NonCountry Bluegrass suggestions?

[Dagger Gordon]

I think it's actually a good question.

I have found that I enjoy stuff which is more on the fringes of bluegrass and indeed country.
Indeed I prefer it to be a bit more 'alternative' in terms of attitude as well.

Going back over thirty years ago, I was honeymooning in the States (my wife is American but I am Scottish) and we bumped into a lot of great music at that time, particularly around North Carolina where we ran into some good pickers in a great shop called Oxbow in Chapel Hill, and bought a bunch of LP records.

These included Tony Rice Unit's Backwaters (featuring Reischman on mandolin), Grisman's Quintet 80, Mark O'Connor's guitar album Markology, Doc and Merle Watson's Guitar Album, etc. I still think that was probably a great time for music, and you would do well to check some of it out.

More recently I find I enjoy a lot of Tim O'Brien's stuff, both solo and in a duo with Darrell Scott.

This is a great video - Live at Hippie Jack's. Actually the hippy aspect of it is something which I find attractive, but I can see that more traditional country or bluegrass fans would perhaps find it very off-putting.

I think you might also like Elephant Revival.

http://www.elephantrevival.com/

[Spock89]

I think it's actually a good question.

Thanks! Elephant Revival is awesome! I'll be a while checking them out. I especially like the womans voice.. like a wonderful mixture of Jewel and Dolores O'Riorden(Cranberries) just excellent! Probably gonna be at the top of my playlist for a while lol.

I actually came across a Tim O'brien song a couple nights ago, liked the sound, and went on to something else and forgot his name lol. So thanks for the reminder.

Big thanks to everyone else as well.. trying to take time to check everything out you've all suggested so far. Taking some time get through it all but you guys have turned me on to some excelllent stuff! Flatt and Scruggs are killer, love Trampled by Turtles, and lots of others. Keep 'em comin

[Victor Daniel]

This is one of my favorite bluegrass instrumental albums. Another is Richard Greene the Grass is Greener and for a bit newer Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe. I too dislike many modern bluegrass bands that sound too "pop country", over rehearsed and lacking a bluesey or old time edge, but I also really enjoy many classic country artists. Some music seems to have soul and feel alive to me regardless of genre and some seems formulaic and dead.

[A 4]

It's a pretty hard question to answer, since so many of the terms mean different things to different people. But I think we are talking about American acoustic music that doesn't have badonkadonk elements. I had to look that up, but i get it now. Here are some from bands I have seen locally (they were travelling)

I'm going to see the Infamous Stringdusters tonight. Yes dobro, but not steel guitar, which might be the OP's actual problem. I probably wouldn't call them bluegrass, but they are in that acoustic jam band sort of genre of which several examples were listed above. But there are lots. Not my fave genre to listen to, but the Stringdusters are great live. For more what people would classify as bluegrass, the Steep Canyon Rangers or Chatham County Line - neither have the annoying "I'm more country than you" swagger. Saw the Barefoot Movement a couple of years ago - I wouldn't call them bluegrass, but they were great.

Since we are leaving bluegrass behind, fiddler Brittany Haas' album is great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KEu...p5VSXOm6Ea3wZf
Beautiful renditions of oldtime tunes.

This is the mandolin cafe, so I have to suggest Joe Walsh, and also Matt Flinner, who is a bit more jazzy. Darol Anger on fiddle too. There is so much, once you find your way in.

[Mandobart]

To me, there is Bluegrass (Bill Monroe, Flat and Scruggs, Del McCoury), Newgrass (Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, David Grisman, Old and In the Way), Stringband (Fruition, Yonder Mntn, Milkdrive, Elephant Revival), Classic Country (Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins, George Jones), Americana (John Prine, Jason Isbel, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Ozark Mnt Daredevils, Devil Makes Three, Shovels and Rope) and finally Pop Kountry (everything by Garth Brooks and later played on commercial CW format stations). I enjoy everything but the last category.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Spock89 - "...you guys are saying that bluegrass and country are one in the same ?". IMHO,i think we need a touch of clarification here.

