Artist: Full Cord Bluegrass
Hometown: Grand Haven, Michigan
Song: “Downtown”
In Their Words: “Most bluegrass songs are written with bucolic images, mountain hollers, and a country living context. I wanted to write a song about that same-minded person visiting a city. While the lyrics portray this, so can the music with its unconventional chords and rhythms. The rhythmic mandolin chordal riff for ‘Downtown’ was born out of an inspiration from the mandolin rhythm giant, Sam Bush, while the chords in the bridge are inspired by Steely Dan. … a blend of bluegrass and the city type chord progression. Portland, Oregon, where I lived for 13 years, is the ‘Downtown’ subject and declares my love-hate relationship with the city. That feeling of energy, sights and sounds of a vibrant environment come in to play with this one. This is something we can all understand…” — Brian Oberlin, Full Cord Bluegrass
Photo credit: Chantal Roeske
