Pages tagged “sam bush”

The Band deserves as much credit as anyone for inventing the country-rock subgenre we now know as Americana, so it made sense that this year’s Americana Music Association conference kicked off Wednesday night here in Nashville with a tribute to The Band’s drummer/singer Levon Helm.

Progressive bluegrass pioneer Sam Bush is confirmed as host of the 2007 International Bluegrass Music Awards, which take place Oct. 4 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. The event is part of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s week-long World of Bluegrass Festival, featuring live music by dozens of artists, including Emmylou Harris, the Greencards, Cherryholmes and Kathy Mattea.

The IBMA states its goal as “working together for the success of bluegrass music worldwide.” An honorable cause, especially when you remember all the times your mother guilt tripped you, saying, “String that banjo! In some countries they don’t even have fingerpicking!” See the links below for a schedule and ticket prices.

Related links:
SamBush.com
IBMA.org
Emmylou.net

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“We’re not a bluegrass band,” says Sam Bush. “We’re a rock ’n’ roll band that just happens to know a handful of bluegrass tunes.”

With its first album in 1972, Bush and the somewhat revolving cast of New Grass Revival stretched the boundaries of bluegrass with their rock ’n’ roll attitude, long hair, extended jams and adaptations of rock tunes, bringing a new audience to the music. “I was always a rock ’n’ roll fan; I played electric guitar in high-school rock bands. We were all interested in rock, but my love of the mandolin drew me to bluegrass—that and the whole lifestyle, the camaraderie amongst all the bands. That doesn’t really exist anywhere else.”

A National Junior Fiddle Champ at ages 15, 16 and 17, Bush is equally adept on both electric and acoustic guitar. But the mandolin has always been his primary instrument, and he’s taken it to places Bill Monroe never dreamed. Crackling with electricity, his joy and unsurpassed musicianship infects everyone on stage and in the crowd. If Sam is there, it’s a party. In a single live set, he’s liable to cover artists as diverse as Monroe, Bach, Freddie King, The Commodores and Bob Marley.

After New Grass Revival’s break-up, Bush’s energies went into a variety of projects: touring with Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones; producing and playing on records; recording the Strength in Numbers project (a one-off collaboration with Jerry Douglas, Fleck and other fusion luminaries); creating instructional videos; and recording several excellent solo records. His latest, King O My World, features one of the strongest ensembles he’s ever worked with—drummer Chris Brown, bassist Byron House and guitarist Brad Davis, along with former New Grass guitarist Jon Randall, keyboardist Reese Wynans, Larry Atamanuik and Andrea Zonn.

The musical selection is what you would expect from a Sam Bush album. There are three instrumental tracks, “Bananas,” “Mahavishnu Mountain Boys” and the fiddle tune “Puppies N’ Knapsacks.” There’s an energetic romp through the Grandpa Jones chestnut “Eight More Miles to Louisville,” the tongue-in-cheek “Bless His Heart,” and even a tribute to baseball great Ozzie Smith.

So what’s left for Sam Bush? “I’ve been so lucky, getting to play with Doc Watson. When I was a kid sitting out in the audience, I never thought I’d ever get to sit on stage as his contemporary. I would like to someday be able to play with Eric Clapton, other than that, my main priorities are to continue to improve and to keep having birthdays—especially to keep having birthdays.”