Rock-n- Roll tunes Bluegrass style

[Rex Hart]

I was just thinking how most rock/pop tunes that I hear grassed up usually fall short of the original version.Exceptions (that I can think of), are the Stones song Wild Horses (Old and In the Way) and the Beatles Don't Let Me Down (Dillards).Are there any more that really impresses?

[catmandu2]

I loved AC/DC's Highway to Hell. But then, I'm not a big bluegrass guy

[AlanN]

Didn't the Newgrass boys do 'I'm Down' on their last outing as a band? I thought that was the best tune on the record.

Also the MJ song Billie Jean was done up pretty convincingly by a band, forget which one.

[Matt DeBlass]

I've heard the Beatles' "I've Just Seen a Face" done really well by a Bluegrass band. Of the other stuff I've heard, some of it worked, some was amusing for the novelty.

It's not always bad to snag a popular song for a different tradition, whether BG, Celtic or whatever. Sometimes it helps build a bridge that brings in a new audience.

[Chris Travers]

Iron Horse does tons of covers from Metallica to Goo Goo Dolls. Here's a list of their stuff:

* Fade to Bluegrass: The Bluegrass Tribute to Metallica
* Black and Bluegrass: A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne
* Take Me Home: The Bluegrass Tribute to Guns N Roses
* Fade to Bluegrass: The Bluegrass Tribute to Metallica, Vol. 2
* Pickin' on Modest Mouse: A Bluegrass Tribute to Modest Mouse
* The Bluegrass Tribute to The Shins
* Whole Lotta Bluegrass: A Bluegrass Tribute to Led Zeppelin
* Birth, Death, Blue, Grass: A Bluegrass Tribute to Black Label Society
* Strummin' With The Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen (Two tracks on a multi-artist compilation)
* The Bluegrass Tribute to Classic Rock (Collaboration with Corn Bread Red)
* The Gospel According to Hank Williams
* A Boy Named Blue: A Bluegrass Tribute to Goo Goo Dolls

[allenhopkins]

Charles River Valley Boys, Beatle Country. The whole LP/CD. Forty-plus years old and still worth playing.

[Matt DeBlass]

Then, of course, sometimes the band decides to do a Bluegrass version of their own song. Case in point, The Raconteurs remake of "Old Enough" with Ricky Skaggs:

[Ben Milne]

yep Chris has nailed it. Iron horse are awesome.

[mandroid]

I think theres a MoodyBlugrass recording out there , Stones, etc.
a series has been produced,
seemed to be in discount racks at the local big-box-store here, a year or so, ago.

Good Ol weird AL and his band did a medley of heavy metal songs arranged as Polkas
which is a hoot ...

[Willie]

I might start something here but I don`t care if it is played with a mandolin, banjo, bass and guitar it is still rock and roll.....You can tell "real" bluegrass when you hear it..... Don`t all of you that don`t know what bluegrass really is jump on me because I won`t be opening this thread again.....Willie

[barney 59]

I heard New Grass Revival and particularly Sam Bush do a version of Leon Russells "Tightrope" way back when the Newgrass Revival was something I hadn't even heard of and it was a pivotal moment for me. It brought down the house!

[mrmando]

I might start something here but I don`t care if it is played with a mandolin, banjo, bass and guitar it is still rock and roll.....You can tell "real" bluegrass when you hear it..... Don`t all of you that don`t know what bluegrass really is jump on me because I won`t be opening this thread again.....Willie

Well, none of the instruments most often used in bluegrass were originally developed for playing bluegrass. And with the possible exception of the electric bass guitar, the same is true of rock'n'roll. So ... there's no reason you can't play rock'n'roll on a banjo or mandolin if you want.

There's a certain storied professional bluegrass band that's been around for nearly 35 years and is well known for playing rock'n'roll tunes now and then. All the current members save one can switch from a bluegrass groove to a rock groove on their instruments. The one who evidently can't is the sole original member, and he plays his instrument bluegrass-style no matter what the rest of the band is doing.

Anyway, that particular bluegrass band recorded a killer version of a certain CCR song that I greatly prefer to the original.

I'm sorry you won't be checking back in; I was hoping to learn what bluegrass really is.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Just in case you don't know (unlikely !),Joe Val & his band under the name of "The Charles River Valley Boys" recorded an LP years back entitled 'Beatle Country'. Now available on CD - it's full of great tunes -my favourite being "Yeller Submarine",complete with feudin' gunshots !.
I've heard a few of Buddy Holly's songs done Bluegrass style,especially "Blue Days Black Nights" & "It Doesn't Matter AnyMore",
Ivan

[AlanN]

It Doesn't Matter AnyMore", actually written by that famous banjo picker Paul Anka , covered very nicely in the bluegrass way by the band Spectrum, with Bela Fleck, Jimmy Gaudreau, Glenn Lawson, Mark Schatz.

