Bluegrass Archives - Renaissance Granddad's Explorations.....

Roots Music Safari Americana Archive by category "Bluegrass"

New Folk Music from Old Friends

So over the last few years, I’ve drifted away from my musical roots. Between the 1975 and 2014 I listened to primarily music that falls broadly under the umbrella of Americana. I listened to Folk, Blues, bluegrass and Texas music. After about 2014, my musical listening shifted and I found myself listening to more Jazz and New Age with some Prog Rock thrown in the mix. It seemed every time I looked at the Roots Music Report Chart or New Releases Now, I never saw music from the Americana artists I listened to. The only Americana I continued to listen to regularly was Blues.
However, today’s Roots Music Folk Chart contained new albums from some of my favorites! So let’s what new Americana music I can put into my music rotation. Read More

Stillhouse Junkies – Small Towns

Stillhouse Junkies – Small Towns

Since this week’s theme is “It’s been a long time”, the first Roots Music charts I looked at this week we’re the Folk and Bluegrass Charts. Those charts along with the Folk DJ and Euro-Americana charts were where I found most of the new music I liked. However over the last several years, I have listened to more Blues, Jazz and New Age music. One of the reasons is many of my favorite artists including; Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, John Prine, Leonard Cohen and Jesse Winchester have passed away and I can’t seem to find replacements for them.

Anyway, in the early part of this week I gave several albums the 30-45 second test and came up with a few albums to explore in more depth. And some that will be in my music rotation for a while. The first album I’m going to write about is Small Towns the latest release from Stillhouse Junkies. Currently, the album sits at number 3 on the chart. Since I had never heard of the band I had to do a little exploring, Here’s what I found!

About Stillhouse Junkies

The band was formed in a distillery in Durango, CO and have garnered a good deal of notoriety. They were named a 2021 IBMA Momentum Band of the Year, Additionally they have been a two-time Telluride Bluegrass band contest finalists. As well as, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival showcase artist and 2020 & 2021 IBMA World of Bluegrass showcase artists. Not bad for just starting out, eh? Read More

Jeremy Garrett – River Wild Returns Me to Bluegrass!

So I started this post Sunday, when I was on ADHD overload, watching the Phillies game, listening to Savoy Brown’s Raw Sienna and writing this post??Earlier in the afternoon, I was listening to River Wild by Jeremy Garrett, while watching the game. Jeremy Garrett is one of those Americana musicians I have been listening to over the last several weeks. He is also the subject of this post.

About Jeremy Garrett

Even though I haven’t, over the last several years, listened to the amount of Americana music that I have previous listened to, there are certain bands whose albums I usually check out The Infamous Stringdusters are one of those bands. However, I unlike my younger days, I’ve never taken time to learn all the band members. If I had I would have known Jeremy Garrett is the band’s fiddle player, along with being an expressive singer and songwriter!

And what a career the infamous Stringdusters have had since they burst on the seen in 2007. That year they won 3 IBMA awards including Album and Song of the Year. Since then, the group has become an international ambassador for progressive bluegrass. Their album count stands at around 16!

About River Wild

River Wild is comprised of twelve bluegrass tracks: four instrumentals (I love them all!) and eight tracks with vocals. Of the vocal tracks seven were written or co-written by Jeremy. On the other is a classic Bill Monroe song that Jeremy gives a new spin.

The musicians Jeremy assembled for the album include: Seth Taylor (guitar), Alan Bibey (mandolin), Ryan Cavanaugh (banjo), Gena Britt (banjo), Russ Carson (banjo), Travis Book (bass), Barry Bales (bass), Andy Hall (dobro), Lou Reid (tenor vocals), and Josh Shilling (harmony vocals). All the musicians are great my favorite of the bunch though is the mandolin picker Alan Bibey!

The Bottom Line Read More

The Dead South Revives a Love of Bluegrass

and Hopefully Blogging!!

So it’s been a long time since I spent an afternoon on the hunt for new music. Maybe even longer since I searched the Roots Music Bluegrass chart, but I did just that yesterday. I discovered several bands that I hadn’t heard of previously. I will try to write about several of these bands later in the week, but The Dead South is an initial favorite, The Dead South is a Canadian folk-bluegrass band hailing from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The band formed in 2012. However, the band’s fortunes took off when a 2014 video garnered over a million views on YouTube! Since then they have built an international following through a hefty touring schedule.

I listened to their most recent release Sugar & Joy. Sugar & Joy is currently No. 36 on the Roots Music Bluegrass chart.

