Sirius Satellite Bluegrass

[RBM]

No financial interest here but I just got a Sirius Satellite radio and their bluegrass station really plays some great music - Bush on mandolin, Grisman tunes - I am impressed. It is nice to hear essentially uninterupted music - and it is a heck of a lot better thanthe cable TV Bluegrass station so far.

[GVD]

and it is a heck of a lot better thanthe cable TV Bluegrass station so far.

The Sirius Satellite bluegrass station can be heard on channel 6037 on Dish Network as Willie and others have noted. Yet another reason to dump cable and go satellite IMO.

GVD

[Tiderider]

I listen quite a bit to bluegrass on cable channel Music Choice. Continous music no commercials.

Lee

[markdavenport]

any experience with the XM satellite radio
bluegrass??

[cbogle]

I've had XM for over two years; I originally subscribed to it BECAUSE it has a 24-hour Bluegrass station, but I now listen to it VERY infrequently. The program director peppers the schedule heavily with Newgrass Revival....does anyone else besides me thinks that John Cowan sounds a lot like Cher...on a good day?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Sometimes a good mix of the different Bluegrass flavors can be heard, with a few classic "gems" thrown in. Being a fan and player of Bluegrass music though, I feel that the programming strays from the genre just a little too often for my personal taste.

[Rroyd]

Sirius' programming is a mix of old and new Bluegrass
with material from the 40s to the present, with an occasional tune like Tony Rice doing "Me and My Guitar", which is about as "newgrass" as they get. If you're a hardcore Bluegrass fan, you can check it out for free, as they have some sort of introductory offer to give you an opportunity to listen for several days before subscribing.

[mmukav]

I listen to the bluegrass channel on AOL radio sometimes also. They play some pretty good stuff, uninterrupted, old and new. Only drawback is you have to be at your computer.

[chipotle]

I am a big fan of satellite tv and I started getting Sirius™ on the dish around six months ago. I had been listening to the bluegrass station that Dish offered, whick was OK, but the Sirius™ is much better in my opinion. And no, I have no affiliation, I just like it. When I am on the computer late at night, like now, I will turn to music station since I am not watching the tube anyway.

[mad dawg]

I am on the road for work, and my rental car has XM Radio™, which I am really enjoying. They have a channel called "X Country", and on the way to work I listened to The Duhks, Grahm Parsons, John Langsford, and a new track from Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and I left the car feeling pretty good when I got to the office.

[barricwiley]

I am happy to see this thread. I have been trying to decide which satellite radio to subscribe to. It does boil down to which has the better Bluegrass and Country stations. So, keep up the review type information, very helpful and timely.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif
Richard

[mad dawg]

I am happy to see this thread. I have been trying to decide which satellite radio to subscribe to. It does boil down to which has the better Bluegrass and Country stations. So, keep up the review type information, very helpful and timely.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif
Richard
I've been meaning to check out the XM country and bluegrass stations, but I just can't switch from "X Country", which at lunchtime today featured tracks by Randy Rogers, Kid Rock, AKUS and other artists I've never even heard of before. If this keeps up -- their playing only songs that connect with me -- I think I'll be signing up for XM Radio when I get back home. (Clever cross-marketing idea, providing free satellite radio to rental car companies.)

[johnwalser]

I would be a bit happier if Sirius Bluegrass would play music, maybe tell who's playing and then shut up. I don't care to hear about basketball hype coming on one of their stations. I want uninterupted music.
John

[futrconslr]

Sirius Satellite bluegrass station can be heard on channel 6037

I was told that wasn’t the same station. I could have received faulty info though. I traded my xm in for Sirius because of the bluegrass programming. There is no comparison in my opinion. Additionally, Sirius plays live shows from the Station Inn here in Nashville. If I can’t make the shows....I listen to them on Sirius.

[Juice6120]

I have had XM radio for a year. XM 14 bluegrass junction Xm 12 X country, XM 40 deep tracks, 14 does a good job, gotta love the xm jingle Del Mccoury does.I wish they would play more louvin brothers if they are listening !! I listen all the time. They usually play your request within a few minutes to a half hour. So much of regular radio sucks. They took our only bluegrass station and made it a sports radio channel. That was the day I bought my XM roady2. But alas like always things change and today hearing XM is going to 12.95 a month when it was 9.95 cheaper than sirius, Now its 12.95 for either one of them. I just chose XM for the live at XM studio , Dave Mason this month , BB king etc. Del Mccoury has been on 14 so has Ricky Skaggs etc. Xm is month to month if you wanna leave they prorate your bill. Its all your choice but I selected Xm for now, BTW check your area , alot of areas outside of cities the Radios wont work. Xm works here yet Sirius wont . beats me !

