Tag: Tunesday Tuesday

Tristan Scroggins, “Chinquapin Hunting”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Mandolin has long been the keystone on which bluegrass is built — and it’s not simply because Bill Monroe, the undisputed Father of Bluegrass, played the instrument. Its backbeat chop, set against the boom-thump of the upright bass, isn’t just the backbeat, it’s the backbone of the music — setting the pace, driving the songs forward, and/or gently setting them down in the pocket. Of course, with its multiple hundreds of years of history, the mandolin is easily one of the most innovative instruments in the bluegrass lineup, equally comfortable in traditional bluegrass situations as those jazzy, classical, western swing, and world music genres that also lay claim to the instrument.

In bluegrass, invention on mandolin takes many forms, but one of these has become a pillar unto itself in bluegrass mandolin pedagogy: crosspicking. Pioneered by Grand Ole Opry member and Bluegrass Hall of Famer Jesse McReynolds (among others), crosspicking is a counterintuitive right hand approach that gives the mandolin a lilting, bouncy, arpeggiated, melodic feel that’s all at once astounding and — when done right — seamless. On his brand new EP, Fancy Boy, IBMA Momentum Award winner Tristan Scroggins pays tribute to crosspicking on five quintessential tunes, one of which is “Chinquapin Hunting.” The hours upon hours Scroggins has devoted to the technique show, as he carefully and deliberately teases crosspicking melodies out of each of these tunes — no matter how difficult that task may be.

It’s refreshing to hear the eight-stringed stalwart of the genre played so thoughtfully and intentionally, without simply being a mashed out, toneless chopping speed demon. Not that crosspicking can’t be accomplished also at a foot-stomping clip — Scroggins shows this method’s expansive depth and breadth with aplomb.

George Jackson, “Dorrigo”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

As a fiddler in Nashville, a town whose guitarist population is only rivaled by the sheer quantity of fiddles and bows, it takes a singular voice to stand out. Or, in George Jackson’s case, perhaps it takes a singular accent. The New Zealand native recently transplanted to Music City and has been carving a niche for himself in bluegrass, old-time, and their offshoots ever since. He currently tours with acclaimed bassist Missy Raines’ latest lineup, a minimalist-while-mighty acoustic trio, and he’s also been spotted collaborating with folks like Front Country and Rachel Baiman.

On his brand new album, Time and Place, Jackson steps into the role of frontman and bandleader, demonstrating that his voice — musically and otherwise — is so much more than just a charming, Oceanian accent. His fiddling is an intentional, pragmatic, and judicious combination of styles that range from Vassar Clements’ harebrained wit to Clifftop, West Virginia’s down-homiest old-time sawers. “Dorrigo,” a tune whose title tributes Australia, another former home to Jackson, perfectly demonstrates this old-meets-new, Northern Hemisphere meets Southern Hemisphere originality. The turns of phrase and melodic hooks register as familiar and timeless, before being unwound in surprising trajectories. Mandolin Orange’s Andrew Marlin, Charm City Junction’s Brad Kolodner, Mark Kilianski of Hoot and Holler, and Jackson’s longtime friend and collaborator Andrew Small fill out the band, demonstrating laser focus on old-time simplicity and bluegrass precision.

Perhaps thanks to his international roots, or his egalitarian approach to fiddle styles, Jackson’s “Dorrigo,” and by extension, Time and Place, simply do not bother trifling with authenticity signalling or genre designation. They simply elevate his singular voice.

Rhiannon Giddens, “Following the North Star”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Rhiannon Giddens is not only our Artist of the Month, she’s roots music’s renaissance woman. She’s an outspoken activist, a MacArthur Genius grant winner, a veritable music historian, and opera-oriented podcast host who has scored and staged a ballet, acted on a major television series, given her fair share of keynote addresses, and has helmed more than one supergroup. Somehow that list only begins to scratch the surface of Giddens’ contributions to our roots music communities. Who knows what other incredible ideas will come from her mind, her pen, and her banjo in the months and years to come.

