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Can anyone recommend me some bluegrass?


Davepch

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hi all

i recently answered an add for bluegrass players (begginers welcome, that's where i come in:)) and wondered if anyone out there could point me in the right direction, as far as good quality bluegrass music to listen to? any help appreciated

dave

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you could start with bill monroe. i'm no expert but some of the artists i like include jimmy martin, flatt & scruggs, stanley bros., del mccoury, old & in the way. that's just scratching the surface. then there's so-called newgrass, which would include david grisman, sam bush, bela fleck. i'm sure others here could list lots more.

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Try 'Rounder Bluegrass Guitar' (Rounder CD 11576) for a sampler of many different players and styles:
Clarence White
Tony Rice
David Grier
Wyatt Rice
Norman Blake
Doc Watson
Russ Barenberg
Dan Crary
Mark O'Connor
Scott Nygaard
Peter McLaughlin, etc.

It's a good intro to bluegrass.

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Bill Monroe is an acquired taste. He is the originator of Bluegrass music, but to my ears, his music sounds best when others are performing it.

Check these out

 

Emmy Lou Harris and the Nash Ramblers: Live at the Ryman

Ricky Skaggs: Bluegrass Rules!

Rhonda Vincent and the Rage: Ragin Live

Peter Rowan and the Nashville Bluegrass Band: New Moon Rising

Old and in the Way (Jerry Garcia on banjo!, Peter Rowan, Dave Grisman)

 

Those are incredible CDs...

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Bill Monroe is an acquired taste. He is the originator of Bluegrass music, but to my ears, his music sounds best when others are performing it.

Check these out


Emmy Lou Harris and the Nash Ramblers: Live at the Ryman

Ricky Skaggs: Bluegrass Rules!

Rhonda Vincent and the Rage: Ragin Live

Peter Rowan and the Nashville Bluegrass Band: New Moon Rising

Old and in the Way (Jerry Garcia on banjo!, Peter Rowan, Dave Grisman)


Those are incredible CDs...

 

 

I agree with you about Monroe; he's pretty much for the purist!

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Once you get past all of her ballady stuff, Alison Krauss and Union Station is a great group. Check out their live album. There's some stuff on there that'll blow your mind. I always skip over the ballads and go straight for songs like "Choctaw Hayride" and "Take Me For Longing." Alison Krauss is an incredibly underrated fiddle player, and her entire band is made up of first-class musicians (especially Jerry Douglas on Dobro).

 

Then there's always Doc Watson, Ralph Stanley (whose banjo playing has been called "manic"), Flatt and Scruggs, et al.

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For BG git you cant do better than Tony Rice,Ricky Scaggs or Doc Watson.For something a little different try Bela Fleck.He's a banjo pik'r but it's great stuff.Flatt and Scruggs is great for trad style as are the Dillards (Andy Griffith) but Earl does some neat stuff with others thats non trad.Any of the others mentioned are excellent as well.

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I find that the very traditional bluegrass begins to grate on me after a while. I know I'm a heathen, no need to point it out.;)

It's just a little too thematically silimilar if you catch my drift. Too much "Dear Lord", "Golly Gee" for my liking. But I do love the music. I just wish some of it had a little more edge.

My favorite bluegrass album so far is The Mountain by Steve Earle/Del McCoury.

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I find that the very traditional bluegrass begins to grate on me after a while. I know I'm a heathen, no need to point it out.
;)

It's just a little too thematically silimilar if you catch my drift. Too much "Dear Lord", "Golly Gee" for my liking. But I do love the music. I just wish some of it had a little more edge.


My favorite bluegrass album so far is The Mountain by Steve Earle/Del McCoury.



+1000

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If you want to push the limits check out Missy Raines and Jim Hurst. Saw them perform, She is amazing, he's not too bad either, but they can combine bluegrass and Jazz to a bit.

 

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver is one of my favorite groups. Here's a link to the Video of his latest release.

http://www.cmt.com/videos/doyle-lawson/197572/sadies-got-her-new-dress-on.jhtml

 

Edit! Oh, and check out the link in my sig to the Music Moose. Great site with some good videos and lessons.

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If you're interested in delving into some very old bluegrass, there is a 5-CD set of The Carter Family - 1927 to 1934. A lot of stuff was written by the A.P. Carter, but the story has it that he used to travel around the backwoods asking people to play their music. Then they recorded the songs.

 

If nothing else, check out the track list, then search YouTube for performances of the songs to get a feel for the real old stuff and how people may have modernized it.

 

The traditional music grates on some people's nerves, but it's as "grassroots" as it gets.

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+1 on "the mountain" by steve earle and the del mccoury band. a great album. there's also a live bootleg out there somewhere when they were touring in sweden that is really great.

 

i would agree bill monroe is an acquired taste but one worth acquiring. a real gem is a live album he did with doc watson in the early 60s called "Live Recordings 1963-1980: Off the Record Volume 2." two masters just shredding.

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