[Kevin Christianson]

No financial interest here but I just got a Sirius Satellite radio and their bluegrass station really plays some great music - Bush on mandolin, Grisman tunes - I am impressed. It is nice to hear essentially uninterupted music - and it is a heck of a lot better thanthe cable TV Bluegrass station so far.

I'm not responding to this particular posting but to the positive remarks about Bluegrass Junction beamed to us earthlings from cyber0uterspace or wherever. The positive responses support my perception that its listeners know very little about bluegrass except the flavors of the month and a handful of newgrass bands from the 70s. Those who go gah gah over Tony Rice and JD Crowe And the McCouries but know little about the work of Clarence White (and the early Roland), Reno and Smiley, Mac Wiseman, Jim Eanes, Bill Napier, Bill Keith - maybe even Al Munde and Tony Tryshka aren't yet on their radar. And most certainly have little knowledge of new material that abounds that Sirius doesn't broadcast. They gush over Chris Thiele and Sierra Hull - but know nothing about Andy Statman. Blind leading the blind. So from my perspective Sirius is doing a huge injustice to bluegrass music by delivering its daily dumptruck load of chiefly polyester "bluegrass" music in which the instrumentation and styles from tune to tune resemble each other so much that you could switch the names of the bands and only the informed would know the difference. It shocks me that mandolincafe subscribers aren't up in arms by the way Sirius runs its taped shows over and over again day in and day out. I'm so sick of hearing the same pop grass tunes from 11 to 1 or so every day. Sure they insert some old tunes here and there but the emphasis is on Top Ten pop grass crap. They avoid anything raw and they sure avoid any bands that aren't touring and/or don't have a top ten "hit" to their name. It appears that the only way to get your work played on Bluegrass Junction is to raise hell on social media like Dave Peterson did. As I recall, WAMU was the only station that made a point of having its djs expose listeners to bands / tunes that they probably weren't aware of. And if I have to listen Dale and his boys chuckling like idiots between tunes I'm going to vomit. I started imitating all that moronic giggling and my wife in the next room cracked up and had to run to the bathroom. Oh, I miss listening to Eddie Stubbs on his evening show on WSM - and sure wish both and Marty Stewart had shows on Bluegrass Junction -- or the corporation hired some knowledgeable DJs and gave them freedom to pick new work outside of the polyester mainstream. And worse yet - the car companies are shoving Sirius down our throats and restricting our listening choices to their channels. I guess I'm a dinosaur but do I have to invest a lot of money in an Ipod to listen to my tunes instead of just stick a CD into the narrow slot like I used to?!

[lowtone2]

I'm not responding to this particular posting but to the positive remarks about Bluegrass Junction beamed to us earthlings from cyber0uterspace or wherever. The positive responses support my perception that its listeners know very little about bluegrass except the flavors of the month and a handful of newgrass bands from the 70s. Those who go gah gah over Tony Rice and JD Crowe And the McCouries but know little about the work of Clarence White (and the early Roland), Reno and Smiley, Mac Wiseman, Jim Eanes, Bill Napier, Bill Keith - maybe even Al Munde and Tony Tryshka aren't yet on their radar. And most certainly have little knowledge of new material that abounds that Sirius doesn't broadcast. They gush over Chris Thiele and Sierra Hull - but know nothing about Andy Statman. Blind leading the blind. So from my perspective Sirius is doing a huge injustice to bluegrass music by delivering its daily dumptruck load of chiefly polyester "bluegrass" music in which the instrumentation and styles from tune to tune resemble each other so much that you could switch the names of the bands and only the informed would know the difference. It shocks me that mandolincafe subscribers aren't up in arms by the way Sirius runs its taped shows over and over again day in and day out. I'm so sick of hearing the same pop grass tunes from 11 to 1 or so every day. Sure they insert some old tunes here and there but the emphasis is on Top Ten pop grass crap. They avoid anything raw and they sure avoid any bands that aren't touring and/or don't have a top ten "hit" to their name. It appears that the only way to get your work played on Bluegrass Junction is to raise hell on social media like Dave Peterson did. As I recall, WAMU was the only station that made a point of having its djs expose listeners to bands / tunes that they probably weren't aware of. And if I have to listen Dale and his boys chuckling like idiots between tunes I'm going to vomit. I started imitating all that moronic giggling and my wife in the next room cracked up and had to run to the bathroom. Oh, I miss listening to Eddie Stubbs on his evening show on WSM - and sure wish both and Marty Stewart had shows on Bluegrass Junction -- or the corporation hired some knowledgeable DJs and gave them freedom to pick new work outside of the polyester mainstream. And worse yet - the car companies are shoving Sirius down our throats and restricting our listening choices to their channels. I guess I'm a dinosaur but do I have to invest a lot of money in an Ipod to listen to my tunes instead of just stick a CD into the narrow slot like I used to?!