Back in the early days of Bluegrass music,the other ''Country'' singers that were around came in many guises. Some were straight forward balladeers who came into 'Country' via Tin Pan Alley's 'popular' music ie. Vernon Dalhart who kicked off by singing Opera for one thing. We also had Roy Acuff & a whole slew of singers singing what would become known as ''Country & Western'' songs. My personal favourite of that era,was Hank Williams. I think that the 'Westren' bit came via the 'Cowboy Balladeers' such as Roy Rodgers & his predecessors.

Flash forward a few years & ''Country & Western'' (& Bluegrass music) would be tinged by the most popular music of the time, ''Rock 'n Roll''. That's when we get the line up of electric guitars & drums etc. coming into the music. Until that time,the ''majority'' of 'Country Music' had been acoustic. I used to enjoy some of the 'Country & Western' (C & W) bands of that era,provided that the songs were good. Some of the singers at that time crossed over into what i'd call Country ballad style - Charlie Rich / Jim Reeves /
Statler Brothers etc. & were more akin to the 'pop' music singers,in fact there wasn't much difference IMO. Even in the UK with a vast non-country orientated audience,these singers had some big hits,especially ''Gentleman'' Jm Reeves.

Johnny Cash was big over here as well. Roger Miller had hits with his own type of songs,but everything was getting less & less C & W & eventually IMHO (again), it got lost in a flood of 'pseudo Country' music with the likes of garth Brooks & a few others. No disrespect to those singers,but i couldn't call their songs 'Country' songs - others will think differently.

Personally,i think that back in the early days of Bluegrass music,we had the 2 genres - Bluegrass & Country ie Roy Acuff & others. I think that in the Garth Brooks et al era,the genre of ''Country Music'' became somewhat blurred re. was being accepted as 'Country Music',but now,Bluegrass Music is seen as being 'Country Music' - ie. music derived directly from 'Country roots', & 'possibly' the purest form of Country Music at that.

Many of the bands playing today that use what we term 'Bluegrass instruments' in their music,began playing either Bluegrass or something very close to it,but have then gone on to play in their own style ie. 'Infamous Stringdusters' & 'Greensky Bluegrass' ( 2 of my own favourites - i like 'Demons' by Greensky ). Chris Thile's band Punch Brothers, play what the heck they like & it seems to go down well with their audiences. But to get to the root of the original question, Bluegrass is now widely seen to be Country Music,but in it's purest form. When you go back to the songs / tunes that Bill Monroe (& other bands) based Bluegrass music on,being perfectly honest - what else could it be ?. It didn't come from any 'city' that's for sure !. So strictly speaking, 'non-Country Bluegrass' doesn't exist.

The bottom line in all of this, is that you listen to music & choose the genres / styles that appeal to you & pass on the ones that don't - like the vast majority of us, including me,
Ivan

[Dagger Gordon]

and lacking a bluesey or old time edge]

Exactly. If you listen to Monroe, those are important aspects of his music and that's a big part of why I like him so much.
It's also a bit rough round the edges. His singing wouldn't be released like that nowadays. It would be 'tidied up' in the studio.

[DataNick]

Genre labeling has blurred lines these days. Strictly speaking, Bluegrass is a sub-genre of Country music. The Pandora reference is a good one for identifying other bands that play music you like...the label Bluegrass really encompasses just about all varieties of acoustic string band music these days...Enjoy your listening journey!

[Seter]

To me Country music is a descendant of bluegrass; it has many other ancestors as well. Country music is a massively diverse and fuzzily defined genre, and even the artists themselves release music in diverse genres. A number of country artists like Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, etc have released bluegrass-oriented albums and acknowledge the bluegrass heritage of the genre.

