Why cant they just leave us alone?

**barney 59** · May-14-2011, 2:50am

I don't see what the problem is. Did you notice that there was a mandolin being played there. That means that Taylor Swift(or her handlers) hired a mandolin player-- that means he got PAYED to play the mandolin. What's the problem? I think all the pop acts should have a mandolin in their performances,in fact it should be a requirement. Maybe a law. Anyone that pays someone to play the mandolin is golden in my book! Besides she's kind of hot.
Ever seen Taylor's dazzling Taylor 12 string? Taylor on the headstock and Taylor in layed into the fretboard. Talk about product placement! Too bad her name isn't Dudenbostel!

**Mike Snyder** · May-14-2011, 5:04am

She's a talented pop songwriter, singer, musician, flavor of the week. Folks will always line up to take shots at such an easy target. She featured acoustic instruments (and musicians) in a popular video. She can chord that big Taylor, I've seen her do it. She won't have the long career of say, Emmylou or AK, but she's got a bigger niche and a huge audience. Pick a tougher target guys, she's a piece of fluff.

**250sc** · May-14-2011, 5:08am

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**Scotti Adams** · May-14-2011, 9:36am

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**H.P.** · May-14-2011, 10:18am

Thanks to the OP for posting the link to the video. I probably would never have seen it otherwise, and I enjoyed it.

**Nick Triesch** · May-14-2011, 11:15am

Swift is not the the flavor of the week. She has been around for years. Started when she was about 14 and now she is 21. She has already won all the top Country awards and Forbes magazine listed her as one of the top 10 enertainment earners in the world at something like 55 million for just last year. She has sold millions of records. You can hate her but most people by far love her. Also, just maybe she will help taKe away the terrible stigma the banjo has along with bluegrass music. She is helping us. Nick

**Willie** · May-14-2011, 11:50am

BLUEGRASS? I THINK NOT.....Thats what I have been talking about all these years, she might be rich and talented but please don`t refer to her music as bluegrass....Beauty promotes shows and sells a lot of CD`s, or so it seems.....Something I don`t have....

**Nick Triesch** · May-14-2011, 12:03pm

Her video has a very much bluegrass setting. So, I think it can only help bluegrass overall. I have been to our local bluegrass meetings and jams at local resturants and passer by folks (young people) have made a ton of fun of us. That was years past. Some of this could change. And that is a good thing. Kids are playing more acouistic guitar because of Taylor Swift. James Taylor got me playing. Whatever it takes. Nick

**EarlG** · May-14-2011, 12:57pm

It's not bad and I think her mandolin player "Banjo Ben" is on the video. Can't be sure cause it flashed by the players too quick for me. Banjo Ben is a sure enough bluegrasser and has lots of great videos on utube worth checking out.

**Ed Goist** · May-14-2011, 1:36pm

Originally Posted by EarlG

It's not bad and I think her mandolin player "Banjo Ben" is on the video. Can't be sure cause it flashed by the players too quick for me. Banjo Ben is a sure enough bluegrasser and has lots of great videos on utube worth checking out.

Earl, I think you're correct that it is Banjo Ben Clark, and I am pretty sure he is playing a JBovier Blackface F5Z. Here is a pic from the performance at the ACMAs last month.

**mandolino maximus** · May-14-2011, 2:38pm

Originally Posted by Mike Bunting

I don't recall that song being a bluegrass tune, a big country hit for Johnny Horton.

Sorry, I was in a crossover "bluegrassish" state of mind thinking of the fiddle tune that predates Battle of New Orleans and sometimes gets played in bluegrass style. At any rate, it got a five-year old's attention as an introduction to music with some root to it.

Have to admit that this video ended up with the winners living in the city and the "mean" ones sleeping with the goats.

**johnny** · May-14-2011, 3:12pm

I'm most concerned about the probability that Taylor and her band will try to get people to clap in unison at her concerts with potentially catastrophic results. never a good idea to try to make people clap.

**Ed Goist** · May-14-2011, 4:26pm

Originally Posted by Ed Goist

Earl, I think you're correct that it is Banjo Ben Clark, and I am pretty sure he is playing a JBovier Blackface F5Z. Here is a pic from the performance at the ACMAs last month.

Correction. The mandolin player here is Mike Meadows.
After I saw the JBovier F5Z in the video, I fired off a quick congratulatory note to Jeff Cowherd of JBovier Mandolins.
Here is part of a reply I got back from Jeff:
"...Yep, Good eye. That "F5Z" actually belongs to Brian Nutter (Keith Urban). Mike Meadows (Taylor Swift) now has a JBovier "F5-Tradition". Brian & Mike are friends and Mike borrowed the "F5Z" before his "F5-Tradition" arrived (I think)...I know he also used it in their ACM awards performance."