Here’s the thing. In the flurry of credits Giddens’ bio will inevitably spit at you it’s easy to forget what might be the most important line item in her IMDb or Wikipedia profiles: she’s a damn fine picker. “Following the North Star,” an amuse-bouche of an instrumental from her 2017 release, Freedom Highway, is an excellent reminder of that fact. The bouncing, clawhammer banjo is stark against just percussion and bones, a percussive folk instrument played by hand, similar to playing the spoons. It’s a shockingly simple, but never simplistic production. Each note drips with Giddens’ understated virtuosity. Her understanding of the music’s past, present, and future is translated effortlessly by buttery fretless banjo, which retains every ounce of its haunting, melancholy potential in defiance of the tune’s forward-leaning tempo.

‘Tis sweet to be reminded that, no matter where her creative compass may take her, she’ll always have the chops — she’ll always be a killer banjo player. And, from this banjo player’s perspective, that’s what’s most important anyway!!

Tim O’Brien, “La Gringa Renee”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s February. It’s that time of the year when everyone is contemplating migrating closer and closer to the equator. Whether by plane or by car or by cruise, these dull gray winter months chase us to sunnier climes and happier times. “La Gringa Renee,” a meditative instrumental that’s equal parts Bolero and Klezmer, is the perfect soundtrack for such climes and times, especially given that it was inspired by the Yucatán peninsula, Soliman Bay, the wind through the palm fronds, and a lovely lady.

Tim O’Brien’s upcoming album, released as the Tim O’Brien Band and self-titled, is touted as landing “with two feet squarely back in bluegrass,” but this original is already a slight departure, toying with tropical, south of the border themes and languid melodies that rest and relax and dart and play just like children kicking up sand on the beach. O’Brien’s human inspiration, Jan Fabricius (whose middle name is Renee), appears on the album singing harmony vocals and playing some mandolin, but the band following the wistful, wavy palm fronds of O’Brien’s mandolin on this tune are Shad Cobb (fiddle), Patrick Sauber (banjo), and Mike Bub (bass) with special guest Bryan Sutton lending his unfalteringly tasteful guitar pickin’ as well.

We recommend pouring a drink with a summery, Caribbean flair, lounging back, and letting the tune wash over you like the incoming tide. It’s warm, inviting, and relaxing — with just a touch of O’Brien’s familiar voice cooing at us like a lullaby to sweetly bookend “La Gringa Renee.”

Deanie Richardson, “Soppin’ the Gravy”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Nashville often feels like a town simply saturated by fiddlers. It is Music City USA, after all, and of that music, most is centered on the pop country machine, which thankfully still sees fiddles as prerequisites for most of the music being fashioned, manicured, produced, and cranked out by this city writ large. In and amongst the myriad fiddles and bows it takes a singular musical voice to stand out.

Deanie Richardson has just such a voice. Her fiddlin’ is just as fiery and unyielding as any other fiddler on the scene, but without ever being overbearing or cliche. She balances Texas influences and contest styles with her immaculate bluegrass chops — and that balance makes her the perfect shoulder to tap for all manner gigs, from house fiddler at the Grand Ole Opry, to touring with Vince Gill or Patty Loveless, or decidedly less normative-country acts like the Chieftains and Bob Seger.

Her anchor though, has always been bluegrass, and when she isn’t out cutting up and bringing slap-happy joy to the people with her currently Grammy-nominated ensemble, Sister Sadie, she’s making bluegrass/fiddle records like Love Hard, Work Hard, Play Hard (available now on Pinecastle records). Close friends and musical compatriots like guitarist Brandon Bostic (Patty Loveless, Blue Moon Rising), mandolinist Ashby Frank (Special Consensus, Earls of Leicester) and banjoist Gena Britt (Sister Sadie) round out the band du jour on “Soppin’ the Gravy.”

