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Thread: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

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    Registered User Matt Hutchinson's Avatar
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    Default Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Hi everyone,

    I've been getting into Sam's playing more and more recently. There's so much out there to listen to so, to start a shortlist of stuff to check out (or possibly a very long list!), I thought I'd ask you all what your favourite 5 Sam Bush tracks are.

    By that I mean tracks Sam played on, not necessarily his own (although his own are welcome - Brilliancy would definitely be in my top 5 at this point!).

    So, what's on your list and which album will I find it on?

    Thanks in advance!

    Matt

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Try Laps in Seven andCircles AroundMe for 2 greatalbums and then any of his New Grass Revival albums. Might grab an Emmylou Harris from the80’s when Sam was I her Hot Band. Top 5.....Gold HeartLocket, White Bird, Ballad for A Soldier, On the Boulevard, Circles Around Me.

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    I'm going back to old Kentucky off Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza!

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Brilliancy, Russian Rag, Sapporo, Reach, You Don't Knock ……. Enjoy … R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

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    Registered User doc holiday's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    "Big Mon" the version off "Late As Usual"

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    Registered User Matt Hutchinson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Brilliant, thanks everyone! Yes, love the Emmylou ‘At the Ryman’ album. Great playing (and songs) all round.

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Girl from the North Country. His version is classic, unique Sam Bush. It’s not full of tremolo, not a bunch scales, not a bunch of melodic stuff. Doesn’t sound like a fiddle, banjo or guitar. No steal guitar licks. Nothing wrong with any of that. And Sam can do all of it. But then there is SAM - musical, the melody, drive, and in a groove.....mandolin.
    Yes, I’m a Sam fan!
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    Registered User Reid Morsi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    This is a very tough question. As a huge Sammy fan, I couldn't possibly narrow it down to just five favorite tracks. However, after breaking it down to categories I tried to figure out a few of my favorites. These are mostly from Sam's solo albums, although a few of them appeared earlier on some of the NGR albums. If I were to go through all the recordings he's been on, it would take forever. So this list doesn't include stuff like his playing on Tony Rice's Manzanita and Cold on the Shoulder, Bela Fleck's Drive and Bluegrass Sessions vol.1, Hold on We're Strummin with the Dawg, the Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza, and countless other albums (like Jerry Douglas Under the Wire, Peter Rowan's Crucial Country, and Leftover Salmon's the Nashville Sessions just to name a couple more). I do have to say though, that hearing Sam play Wayfaring Stranger is probably my favorite thing in all of music, whether it's solo, with the Dawg instrumentally, or with Tony Rice on vocals.

    Anyways...I broke it down to favorite instrumentals, ballads, newgrass and more traditional Bluegrass songs. So here it goes.

    Instrumentals: Stingray (Glamour and Grits), Crooked Smile (Late as Usual), Bananas (King of my World), Whayasay (Glamour and Grits), and Mr. Freddie (Howlin' at the Moon)
    Ballads: Circles Around Me (album with same title), Ol' Joe Clark (Glamour and Grits), River Take Me (Laps in 7), Last Letter Home (Late as Usual) and Souvenir Bottles (Circles Around Me)
    Newgrass: Transcendental Meditation Blues (Storyman), Same Ol' River (Glamour and Grits), I Wanna Do Right (Laps in 7), Song For Roy (Howlin' at the Moon), and Spirit is the Journey (King of My World)
    Trad BG: Bringing in the Georgia Mail (Laps in 7), Whisper My Name (Circles Around Me), On the Road (Laps in 7), Eight More Miles to Louisville (King of my World), and Out on the Ocean (Circles Around Me)

    So here are twenty of my favorite Sam Bush solo songs, and there are so many other great ones. All I can really say, is that we are lucky to have such a musician who has recorded so much good music over many years. I have a feeling he's got plenty more in the tank too!
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  12. #9
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Asked for five, got twenty. Can’t argue with that!

    Thanks so much, will dive in and have a listen.

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    Plays Well With Others Nate Lee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Manzanita for sure! The song and the album. Sam's solo on the cut "Old Train" is a favorite of mine.

    Hartford's Real from "Hold On We're Strummin" by Sam Bush & David Grisman.