**Mandolin Mick** · May-14-2011, 5:13pm

Yeah, I was going to say that's not Banjo Ben ...

**mandolino maximus** · May-14-2011, 5:14pm

Originally Posted by johnny

I'm most concerned about the probability that Taylor and her band will try to get people to clap in unison at her concerts with potentially catastrophic results. never a good idea to try to make people clap.

Thanks. Now I'm getting this image of Steve Martin clapping on the porch in The Jerk. Oh, the humanity. But maybe her crowd won't consist entirely of banjo players.

**Mike Bunting** · May-14-2011, 5:29pm

Originally Posted by mandolino maximus

Sorry, I was in a crossover "bluegrassish" state of mind thinking of the fiddle tune that predates Battle of New Orleans and sometimes gets played in bluegrass style. At any rate, it got a five-year old's attention as an introduction to music with some root to it.

Have to admit that this video ended up with the winners living in the city and the "mean" ones sleeping with the goats.

Ah yes The Eighth of January. Thought maybe you were referring to that one.

**JeffD** · May-14-2011, 5:42pm

Wierd wierd. Nobody thought, or thinks, the music is bluegrass. Nobody says, or hints that the music is bluegrass. Nobody who knows bluegrass would be in the slightest confused. Nobody, as in nobody. Nobody who doesn't know bluegrass matters to this discussion. They are confused by anything that looks vaguely banjo like.

The only folks that would confuse this with any kind of bluegrass are pulling your leg or trying to get a rise.

A mandolin and a banjo hybrid show up in a pop country tune. So?

**Ed Goist** · May-14-2011, 6:01pm

Jeff, I really don't have a horse in this race, but this fellow say that Taylor Swift is "using a bluegrass theme" in this song/video. Moreover, he thinks it applicable enough to write about it on something called The Bluegrass Blog. So, does this fellow not matter?

As a relative outsider to the genre (Bluegrass is not, and never will be my favorite genre), I am trying to understand the negative reaction to this song and video. This song will be heard by millions and millions of people, and it features a mandolin way out front in the mix. This is obviously a hugely positive thing for the mandolin.

**Paul Kotapish** · May-14-2011, 6:26pm

My seven-year-old daughter adores Taylor Swift. She also likes the Del McCoury band. I don't think she gets them the least bit confused, and I can't imagine why anyone else would get worked up about that song or video, either.

Seems like Taylor Swift is just having some fun with this, and it all seems pretty innocuous to me. I agree with Ed above that the worst that could happen is that a few more preteens might get interested in hearing of that music with the funny instruments and might learn to like the real thing. My bet is that seeing Taylor strumming on a banjo (OK, banjo-guitar) will inspire my girl to pick on a five string more than listening to Rob McCoury (or any real bluegrass banjo player) would.

Many of folks found their way to true-vine bluegrass by way of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Grateful Dead, the latter-day Byrds, Goose Creek Symphony, the Earl Scruggs Review, and any number of other rock or country-rock bands that incorporated bluegrass elements into their sound in a way that left purists at the time scratching their heads. I think it's a sign that bluegrass is healthy and interesting--even if generally misunderstood by the general public.

As for the hokum, hardcore bluegrass has always had an ample share of country corn over the years.

**Bill Foss** · May-14-2011, 6:39pm

All's I know is we sit in front of our computers and argue this and that while Taylor Swift laughs all the way to the bank.

**JeffD** · May-14-2011, 7:57pm

Hey we have long known that bluegrass is far more important than making money!

**JeffD** · May-14-2011, 7:57pm

Originally Posted by Ed Goist

Jeff, I really don't have a horse in this race, but this fellow say that Taylor Swift is "using a bluegrass theme" in this song/video. Moreover, he thinks it applicable enough to write about it on something called The Bluegrass Blog. So, does this fellow not matter?

Ummm.... no.

**JeffD** · May-14-2011, 8:04pm

Originally Posted by Ed Goist

As a relative outsider to the genre (Bluegrass is not, and never will be my favorite genre), I am trying to understand the negative reaction to this song and video. This song will be heard by millions and millions of people, and it features a mandolin way out front in the mix. This is obviously a hugely positive thing for the mandolin.

One thing at a time. There is a lot of stuff out there heard by millions and millions of people, that I wouldn't walk across the street to listen to.

Secondly, I think it will have exactly no effect, neither positive nor negative, on the mandolin or bluegrass. Yea it features a mandolin, but of the many millions who will hear this or see it, how many could even identify what that instrument is. You might get a few right answers if you asked which of those instruments is a mandolin, and allowed one wrong guess.

Taylor Swift is a real talented musician. I keep hoping to like her more.

**Jim MacDaniel** · May-14-2011, 9:11pm

This video says it all -- we need less oversensitivity to others' perceived interloping in or co-opting of our favorite genres and/or instruments, and more goat.