OK, I'll get off your lawn!

[Jstring]

OK, I'll get off your lawn!

HA! Now that was funny…

I also subscribed to Sirius for Bluegrass Junction, but I listen to it a lot less than I used to.

I think Mr. Christianson does make some valid points:

They just play new songs until they beat them to death… and many of the songs are completely interchangeable. It’s like there’s some Max Martin of bluegrass who writes every new song. Actually, that’s doing a disservice to Max Martin… his pop songs are more unique and musically interesting than most modern bluegrass.

Still, I’m grateful for Bluegrass Junction… they play a fair amount of Truegrass, and once in awhile I hear a new song or group that is worth listening to.

I think the real problem is with Bluegrass itself… all the bland vanilla new songs, same riffs, similar lyrics… reminds me of modern country, which spiraled into musical irrelevance a decade or so ago, when every song began to sound identical.

I went to the Gettysburg bluegrass festival this spring but spent very little time actually listening to bands…. Sideline was pretty great, but the rest didn’t hold my attention. I spent most of the weekend jamming and meeting new people.

Hey, Lowtone… looks like you better get off my yard, too! :))

[J Mangio]

For me, it's Bluegrass Junction on Dish satellite TV, ch. 9962.

[DaveGinNJ]

I will listen to Bluegrass Junction in the car, but I prefer streaming WNRV The Ridge. Its a bit more old school

[Rush Burkhardt]

I started listening to and playing BG in the mid-60's, and was fortunate to see most of the 1st generation bluegrassers. With the exception of live music (of which there was plenty in the N.Virginia, DC, Baltimore, Southern PA corridor), a few festivals, local radio stations which, occasionally, played BG (WAMU, WSM, WBAL-AM [30-minutes from Johnnies Used Cars, each afternoon]) and one's own records or tapes, there was precious little BG on any "air"!

XM radio appeared, and with it, Bluegrass Junction. I have listened to it since! It is an important part of my day, as I listen in my car and, use it as background, when I'm at my desk.

They have something for everyone. For the more BG committed, Chris Jones presents Truegrass, featuring music and info, through the first generation founders; Ned Luberecki with Derailed, gives the Newgrass, etc. a stage, and even features More Banjo Sunday, where he teaches and lauds the 5-string; Kyle Cantrell, is the consumate BG DJ, playing music featured on the lists of the most popular contemporary listeners and, periodically, Kyle features a down-deep and personal show interviewing and playing music from the selections of new releases; and Joey Black, who covers all of the bases. A previous "contributor" referred to one of my favorite hours on BG and spoke of "Dale and his boys chuckling like idiots between tunes". 1) It's Del., 2) The program Hand-Picked, harkens back to the music heard and played by one of the few remaining 1st generation players. One of the best people, and his sons, call upon not only the music that has led us to BG, today, but the personalities they have met along the journey.

Upon re-reading, I feel as though I've written a promotional document for Bluegrass Junction and its crew. I guess I did, but not to promote the bunch at BJ. Rather, this is a way to thank them for the years of enjoyment, education and friendship they've offered over the years! THANKS!:popcorn:

[Bogle]

I believe they're trying to mix it up by playing "something for everyone", however their adherence to the "top 40" style programming is hugely annoying. Fortunately, there are many choices on Sirius, and I switch to another channel in a heartbeat when they play something that makes my hair hurt.