It’s a tasty barnburner that’s as precise as it is breakneck fast, with Deanie’s endless embellishments demonstrating that a) she has the listener exactly where she wants them and b) she’s having a whole lot of fun with it. If you’re craving a fiddler that stands out, grab a biscuit and hit play, because there’s plenty of deliciousness to sop up with “Soppin’ the Gravy” and we ought not waste a drop.

Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, “Eighth Of January”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s become something of an unofficial tradition here at BGS to celebrate the eighth day of the first of the month of the year with a nod to one of old-time’s finest instrumentals, to be sure: “Eighth Of January.” This year, the stars and calendars have aligned, allowing the first ever Tunesday Tuesday + “Eighth Of January” celebratory post. Hoorah!

Now, those same stars and calendar have aligned even further, allowing Tunesday, January 8, and a brand new collection of fiddle/banjo tunes from clawhammerist Allison de Groot (Molksy’s Mountain Drifters) and fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves (Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands) to coincide so perfectly that we’re able to premiere de Groot’s and Hargreaves’ rendition of “Eighth Of January” on its namesake day. Fortuitous, indeed.

Even more fortuitous is the care, attention, and finesse given the often-rowdy, haphazard old-time melody. This duo, despite their youth — and often because of their youth — are two of the foremost old-time virtuosos on the scene today, executing these timeless songs and melodies with a clean and straightforward approach that sacrifices neither innovative thought nor modern embellishments to do so.

Furthermore, de Groot and Hargreaves are committed to making music that tells the full, unrevised, unabridged history of American roots music, with overt attribution to the amazingly diverse humans who pioneered these vernacular art forms. An old-time standard isn’t just an old-time standard, after all, and this fantastically talented pair of pickers demonstrate that and more on their upcoming self-titled album (out March 22 on Free Dirt Records) and this, its lead-off track.

Bill Monroe, “Santa Claus”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Bluegrass is notorious for having an extreme dearth of Christmas and holiday songs. The first, and often only one to come to mind, in jam circles and on set lists, is “Christmas Time’s a Comin’” — and deservedly so, it’s simply iconic. It’s true that many bluegrass bands and artists cover Christmas staples from outside the genre frequently and with aplomb, but holiday songs written by, for, and within the bluegrass community have been always hard to come by, that is, until recent decades, when career bluegrass songwriters became the unstoppable phenomenon they are today.

During my career as a banjo picker and the countless hours spent providing background music for holiday soirees, or performing seasonal shows, or even just spicing up a pickin’ party with a little Christmas cheer, I’ve always opted for a tune that fits the Christmas theme purely because of a technicality. Bill Monroe’s “Santa Claus” was named for the town in Indiana, not the jolly, red-suited philanthropist who lives at the North Pole. Its melody doesn’t even marginally reference or imply any sort of intrinsically Christmas-y themes, it’s just a fun, bouncy, chromaticism-filled Monroe tune, once again named after one of his countless destinations. But hey, when you don’t have enough Christmas songs, you have to make do! And “Santa Claus” is always an excellent choice, especially when it’s a recording with Bill Keith kicking it off on the banjo.

John McCutcheon, “Living in the Country”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Legendary folk singer, folklorist, and activist Pete Seeger isn’t generally remembered for his instrumental prowess, despite being adept at guitar picking and playing the banjo, which in turn, birthed an entire generation of banjo players who cite his instruction book, How to Play the 5-String Banjo, as their guide into three-finger playing when no other such manual existed. He was not only accomplished in frailing and old-time styles on the banjo, he famously played 12-string guitar, and not only to accompany himself on the folk songs he was known for — he picked his fair share of tunes on the instrument as well.

