Last time I posted some music, I was procrastinating and looking for some uptempo stuff to help motivate a brother. I had some cleaning and organizing to do. As is standard with me, my mood was impacted by my listening.
This time, however, it’s likely the reverse. My listening is being influenced by my mood. It may also have been fellow Kos community member, music lover, and pal Belinda Ridgewood’s reply on that last Get Your Groove On diary that planted the seed. Belinda inquired as to whether I had listened to Billy Strings. I LURVE ME SOME BILLY STRINGS!
I very much love Bluegrass and “Newgrass” as I have heard it called… sort of a convergence of traditional bluegrass and the jam band scene. I couldn’t tell you which wine pairs with which cuisine if my life were dependent upon it, but I can tell for sure that bluegrass pairs well with this middle aged, patchouli smelling, nag champa burning Deadhead.
I adore the arrangement aspect of a medley of busy strings on multiple instruments played together or the talent of one played exceedingly well. It’s sublime. The down to earth humbleness found in bluegrass feels warm to me too.
I dig bluegrass, not pop-country, mind you. I find the majority of the pop country to which I have been unwillingly and begrudgingly exposed to be formulaic, pandering, and typically unimpressive. To put it directly, I’d rather swap livers with Charlie Sheen than endure it.
No, give me Billy Strings, Yonder Mountain String Band, Garcia Grisman, String Cheese Incident, Del McCoury, Earl Scruggs… even Bela Fleck. That’s the stuff!
So, as I sit here pondering a move from Key West to North Carolina, heartbroken that it may have to be, but hopeful that it will make it so that I can better provide for my kids in the wake of the last 7 months’ events, my mind drifts to the bluegrass that I love so much along with the fact that North Carolina is BBQ country. I am a BBQ man! (My restaurant was 3 time Keys Weekly annual Bubba Award’s Winner for best BBQ in the newspaper’s Florida Keys circulation) I have spent much of my life burning and smelling like hickory logs. It wouldn’t exactly be an unenjoyable place for me to be….
Yes, that’s Steve Martin (aka Navin Johnson) on the banjo:
Speaking of the banjo:
YMSB:
Now here’s a proper love song by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman:
Maybe add Tony Rice to that duo:
Some Waybacks now:
Ok, ok… I have drifted away from pure bluegrass here and there, but the strings made me do it! Here’s Del to fix that:
That’s a good start on the twang, I’d say! Please feel free to keep those strings burnin’ up in the comments section.
If you’ve enjoyed the getting on of your groove or are just aware of how hairy things have become for the kids and I and would like to help support out efforts to provide a better situation for them, you can do that here. Thanks so very much for joining us in the love of music. We love you.