Bluegrass & mandolins might go BigTime!

[DataNick]

One of my Facebook friends, fiddler Deanie Richardson, worked with these guys to prepare them for this nationally televised show.

Who knows, pop culture may get bit by the Bluegrass bug...YMMV

[MontanaMatt]

Wow, so great for little sprouts!

[BrianWilliam]

Nice work Giri!

[colorado_al]

My family and I randomly met Giri and Uma Peters, and their mom, at Carter's in Nashville a few weeks ago. My son and I were really inspired by their playing and kindness. Hope that they continue to enjoy playing music for a long time to come.

[Tobin]

Wow, those kids nailed it! That was pretty impressive mandolin playing.

[Oliver A.]

When I was down in Raleigh for last year's IBMA show I met an impressive number of young kids who could really play. Left me thinkin' that bluegrass is in good hands. Personally I wouldn't want it ever to go mainstream. The possibility of making really big money in any kind of artistic pursuit always takes away from the sincere passion or "labor of love" aspect of the art. A good boost from time to time, on the other hand, is always welcome.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Oliver - I thoroughly understand your sentiments - but !. Back in the late 1960's & on through the 1970's +,'Folk' music became pretty mainstream,but from it emerged singers & musicians,who,despite becoming popular & in it's wake,making a decent living from it,still maintained a sincerity in their performances. For me,it's the musicians who 'carry the flag' for the music that they perform. If they are sincere in what they do,it'll come through.
In fact,as Folk music became popular,it inspired musicians/singers to dig even deeper into it's roots & produce some wonderful music. I was very fortunate to be around at that time & i've seen & heard many of the finest of them - the 'newly discovered' Doc Watson at Manchester UK's old concert hall,The Free Trade Hall in 1965 for one, & the following year Bill Monroe & the boys here in Manchester.

Having said all that,it's doubtful that Bluegrass would ever make it 'big time' as in 'pop music - BIG TIME'. Increase in popularity - well possibly,but that's when the musical integrity of the musicians themselves comes into play. They are the ones who make or break it - purely my opinion,
Ivan

[dhergert]

I think that's one of the reasons that I really like the mandolin. The culture around it is not so heavily dependent on the future of bluegrass. Don't get me wrong, I also grew up in bluegrass and I'll always be a part of it. But I really like other genre too, and it's much easier to enjoy and perform a mixture and still be a part of the mandolin culture than with other stereotypical bluegrass instruments.

I'm mostly comparing with 5-string banjo of course, which is really my primary performing role. And to be fair, there is "classic banjo" and folk banjo, both which I have instruments for and attempt to play at. But I always feel a little guilty, even at open jams playing classical, jazz or swing songs because a lot of people expect the 5-string banjo just to play bluegrass. I think the cultural pressure is heavier on 5-string banjo players that way.

Although I haven't started performing much with it yet, for me with mandolin I feel a lot less of this kind of culture pressure at jams and other musical occasions.

Regarding the kids' performance, it's wonderful and this is a great start. But having raised two sons myself, personally I don't expect these kids all to stay glued to bluegrass forever; there's a huge amount of social pressure for kids to look other directions musically. That said, they may stay with the instruments they are playing in one form or another, for a lifetime.

This is not a criticism of the kids' performance or skills at all, but I do think I would have chosen a different song to showcase my kids' band with, and to nationally be nick-named after. [Wiki reference removed to keep this family oriented -- Don].

I am glad they didn't choose Banks of the Ohio though.

[Willie Poole]

In the `60`s and 70`s the Washington D.C. area was called "The Bluegrass Capital Of The US", there was bluegrass being played at some club somewhere is or around the city every night of the week, no so any more....I have seen some great young pickers come and go, mostly they start out playing the simple traditional songs and then after a while they feel that they want to show the world that they are better musicians than that and they branch out into some other style of music...

My band used to play on Sunday`s a real high class restaurant down on the Bay and people would come to the area where we were playing after they had finished their dinner and have a drink or two and most every night we would hear from them that they never had heard bluegrass before but they sure enjoyed hearing us play, we played there for over 6 months every Sunday and never sold one CD, It`s like they want to have a good time but don`t want to support bluegrass and that is one thing that I don`t understand.....When WAMU broadcasted bluegrass every day for at least three hours the music was popular here and then they changed program directors and they cut out bluegrass except for a "flea Power" station that can only be heard for about 6 miles or so if the trees don`t have any leaves on them, they do have it on the Internet and what they play sucks...

My feeling is that pickers want to make as much money as they can playing and showing their talents so if people aren't going to support bluegrass and the radio stations that play it then it will die as those pickers go off into some other style of music...Sure there are a few bands that are still making it but keep an eye out to see how long they stay on top, look at the pickers that are winning awards at IBMA, a lot of them aren`t even playing what is considered bluegrass...I`m not saying that the award winners are not good pickers, it`s just that they aren`t really bluegrass pickers...I still say our music will go the same way :Country" went and it won`t be long, sure having a mandolin crossing over into other styles of music is nice but as far as those young men go I bet they soon get antsy and go off into some other form of music...Raymond McClain is teaching bluegrass at a college in the south and what those students is a mixture of Bluegrass and Americana, they are learning their instruments real good and I guess Raymond wants to introduce them to all kinds of music and let them decide which route they want to go...And most will go where the money is, not just playing for pure pleasure like most of us...

OK, I`m done, I know some of you won`t agree but that is the way I feel,,, Bluegrass should be in a class by itself

Willie

Thanks for posting it Nick, I enjoyed it...

Willie