Where the Greengrass meets the Bluegrass

The Carter Brothers - The Road To RooskyThe Carter Brothers never rest… or so it would seem.

Fresh off the release of their The Road To Roosky album on Compass, the boys have already tracked another project, again with an Irish/American vibe.

Tim Carter, the banjo-playing half of the team tells us about the new record, and how it came to be.

“A few years back on one of our Ireland trips we met and performed with Barney McKenna, banjo player and founder of the legendary Dubliners (50 years in 2012). Barney has a deep love for bluegrass and American music in general, and he wanted to do a project with me and my brother Danny called Where the Greengrass meets the Bluegrass.

We talked about it for a long time, and finally late last year, Barney came to Nashville along with our friend Gerry O’Connor, another Irish banjo great. We invited another great Irishman to join us, John Doyle, who played guitar and bouzuki.

Alison Brown joined us on a couple of tunes along with Carter Brothers upright bassist, Ross Sermons.

In seven days we cut this record. Part of it was recorded here at our Treehouse Studio, and part at Compass Records Studio. It’s truly a blend of Irish and bluegrass music.

Niall Toner and I co-wrote the title track (another Irish/American collaboration) via the internet.”

Tim says that Compass has loose plans to release Where the Greengrass meets the Bluegrass in Spring or Summer 2012. Touring in both the UK and the US are in the works as well.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.