Newgrass bands?

[skyblue]

I just thought that I would post asking folks which bands
they are listening to....My interests are towards newgrass
but not quite sure if that term is apropos these days.
My taste:
# # # # # #Sam Bush Band
# # # # # #John Cowan Band
# # # # # #New Grass Revival
# # # # # #Mountain Heart
# # # # # #Blue Highway
# # # # # #Ronnie Bowman
# # # # # #Andy Leftwich
# # # # # #Keith Sewell
# # # # # #Peter Rowan
Drew Emmitt Band
Matt Flinner/Phillips/Grier
Mike Marshall

[AW Meyer]

John Reischman and the Jaybirds.

[ira]

newgrass seems to be a bit more wide open these days- if you like drew emmit and the modern day sam bush band- give railroad earth a spin you may like em. they just came out with a new live album-elko. if you want studio- bird in the house-their second album is their best imo. rre has musicians that certainly have their chops down- they can play up tempo traditional tunes and bg and then take it a ton of different directions. john skehan the mando player is perfect for their sound, and on occassion andy plays not only banjo, guitar, dobro and flute, but will double on mando for a 2- mando tune.
i'm not huge into them but- yonder mountain string band may be up your alley as well, and if you want to get more into the new than grass section- string cheese incident may be of interest.

[steve in tampa]

The Greencards

[kyblue]

Lonesome River Band

[JimRichter]

You know, Paula, I don't know if I consider Lonesome River Band newgrass.

Kinda like Blue Grass (which I tend to associate with Bill Monroe), I think of New Grass as being only associated with New Grass Revival (and actually only the 70's edition. The 80's edition--at least once they signed to Capitol--was a lot more mainstream country friendly except for the requisite Bela Fleck instrumental every album).

A lot bands like Lonesome River Band have elements which remind me a lot of the 80's Capitol New Grass Revival. Very polished. Sammy Shelor has something in his banjo playing which reminds me of Bela on the straight mainstream type stuff (like Looking Past You or one of those tunes).

A lot of Drew Emitt, Younder Mtn. String Band, etc. type bands (including the Sam Bush band) seem to be more of the jamgrass bands which have a historical linkage to newgrass, but also seem influenced by Phish, the Dead, and other such rock jam bands. I know the Revival was a jam band and Bush was influenced by the Allmans and other such bands, but the difference is that New Grass still--at least to my ear--has that direction connection to bluegrass. It was bluegrass played with a rock feel, rather than rock played with a bluegrass feel (which is what I hear in Bush's band--I'm one of the biggest NGR fans ever, but really don't like Bush's band or choice of material).

Bands that I considered New Grass were obviously NGR, 2nd Generation, possibly the Seldom Scene, New Deal String Band (though it could be argued that they were the original newgrass band), the Tony Rice Unit (though that's "spacegrass" and more akin to Dawg music), Butch Robins' first albums, Country Cooking.

As far as bands today doing that, I really don't know. Bluegrass has expanded so much that a lot of what was considered New Grass has now assimilated into traditional bluegrass, so I can see the Lonesome River Band connection. You've got a band like Pine Mountain Railroad where the banjoist has obviously listened to Courtney Johnson and they're covering stuff like Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." Yet, it's hard for me to call them a New Grass band.

I do agree about Peter Rowan and Tony Rice. I think what they're doing fits the New Grass category, as well as the Two High String Band. I think the Cowan band (especially with Benson and Pikelny in the group--by the way, I've recently become Pikelny's webmaster) is closer to it than Bush. I'm not sure about Blue Highway. Like the Lonesome River Band, I see them as being adult contemporary bluegrass.

I'm probably biased because like Butch Robins saying that Blue Grass (the template for bluegrass) died with Bill Monroe, I'm of the camp that New Grass died when the Revival broke up in 1989 (and actually when Curtis and Courtney left the band in 80/81).

My $.02 on a Sunday AM from a reformed New Grasser

Jim

[kyblue]

It doesn't look to me as if the original poster is asking for only newgrass bands, particularly based on the examples given (e.g. Mtn Heart, Blue Highway).

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[skyblue]

Well, thanks for your discussion and I think that labels can lead to discussion from all directions. In my original
post I mentioned that I wasn't sure that the newgrass label
was still valid because the boundaries have been blurred.
Ira definitely elaborated on that dilemma. I am a New Grass
fan from the start and still am. I feel that Sam Bush Band is still stretching the boundaries and now he seems to play
the national slide mandolin alot. I like the directions that Sam Bush has traveled but I like adventure. John Cowan
is creating some nice music with his band and he truly does
consider it a BAND.

Mountain Heart and Blue Highway and Lonesome River Band to
me seem more slick than the New Grass Revival ever were and
they seem they are trying to appeal to the country folk.
The playing in those bands is stellar: Adam Steffey and Shawn Lane are excellent mandolin players.

My original post was to stimulate some discussion on music
which might be described as Newgrass. Give me you ideas...

[tattiemando]

The old crow medecine show are a good Newgrass group.

[mandopete]

John Reischman and the Jaybirds.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Dave Gumbart]

You may want to check out The Waybacks. They played Grey Fox for two straight years, 2003 - 2004 (I think), and they ripped it up but good. They've had a personnel change since then, but I downloaded a Bluegrassbox show with the current band, and it's pretty great. I just checked out their home page, and it looks like they've got two shows (San Francisco and Merlefest) with some guy named Bob Weir. Now that could be pretty great. And you gotta love their logo.

http://www.waybacks.com/

Dave

[fatt-dad]

I don't quite know about the lable, but Old School Freight Train is something other than Bluegrass - I'd give them a listen.

f-d

[mandopete]

I don't quite know about the lable, but Old School Freight Train is something other than Bluegrass
They are on David Grisman's Acoustic Disc label!

[GTison]

I saw Mountain Heart over the Weekend. I agree with the Newgrass term for them. Extended, complicated, instrumentals along with contemporary songs and tunes. Just right down the middle 'newgrass' to me anyway. I appreciate it but I don't really enjoy it too much. Now Nickel Creeks 1st and maybe 2nd album sounded like a new kind of Music to me. But now I think they would fit the Newgrass as well.

I THINK.

[fatt-dad]

I don't quite know about the lable, but Old School Freight Train is something other than Bluegrass
They are on David Grisman's Acoustic Disc label!
I meant label as in genre. Their first disk, however was on a local Richmond label as in recording contract.

f-d

[mandopete]

I did a feauture on "Newgrass" on my radio show about a year ago. #Here's the playlist I came up with...

John Hartford-Steam Powered Aereo Plane-Aereo Plain
Newgrass Revival-White Freightliner Blues-When The Storm Is Over
David Grisman Quintet-E.M.D.-The David Grisman Quintet
Old and In The Way-The Hobo Song-Old and In The Way
Short Trip Home-BP-Joshua Bell & Edgar Meyer with Sam Bush & Mike Marshall
Newgrass Revival-Mississippi Dew-Fly Through The Country
Chris Thile-Wolfcreek Pass-Not All Who Wander Are Lost
The Bad Livers-Shot At A Bird, Hit Me A Stump-Horses In The Mines
Rob Ickes & Tim O'Brien-Can't Find My Way Home-Bluegrass Goes To Town
Yonder Mountain String Band-Rambler's Anthem-Town By Town

[Wesley]

Hit and Run Bluegrass out of Colorado.

[samfan]

Candlewyck is one. Check out MySpace and under Music, search for influences and "sounds like" for newgrass, new grass revival, sam bush, etc.