About The Dead South

=&2=& has a great uptempo energetic sound and are often jokingly referred to as Mumford and Sons Evil Twins.

The band is composed of Nate Hilts (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Scott Pringle (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Danny Kenyon (cello, vocals) and Colton Crawford (banjo).

Through the years the band’s membership has been tweaked. In 2015 Crawford left the band. He was replaced by studio musician Eliza Mary Doyle for several years. He re-joined the band starting with the Voices In Your Head tour in mid-2018. On occasion cellist Danny Kenyon is unable to tour. If that happens Erik “Del Suelo” Mehlsen replaces him on cello and vocals.

The bottomline is that for me Sugar & Joy is a great album and should be in my music rotation for a long time so check the out! As for me I’m going to be checking out Illusion & Doubt the band’s 2016 Juno award-winning album.

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of The Dead South Read More

Ugh! Humidity Slows Me Down! The Bucking Mules Pick Me Up!

Yesterday’s Run: Humidity Slows Me Down While The Bucking Mules Pick Me Up!

Yesterday’s run was both good and bad. The good was the great picking from The Bucking Mules while the bad was the high humidity! When the start of the run I knew the humidity was bad. It had rained the night rained Tuesday night and weather.com listed the humidity at 90 plus percent. Anyway I decided that I wouldn’t worry about running a shaded route because it was cloudy. I picked the old Creek out and back 4-mile course.

Over the first quarter-mile of the run I knew it was going to be a tough run. The air was heavy and didn’t seem like it didn’t want to go into my lungs!
But I did make the first mile in fairly good shape. But the further I went the hotter I got and the more I was sweating.

I finished the second mile with an overall pace of 10:42 minutes per mile. However I was really sweating and by this time sweat was getting in my eyes. Finally, I’d had it and did something I really have only done a few times over the years I stopped and walked! I walked for about 4 tenths of a mile and then started to run again.

The brief walk allowed my heart rate to drop down a little and while I ran slowly over the last 1.6 miles I did make it! The walk/run third mile was covered 12:29 and then the last mile was 11:29. Overall my final pace was 11:16 for the whole run.

When I finished the run and was walking around the block to cool down I thought about the effect if humidity on the run. So I Googled the following

“Is it harder to breathe in high humidity?” This was the first result……from CBS Minnesota.
=&0=& air is more like molasses, it sticks more.” Healthy people may notice fatigue while exercising. You may have to cut a workout short, but for some with lung conditions like asthma or COPD, these conditions are downright dicey. “It’s =&1=&,” Dr. Stiehm said.Jul 28, 2015
Yes, molasses that’s what it was at the start of the run!!

Here are some tips from Runner’s World about running when the humidity is high…

Tips for Running in Humidity:It’s not (just) the heat that matters! How to cope with the muggy weather.

“Of all the climate measurements we take to assess heat risk for our runners, humidity is the biggest factor,” says George Chiampas, D.O., the medical director of the Chicago Marathon. Humidity makes warm summer runs even more taxing because the higher the moisture content of the air, the hotter it feels. An 88-degree day with a relative humidity just under 40 percent, for example, will feel like 88 degrees. Hot, yes, but when humidity reaches 70 percent, that same 88 temperature feels like 100 degrees.

The National Weather Service issues a Heat Advisory when the Index is expected to exceed 105 for at least two consecutive days…

In those conditions, if you are intent on getting in a quality workout, your best bet is a treadmill in an air-conditioned room. Otherwise, opt for a shaded path (versus heat-absorbing roads), run close to water (bodies of water offer breezier conditions), and take walk breaks. It’s essential to hydrate properly and let go of any time-based goals—run by feel instead of pace. When temperatures go from 75 to 90 degrees, heart rate can increase by 10 to 20 beats per minute, which will make your perceived effort much greater. Add humidity to the mix, and the effect will be even more significant, Bergeron says. Link to Full Article

I added the emphasis on the above. Shaded paths and take walk breaks?? I guess I did the right thing!!

Links for Further Reading

High Humidity Can Cause Breathing Problems, Day And Night, By Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield, CB

Tips for Running in Humidity:It’s not (just) the heat that matters! How to cope with the muggy weather., Read More

“Into the Night” with Tony Rice and Friends

Tony Rice – Guitarist Extraordinaire – Born June 8, 1951!

