Bradley walker?

[chip]

I picked Bradley Walker earlier in the year as a great talent and voice but really, Bluegrass? Male Vocalist of the year 2007 IBMA??? Please...what a miscatorization for this fellow...and the Bluegrass community. Am I missing something here?

[Brady Smith]

No..your right. I just brought it up in another thread. I've only heard a handful of his stuff...and I'm thinking that's about all he has but I hope there is some bluegrass somewhere I haven't heard yet. He just sounds like another modern country singer. He's ok but he needs to be on another channel on the radio for sure. I guess if you don't have electric guitars and drums you must be bluegrass.

[chip]

Bradley reminds me of when Randy Travis first came out with the Bones song and a couple of others. I had recognized right when I heard him that he would be a great country performer. I feel the same about Bradley but in the country sense. I don't hear anything even remotely associated with a tradional bluegrass sound. Whoever is marketing Bradley must have thought there was too much of a similarity and competition in the country market so they groomed him as a bluegrasser. I bet he doesn't feel he fits in this category either.

[re simmers]

I haven't heard his cd but I saw him at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival. He would not get my vote as the best. I think John Cowan is 'the voice,' but I'm certain most don't consider him grass either. So I guess Russell Moore would be my pick. But as far as Bradley being bluegrass? He sounds a lot like Keith Whitley. He was grass for a while. I don't think you have to sing Little Maggie through your nose in the key of B to be grass do you? Baritone voices are allowed to sing lead in bluegrass aren't they? IMHO he's a better singer than some of the past nasal crooner winners at IBMA. I'm a grass lover and I think the Keith Whitley/John Starling/Gary Ferguson register is needed; just my humble opinion.

[chip]

Russell Moore. Now there you go! I agree. Your right, you don't have to sing Little Maggie through your nose in the key of B to be considered a bluegrasser, but do you really think that the music Bradley sings is bluegrass??? I don't even think it qualifies as newgrass. It's country in my opinion...

[Brady Smith]

I'll second or third the Russell Moore.

[bluegrassrulz]

the difference with whitley was that he had an uniqueness to his voice. The phrasings and overall make up of his voice made him appealing for bluegrass music....and when he eventually developed his full voice (listen from the ralph days, jd crowe, then country...HUGE difference), it was good for country as well. Walker has a good voice, but I don't hear an endearing quality that would tie it to bluegrass. As far as nasal singers in the past winning....del mccoury maybe? although he was still fairly pure sounding when he has won in the past( compared to now).

[buddyellis]

I was trying to figure this out, myself. Saw the award, and immediately went to rhapsody.com to listen and, while a decent old school country voice, very little of his music really fits in the 'grass genre, and I'm generally pretty wide in my net 'defining' BG. I found it generally somewhat boring, run of the mill, standard nashville product. Certainly nothing I'd put money on, much less define as the 'male voice of bluegrass' for 2007.