BGS Long Reads of the Week // June 5

Welcome to another conglomeration of diverting, entertaining, and engaging long reads! The BGS archives never disappoint. As we share our favorite longer, more in-depth articles, stories, and features to help you pass the time, you should follow us on social media [on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram] so you don’t miss a single #longreadoftheday pick! But, as always, we’ll put them all together right here at the end of each week if you happen to let one sneak by you, too.

This week’s long reads are educational, meandering, inspiring, and much more. Read on:

On New Duet Album, Laurie Lewis Gathers Old Friends and Close Companions

May went by in a blink of an eye (how did this happen!?) and we had to say goodbye to our Artist of the Month, Grammy and IBMA award-winning multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Laurie Lewis. In our two-part May AOTM interview, Lewis gave us insight into the making of her new duet album, and Laurie Lewis, and talks a little bit about wanting to measure up to others’ view that she’s a trailblazer and role model in bluegrass. [Read more]


For First Solo Album, Sam Doores Opens the Map of Musical Influences

In a meandering feature we follow singer/songwriter and lifelong troubadour Sam Doores from the Bay Area to New Orleans to Berlin to his first solo album, which is filled with echoes of everything from Tin Pan Alley to the Mississippi hill country, from jazz to psychedelic-folk-rock. The Hurray for the Riff Raff alumnus has co-created some of the last decade’s most arresting socially-conscious anthems with HFTRR, and he’s also made sparkling folk- and country-derived excursions with his own band, the Deslondes. [Read more]


The Ebony Hillbillies: Becoming Part of the Music

In 2017, Henrique Prince and Gloria Thomas Gassaway — of the legendary and long-running New York-based, Black string band, the Ebony Hillbillies — gave us an excellent primer on how Black folks ostensibly invented bluegrass music. We could all use a reminder of this fact, given how Black contributions to old-time, bluegrass, and string band musics are more often than not erased — and this true, more fleshed out narrative enables us, the roots music community, to unabashedly lift up Black stories and Black lives in full voice at this current moment of crisis. [Read the interview]


7 Bluegrass Family Bands You Need to Know

Bluegrass Bands

From the Monroe Brothers and the Stanley Brothers to Cherryholmes and Flatt Lonesome, the matching outfits, tight harmonies, and long-lasting careers of family bands are an integral part of what makes bluegrass bluegrass. Here are a few lesser-known, underrated, or too-often-forgotten family bands that you ought to spend some quality time with — a classic from the BGS archives. [See the list]


Canon Fodder: Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman’s music is ceaselessly relevant, it’s true. Still, her self-titled, 1988 album has a much more broad, eclectic musical palette than we often give it credit for. Its themes surrounding her Blackness continue to distinguish her from her peers and most common comparisons, demanding a more nuanced approach to considering the ongoing impact of Tracy Chapman. [Read our archived edition of Canon Fodder]


 

7 Bluegrass Family Bands You Need to Know

From the Monroe Brothers and the Stanley Brothers to Cherryholmes and Flatt Lonesome, the matching outfits, tight harmonies, and long-lasting careers of family bands are an integral part of what makes bluegrass bluegrass. Here are a few lesser-known, underrated, or too-often-forgotten family bands that you ought to spend some quality time with:

The Dillards

The Dillards (Doug and Rodney Dillard, Dean Webb, and Mitch Jayne) exposed thousands of new fans to bluegrass bands music through their appearances on The Andy Griffith Show as “the Darlings” and even on popular variety shows of the day. They were inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2009.

Want more? Try “There Is a Time” and “What’s Time to a Hog.”

The Cox Family

If the voices of the Cox Family (Sidney, Suzanne, Evelyn, and Willard) sound familiar, it’s because you have almost certainly heard them before — on the Grammy Award-winning O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Their close friend, collaborator, producer, and fan Alison Krauss is credited with their discovery; you can hear the obvious influence they have on each other’s music.

Want more? Try their 2015 album, Gone Like the Cotton, that they finished and released 17 years after the project was dropped by their label.

The McCormick Brothers

Based in Gallatin, Tennessee, the McCormick Brothers (William, Haskell, Gerald, Lloyd, and Kelly) were one of the top bluegrass bands in the 1950s, but sadly, they are largely unknown today. After the band began to peter out, Haskell joined Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass, but the other McCormicks somewhat inexplicably faded from the spotlight.

Want more? Try their 2009 retrospective album, Somewhere in Time.

The White Brothers

The White Brothers (Clarence, Roland, and Eric) were barely adults when they made several guest appearances on The Andy Griffith Show — at least two years before “the Darlings” came along. The brothers played shows as the Country Boys before forming their iconic band, the Kentucky Colonels. Clarence — a Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductee — passed away in 1973, but is still considered one of the most influential flat-picking guitarists of all time. Eric passed in 2012. Roland continues to perform, to this day, after having a lengthy career performing with dozens of artists, from Bill Monroe to the Nashville Bluegrass Band.

Want more? Check out their incredible album, The New Kentucky Colonels: Live in Sweden 1973.

Marshall Family

Bluegrass gospel and family bands go together like a mandolin and a chop. The Marshall Family (Judy, David, Danny, and Ben) have had an undeniable influence on acts such as Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, the Isaacs, and the Cox Family — Judy’s voice, especially. Their career was much, much too short, with only three years between their first recording and their last. The Marshalls exemplify what family band harmonies can and should be.

Want more? Check out the compilation, The Legendary Marshall Family, Vol. 1.

The Lewis Family

“The First Family of Bluegrass Gospel,” the Lewis Family (Pop, Mom, Miggie, James, Esley, Talmadge, Polly, Janis, Little Roy, and Travis) were inducted into the Bluegrass bands’ Hall of Fame in 2006. The group officially retired in 2009 after more than 50 years as a band, collecting countless IBMA, Dove, and SPBGMA awards along the way. Thankfully, Little Roy still performs and tours, because the world isn’t ready to go on without his oddball sense of humor. Have you enjoyed the Lewis Family?!

Want more? Check out “Just One Rose Will Do,” “Honey in the Rock,” and “When I Reach That City.”

The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

While the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers saw many a lineup change during their existence, they were always underpinned by members of the Cline family (Ireland, Ezra, Curly Ray, and Charlie.) The band performed and recorded for nearly 30 years and, like Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, they were a vehicle for unknown and up-and-coming musicians getting their start — among them Bobby Osborne, Melvin Goins, and Paul Williams. In 2009, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers were inducted into the Bluegrass bands’ Hall of Fame.

Want more? Check out “Don’t Forget Me,” “Baby You’re Cheatin’,” and “Windy Mountain.”