announce the inductees into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame: trail-blazing bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, master fiddler Bobby Hicks, and Roland White, whose impressive career includes contributions to several seminal bands. They will be inducted at the International Bluegrass Music Awards Show, Thursday, September 28, 2017, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Congratulations to all the nominees and inductees!

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Balsam Range
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
The Earls of Leicester
Flatt Lonesome
The Gibson Brothers

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Flatt Lonesome
The Gibson Brothers

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Balsam Range
The Earls of Leicester
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Punch Brothers

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Blue Collar Dreams” — Balsam Range (artist), Aaron Bibelhauser (writer)
“Going Back to Bristol” — Shawn Camp (artist), Mac Wiseman/Thomm Jutz/Peter Cooper (writers)
“I Am a Drifter” — Volume Five (artist), Donna Ulisse/Marc Rossi (writers)
“Someday Soon” — Darin & Brooke Aldridge (artist), Ian Tyson (writer)
“The Train That Carried My Girl from Town” — The Earls of Leicester (artist), Frank Hutchison (writer)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Fiddler’s Dream — Michael Cleveland (artist), Jeff White and Michael Cleveland (producers), Compass Records (label)
In the Ground — The Gibson Brothers (artist), Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson, and Mike Barber (producers), Rounder Records (label)
Mountain Voodoo — Balsam Range (artist), Balsam Range (producer), Mountain Home Records (label)
Original — Bobby Osborne (artist), Alison Brown (producer), Compass Records (label)
Rattle & Roar — The Earls of Leicester (artist), Jerry Douglas (producer), Rounder Records (label)

GOSPEL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
“Give Me Jesus” — Larry Cordle (artist), Traditional/Larry Cordle (writer), Give Me Jesus (album), Larry Cordle (producer), Mighty Cord Records (label)
“Hallelujah” — Blue Highway (artist), Public Domain arranged by Blue Highway (writer),Original Traditional (album), Blue Highway (producer), Rounder Records (label)
“I Found a Church Today” — The Gibson Brothers (artist), Eric Gibson/Leigh Gibson (writers), In the Ground (album), Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson, and Mike Barber (producers), Rounder Records (label)
“Sacred Memories” — Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers with Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White Skaggs (artist), Dolly Parton (writer), Sacred Memories (album), Joe Mullins (producer), Rebel Records (label)
“Wish You Were Here” — Balsam Range (artist), James Stover/Michael Williams (writers), Mountain Voodoo (album), Balsam Range (producer), Mountain Home Records (label)

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
“Fiddler’s Dream” — Michael Cleveland (artist), Arthur Smith (writer), Fiddler’s Dream (album), Jeff White and Michael Cleveland (producers), Compass Records (label)
“Great Waterton” — Kristin Scott Benson (artist), Kristin Scott Benson (writer), Stringworks(album), Kristin Scott Benson (producer), Mountain Home Records (label)
“Greenbrier” — Sam Bush (artist), Sam Bush/Scott Vestal (writers), Storyman (album), Sugar Hill Records (label)
“Little Liza Jane” — Adam Steffey (artist), Tommy Duncan/James Robert Wills (writers), Here to Stay (album), Adam Steffey (producer), Mountain Home Records (label)
“Flint Hill Special” — The Earls of Leicester (artist), Earl Scruggs (writer), Rattle & Roar (album), Jerry Douglas (producer), Rounder Records (label)

EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Front Country
The Lonely Heartstring Band
Molly Tuttle
Sister Sadie
Volume Five

RECORDED EVENT OF THE YEAR
“East Virginia Blues” — Ricky Wasson and Dan Tyminski (artists), Croweology: The Study of J.D. Crowe’s Musical Legacy (album), Rickey Wasson (producer), Truegrass Entertainment (label)
“Going Back to Bristol” — Shawn Camp with Mac Wiseman, Peter Cooper, Thomm Jutz (artists), I Sang the Song (Life of the Voice with a Heart) (album), Peter Cooper and Thomm Jutz (producers), Mountain Fever Records (label)
“I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” — Bobby Osborne with Sierra Hull, Alison Brown, Rob Ickes, Stuart Duncan, Trey Hensley, Todd Phillips, Kenny Malone, Claire Lynch, and Bryan McDowell (artists), Original (album), Alison Brown (producer), Compass Records (label)
“Steamboat Whistle Blues”– Michael Cleveland featuring Sam Bush (artists), Fiddler’s Dream (album), Jeff White and Michael Cleveland (producers), Compass Records (label)
“’Tis Sweet to Be Remembered” — Mac Wiseman and Alison Krauss (artists), I Sang the Song (Life of the Voice with a Heart) (album), Peter Cooper and Thomm Jutz (producers), Mountain Fever Records (label)

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Shawn Camp
Eric Gibson
Leigh Gibson
Buddy Melton
Russell Moore

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Brooke Aldridge
Dale Ann Bradley
Sierra Hull
Amanda Smith
Molly Tuttle

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ned Luberecki
Joe Mullins
Noam Pikelny
Kristin Scott Benson
Sammy Shelor

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Barry Bales
Alan Bartram
Mike Bub
Missy Raines
Tim Surrett

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR (6 candidates due to a tie vote)
Becky Buller
Jason Carter
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Patrick McAvinue
Ron Stewart

DOBRO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Rob Ickes
Phil Leadbetter
Josh Swift

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jim Hurst
Kenny Smith
Bryan Sutton
Molly Tuttle
Josh Williams

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jesse Brock
Sam Bush
Sierra Hull
Frank Solivan
Adam Steffey

Methjaw County Gazette: October Awards Addition

Posted on by Editor

All you folks round home know that, in addition to writing down the local breaking news for y'all, we're also International Music Celebrities and Appalachian-American Cultrul Icons.

After hundreds of thousands of calls and letters from our fans, and despite the International Bluegrass Music Association's COMMIE CONSPIRYATORIN ANTI-MUSIC Board of Directors not hiring us to host them awards like the people had asked, we decided to go down to Raleigh anyway to see all the little tiny people that make us such big people today.

We enjoyed seeing all of our fans and drinking some of that high dollar beer they got there, but it's no wonder why they couldn't keep the whole thing in MUSIC CITY USA like it used to be. Most of them people couldn't pick their way out of a paper sack. Half the banjos pickers we saw couldn't even afford no picks! Theys just framming and cramming and clawing at it and beating on it like our old Aint Gladys who was the only member of our immediate family who couldn't master a Earl Scruggs style forward roll. She never has had much going on "UP THERE" if you know what we mean, but at least she has sense enough to know when to take a shower and when to quit at that framming in D shit and let the men play the banjo. Caint say that for most of them people down there in Raleigh.

We did, however, have a great time at that awards show despite the two boring and lifeless establishment characters they picked to host it. The people spoke and we won EVERY MAJOR AWARD from Best Dressed and Best Brother Duet Tag Team to Intercontinental Champion! Well … there was ONE award we didn't win and that was Female Vocalist of the Year. That award was split in a tie vote between last year's hosts Eric and Lee Gibson. They caint even win right.

After we won all them awards, we got a phone call from that Jerry Douglas feller asking us if we'd be interested in going into business with him on a new theme park. It's going to be called "Jerry Douglas Presents: Darrellswood featuring Jerry Douglas." More on that next month! Thanks for reading, and remember to check back here at the Bluegrass Situation to find out more news from back home!