John McCutcheon, a multi-instrumentalist and folk singer/songwriter who could arguably simply be regarded as a modern analog for Seeger, pays tribute to that 12-string guitar picking, and the man himself, on “Living in the Country,” a cut off his upcoming fortieth recording, To Everyone In All The World — A Celebration of Pete Seeger. Hammered dulcimer, McCutcheon’s instrument du jour, rings and resonates like a 12-string guitar turned on its ear, with the same lilting rhythm of Seeger’s tentative finger plucks. The arrangement fills out with percussion, pads, and the ever-entrancing, improvisational genius of Stuart Duncan’s fiddle, giving a convivial sort of late night, folk festival fire-circle jam aesthetic to what began as a humble, 12-string soliloquy. Pete Seeger could pick, and John McCutcheon, Stuart Duncan, et. al. sure can, too.

Photo by Irene Young

Keller Williams, “M&Ms”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Music made by Keller Williams, but without his whimsical, sideways, and often silly songwriting perspective might seem like a counterintuitive concept for a record, but Sans, his latest album, leans into just that concept, featuring nine purely instrumental tunes. Williams inhabits an equal parts entrancing and perplexing center of a Venn diagram that includes among its constituent circles bluegrass, jamgrass, musical humorism, satire, and instrumental prowess that combines flatpicking sensibility with Phil Keaggy-style ingenuity and song structure. It’s as if you dumped every single goddamn flavor of M&Ms candy you could find into one giant bowl and dared listeners to try their luck and grab a handful that made sense.

Of course, a handful of delicious, if not suspiciously harlequin, sweets will almost always excite glee, and “M&Ms,” a frenetic guitar/percussion/arco bass bounty unto itself most certainly does. It’s a kaleidoscope; a frenzy; a nearly perfect distillate of Williams’ singular personality, so potent that you almost don’t miss his lyrics — especially given the marked lyricism of the interplay between the looped guitar tracks throughout. The ebb and flow of the arrangement cast a wide array of colors and shades, each sugary scoop different from the last, but just as delicious; the “M&Ms” flavors in this bowl are not peanut, or pretzel, or classic, they’re trance, dance, jam, fingerstyle, loop station, foot-tapping, harmonic-plucking, sternum-vibrating bass, and many, many others as yet to be named. It deserves a taste.

Photo credit: Taylor Crothers

Roland White, “Powder Creek”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Our artist of the month, Roland White — living legend, mandolinist, and Bluegrass Hall of Famer — has spent a good portion of his storied career with the addendum “brother of Clarence White” permanently affixed in close proximity to his name. In just describing the phenomenon, it is perpetuated still.

Roland’s career, whether sampled when he played guitar and sang with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, or witnessed during his time with the Nashville Bluegrass Band, or as member of Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass, or even as he’s fronted the Roland White Band, has never necessitated the association with his brother to validate its far-reaching impact and influence. By the same token, the legacies of the brothers White are so closely intermeshed, so inextricably cross-pollinated, that it would almost be a disservice to attempt to unwind the two.

Roland’s brand new record, A Tribute to the Kentucky Colonels, once again points the spotlight on the brothers collectively. Despite the fact that it includes many beautiful instrumentals from the Colonels’ catalog, this Tunesday will reach further back in Roland’s discography to celebrate the pair. As Roland tells the story, he was riding in the car with the Clarence and the rest of the Colonels, playing his mandolin and picking out the tune to “Powder Creek” as they drove, fashioning the melody note by note. Worried that they would forget the song before they had a chance to get it on tape — yes, physical, reel-to-reel tape — they stopped at a rest area along the route, set up in the bathroom with a portable recorder, and ensured the tune would live on forever.

This recording is from Roland’s seminal 1976 release, I Wasn’t Born to Rock’n Roll. Although it lacks any White brothers beyond Roland himself, the track showcases his truly singular, archetypical phrasing, his thoughtful picking, and his incredible musical friendship with banjo great Alan Munde.

Editor’s Note: Justin Hiltner plays in Roland White’s band and on the new album, A Tribute to the Kentucky Colonels.