[UsuallyPickin]

That's kind of like non wet water suggestions . . . . . luck. R/

[Mark Wilson]

I've heard a few hard driving bands that use BG instruments and technique that are not BG. Most of them have been kinda cool to listen too. The Brothers Comatose comes to mind. It's a niche genre that has a following of folks that may or may not like trad BG. Op seems to prefer it and made an effort to ask for examples.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Purely my own opinion,but in the genre of 'pure' coutry music,Bluegrass was a ''relatively'' late comer. We had what we now call 'Old Timey' bands & a lot of what they played touched on the music that Bill Monroe eventually put together as Bluegrass music. BM's Uncle Pen was a Country musician,but he surely wasn't a Bluegrass musician,& they were many,many more like him. You only have to read almost anything written by Neil Rosenberg to discover the wealth of 'Country music' that pre-dated Bluegrass.

One of my personal favourite Old Timey musicians is Tommy Jarrell,an absolute gold nugget of a guy. Then we have musicians like Charlie Poole,Bascomb Lunsford & dozens of others who contributed to the overall richness of 'Country Music' pre-Bluegrass. Uncle Dave Macon may be amongst the most well known.

It's pretty well known that much of the music of the rural areas where settlers 'settled',came from England / Scotland / Ireland &
other countries - but the music took root in rural Appalachia & other rural areas & literally was Country music - it couldn't be anything else. Being 'really' pedantic about it,until Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe along with Lester Flatt,even Bill Monroe's music was ''pre-Bluegrass'' (proper). It was only when radio listeners began writing into radio stations asking for ''more of the 'Bluegrass'' (style) music'', that Bluegrass music actually took on it's name. Earl's banjo playing made Bluegrass as popular as it became. BM had been around for many years & never achieved the popularity that Earl (& Lester) gave him,
Ivan

[Marcus CA]

How about John Reischman and the Jaybirds? Check out their Vintage and Unique album, if you haven't already. Also, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen.

[J.Albert]

OP wrote:
"Maybe I'm confused and bluegrass isnt even the right genre for me?"

I'd think that's a fair assumption...

[Timbofood]

Sorry guys, been under the Bridge (Mackinaw) with lousy connectivity options except at the nice little brewery "Biere De Mac"
Sorry, side tracked.
I'm kind of surprised (from the quick scan of the thread) that no one had offered up JD Crowe and the New South, or much of the classic guys, have I been living in a vacuum? What about the Country gentlemen?
Joe Val?
These threads with "non country" headers make me wonder about what brought the posters to bluegrass music. I have known "Greensky" since they was pups, what they do is far and away different from the style I have played for 45 years, all the best to that strain of the music but, "Blue"? No, I don't think so.
But, living under the bridge, I'm just a troll?

[Beanzy]

Worth checking out the Ozark Mountain Daredevils too (Different more rock take on country)

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=...32MIFsC_v6Giqy

[Willie Poole]

I spent quite a bit of time reading these posts and it seems to me that the OP doesn`t know what bluegrass really is...He is looking for songs that border on rock and roll and jazz that are being played with instruments that normally make up a bluegrass band, sadly there are way too many of those types of bands being booked on bluegrass festivals that a lot of people tend to forget what traditional bluegrass really is...I am not knocking his decision to play and like any kind of music, it`s just that what he is asking isn`t to me connected to bluegrass at all...Sure a lot of the people playing that style of music are great pickers and they prefer to play for an audience that will support them and their music, nothing wrong with that....I have posted on here many times that I wish someone would come up with a good description and name for that kind of music, Americana has been suggested but a lot of posters don`t agree with that either...

I say just keep looking and listening to as much music as you can and if you have access to a satellite radio you most likely will hear bands that you will fall in love with on what they call Bluegrass....I believe the dobro was first introduced into bluegrass when Flatt and Scruggs used one when Earl was in an accident around 1953 or so and Josh Graves filled the void of no banjo, Earl wasn`t gone for very long and they decided to keep the dobro in the band after he returned...

Willie