And Harv Davey was the guy behind Moody Bluegrass, the well-publicized Nashville production. It features many of the MB's signature songs, such as Knights In White Satin. A better (to my ears) version of that tune was on a Mike Garris record, with Marc McGlashan picking the heck out of the manalin.

[Luke C]

Anyway, that particular bluegrass band recorded a killer version of a certain CCR song that I greatly prefer to the original.

Hey mrmando, just curious as to the band and the song. I'd love to hear it!

[jim_n_virginia]

I've always been under the impression you can "bluegrass up" ANY song if you use trad BG instruments.

Heard Ralph Stanley II bluegrass up the song Ruby a while back and it sure sounded bluegrassy to me! LOL!

[Don Grieser]

Jim & Jesse did "Berry Pickin in the Country," a whole album of Chuck Berry tunes.

[AlanN]

Bobby and Sonny Osborne did Ruby decades ago. Check the movie High Lonesome for a rocked out bg version by them, drumz and all.

[Mandocarver]

I was just thinking how most rock/pop tunes that I hear grassed up usually fall short of the original version.Exceptions (that I can think of), are the Stones song Wild Horses (Old and In the Way) and the Beatles Don't Let Me Down (Dillards).Are there any more that really impresses?

Dale Ann Bradley does great versions of U2's "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" and Fleetwood Mac's "Over my head". I'm listening to the latter now and I prefer it to the original.
Dean

[RichM]

While not many would consider the Dixie Chicks bluegrass, I always thought their version of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" was even better than the original, and it did have a nice 'grassy feel. My (rock) band used to play the Chicks' version, and the crowd would go wild when I strapped on the banjo...

[Mandoviol]

On Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby's album, they play a bluegrass version of "Superfreak." Sounds crazy, no? But it actually works really well, and has the unfortunate tendency to become an earworm.

[Samjessin]

Berry Picking in the Country is on my turntable right now!

The dillards with John Hartford - nashwood hollyville strings and glitter grass contains a few good rock and roll songs - country boy rock and roll, that'll be the day, yaketty yak, boogie on reggae woman. Great album.

Also retro grass (grisman, seeger, hartford) version of maybelline has been stuck in my head since opening this thread!

[Patrick Market]

Are there any more that really impresses?

Are bad impressions allowed?

A few years back, I picked up Pickin' on Zeppelin from a bargain bin. Musicianship was not the issue, but arrangement certainly was. On the upside (and no surprise), "Going to California" was handled quite well. However, "Stairway to Heaven" was not---just way too happy/bouncy.

[Steve Ostrander]

A few years back, I picked up Pickin' on Zeppelin from a bargain bin. Musicianship was not the issue, but arrangement certainly was. On the upside (and no surprise), "Going to California" was handled quite well. However, "Stairway to Heaven" was not---just way too happy/bouncy.
__________________
-Patrick

Patrick,
I also have that CD. I agree on "Stairway" being to bouncy/corny. I think "Ramble On" is the stringest track--I absolutely love that track. My band does a pretty good job on "Going to CA"

[Man of Wax]

I've heard the Beatles' "I've Just Seen a Face" done really well by a Bluegrass band. Of the other stuff I've heard, some of it worked, some was amusing for the novelty.

This could be The Dillards as well. They have a very fine version of it on Back Porch Bluegrass / Wheatstraw Suite (I forget which, but the discs usually come together).

I don't like most of what I've heard of Iron Horse, but their version of "Jump" on the Van Halen tribute—performed with David Lee Roth—is epic.

John Hartford has a pretty good cover of Janis's "Little Piece of My Heart" (not as good as the original) on Gum Tree Canoe. He also covers the Rolling Stones' "No Expectations" on that album. Bill Keith also did "No Expectations." And, of course, lots of country rock songs are played bluegrass style and vice versa.

The comment about "real" bluegrass having nothing to do with rock and roll seems really ignorant to me. At heart they're both blues (1-4-5), after all, and they developed almost simultaneously from similar sources. There's bound to be cross-fertilization.

Bobby and Sonny Osborne did Ruby decades ago. Check the movie High Lonesome for a rocked out bg version by them, drumz and all.

My banjoist friend has been known to refer to Sonny as a rock-and-roll banjoist. I think he's onto something.