    Ozzie & Max from "Howlin' at the Moon"

    Can't Stop Now by New Grass Revival

    His latest album, "Storyman" is full of great picking too. As mentioned above, it's really hard to narrow down!
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Just saw him perform last week at a festival in Vermont. He is a great artist and nothing he does was bad. I liked his “Howlin at the Moon”, his version of Leon Russel’s “Stranger in a Strange Land”, and a Bob Marley song he did.
    The “Grassers” attending probably would likely have other picks.
    But, just as I said, it was all great coming from a great artist.
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    not a donut Kevin Winn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    "The Old Home" on Doc Watson's 'Ridin That Midnight Train' album.

    Sam's performance on the whole album is great, but the first break on that song is just killer. One thing I love about Sam's playing is that it always sounds like he's just about to come off the rails completely. Sorta like Jimmy Page.

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    One album I didn't mention before which is certainly worth checking out is Strength in Numbers "The Telluride Sessions". This supergroup is basically the Telluride House Band with Sam, Bela, Jerry, and Edgar, accompanied by the incredible multi instrumentalist Mark O'Connor. This album to me is the quintessential newgrass/progressive acoustic music disc and should definitely not be missed. Sam plays on every track, mostly mandolin and a little fiddle and they are all fantastic. The one song that really stands out in my opinion though is "Macedonia" co written by Sam and Mark who play twin mandolins on it.

    Another cool album in a more classical genre is Short Trip Home; with Sam, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall, and Joshua Bell. like the Telluride Sessions this is an all instrumental album with an array of different instrumental arrangements. Highlights for me on the album include "BT" with Sam on mandolin and Mike Marshall on Mandola, as well as "Death by triple fiddle" with Sam, Mike, and Josh all playing the violin. Sam plays the last break on this song and it is out of this world!
    Ruhland A5#68

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Winn View Post
    "The Old Home" on Doc Watson's 'Ridin That Midnight Train' album.

    Sam's performance on the whole album is great, but the first break on that song is just killer. One thing I love about Sam's playing is that it always sounds like he's just about to come off the rails completely. Sorta like Jimmy Page.
    Completely agree!
    I always admired Sam's playing on this record, and have tried to steal as much as possible from it!

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    This is great, thanks everyone. As many of you say, it’s tough to distill such a amazing career into a few tracks but everyone’s given me their personal ‘must listen’ tracks so I’m building a killer playlist to kick things off!

    One of my current favourites is the solo on this Eric Bibb tube from Transatlantic Sessions - https://youtu.be/Ds1faZB4QSc

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Hutchinson View Post
    This is great, thanks everyone. As many of you say, it’s tough to distill such a amazing career into a few tracks but everyone’s given me their personal ‘must listen’ tracks so I’m building a killer playlist to kick things off!

    One of my current favourites is the solo on this Eric Bibb tube from Transatlantic Sessions - https://youtu.be/Ds1faZB4QSc
    That was awesome!
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    I don’t know if it’s still available anywhere, but he did an album when he was a teenager with Alan Munde on banjo called Poor Richard’s Almanac. The quality is funky but his picking (even back then) is phenomenal. I have the vinyl. If nothing else you gotta hear it for its historical value and to hear what was on Sam’s mind as a kid!

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Leather Britches and Tom and Jerry

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    The whole record "Sam and Alan Together Again". My all time fav mandolin recording.
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Kevin,
    Doc’s Midnight Train is a keeper, and Sam is great.
    Sam’s break and energetic chops on Doin My Time in an early NGR project is another good one.
    Sam seems to always be slightly ahead of the beat...without ever speeding up. Has Sam ever recorded with Tom Gray on bass?
    Bob

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    When i go t my first mandolin i searched my public library's DVDs and they had three of his Homespun DVDs, as well as "The mandolin of Bill Monroe" Volume 1 all of which I highly highly recommend, and if your library doesn't have it, maybe you can get it by interlibrary loan from somewhere.
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  29. #22
    Registered User Matt Hutchinson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Thanks everyone. I've put all the tracks I could find on Spotify into a playlist - here's the link if anyone wants a listen. It's a 3 hour, 40 track Sam-fest. Enjoy!

    https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5P...TlCMHG10wV39FQ
    Last edited by Matt Hutchinson; Aug-28-2019 at 4:53am. Reason: typo

  30. #23
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    I’ve added a couple of my favourites too!

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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Some standouts:

    His solo on Gentle On My Mind, off a 70's John Hartford record
    His soloing on Berserkely, off a Mark O'Connor record
    His solo on Great Balls Of Fire, 1st NGR record on Starday label

  32. #25
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    Default Re: Top 5 Sam Bush tracks

    Can't find any of those on Spotify!

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