Celebrating his birthday today, June 8th, in addtion to Boz Scaggs is the great musician Tony Rice. Tony was born just a few months before me in the year of 1951. Tony Rice is a great guitarist whose solo work and work with brother Larry, Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson (Rice,Rice,Hillman &Pedersen) appear in my library! Here’s some background for those of you who don’t know Tony. From Wikipedia:

Tony Rice (born David Anthony Rice, June 8, 1951, Danville, Virginia) is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.[2][3]

Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New Acoustic music, to songwriter-oriented folk. Over the course of his career, he has played alongside J. D. Crowe and the New South, David Grisman (during the formation of “Dawg Music”) and Jerry Garcia, led his own Tony Rice Unit, collaborated with Norman Blake, recorded with his brothers Wyatt, Ron and Larry and co-founded the Bluegrass Album Band. He has recorded with drums, piano, soprano sax, as well as with traditional bluegrass instrumentation Continue Reading

You can also read his full biography here at his website. Here’s a list of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards that Tony has won….

Hall of Fame Inductee, 2013

Instrumental Performer of the Year – Guitar – 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2007

Instrumental Group of the Year – The Tony Rice Unit – 1991, 1995

Instrumental Group of the Year – The Bluegrass Album Band – 1990

Instrumental Album of the Year – Bluegrass Instrumentals, Volume 6 (Rounder) ; The Bluegrass Album Band – 1997

Note to Hot Rize: 24 yrs between albums is too long!!

When I started to listen to a lot of music and collecting CDs, thanks to the used CD bins at Tunes in Marlton, in the early 2000s, I found the music of Tim O’Brien, an amazing multi-instrumentalist and singer. I also discovered the music of guitarist Charles Sawtelle. It took a while before I stumbled upon a great bluegrass album So Long a Journey (2002) from the band Hot Rize. I discovered that both O’Brien and Sawtelle were members of the band, along with Pete Wernick, and Nick Forster. Subsequently, I discovered that the album was a live album that had been recorded in 1996 and was a reunion album of the band, that had retired in 1990. In 1990, the members had parted ways and went on to have distinguished solo careers. From their biography at the band’s website.

For bassist and multi-instrumentalist Forster, that meant building a blend of environmental concern and musical curation into the popular and influential show, eTown; for lead singer, mandolinist and fiddler O’Brien, recognition as an award-winning Americana and bluegrass master of singing and songwriting; for Sawtelle, a thriving career as guitarist, engineer and producer for a host of artists; and for Wernick, acclaim as a presenter of bluegrass and banjo camps, genre-bending bandleader, and 15-year president of the IBMA.Read more

About the Band Read More

“Into the Morning” with Two Bluegrass Masters – Jim Hurst and Rob Ickes – “Going Down that Road Feeling Bad”

This afternoon I was listening to the latest release from Breaking Grass Just as Strong, after listening for a while, I went and found a video of the band seems that the band has everything I like fiddle, guitar, mandolin, banjo, and bass, wait! There’s no dobro! But I listened anyway and they are a damn fine band without the dobro and I will listen to Just as Strong a few more times before I write about it…. but thinking about the dobro got me thinking about Rob Ickes, and then I came across this post and thought I’d post it again!!!

So last night before listening to Cameron Milford again and reading that Rob Ickes had played on his album, I found this video of Rob Ickes and Jim Hurst performing one of my favorite songs “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad”.I was impressed by the guitar picking of Jim Hurst on the video, and of course, I always am impressed by Mr. Ickes! After watching, I went and read a little about Mr Hurst and discovered that he had been a member of Claire Lynch’s band …. From Jim’s biography at his website:

“Jim Hurst is one of the most versatile and tasteful guitar players I know. Whether he’s flailing the rhythm for an old time fiddle tune, laying down a funky groove, or finger picking a beautiful ballad, his playing is both impeccable and creative. Accompanying this instrumental virtuosity is a rich and expressive voice with a surprising range.” Mark Schatz Read More

“Into the Morning” with the progressive bluegrass of Greensky Bluegrass – “Demons”

One of the albums that has been in my rotation since it’s release last week, is If Sorrow Swims from Greensky Bluegrass. Greensky

Bluegrass is one of my favorite progressive bluegrass bands. I discovered their music a few years back and loved the album Live at Bells, on that album the band really displays their musicianship. I liked their last album Handguns, but not as much as the earlier albums. If Sorrow Swims reminds me more of their earlier albums. Here’s a statement from the band’s website about the band…

“There’s this great duality to our band,” reflects Greensky Bluegrass mandolinist, vocalist, and songwriter Paul Hoffman. “We’re existing in a few different places at once: we’re a bluegrass band and a rock band, we’re song-driven and interested in extended improvisation.” Read More

Category: Bluegrass

New Folk Music from Old Friends