Author: John Curtis Goad

John Goad is a graduate of the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music program, with a Masters degree in both History and Appalachian Studies from ETSU.

Nobody Knows You – Steep Canyon Rangers

For those of us who may have thought, if only for a moment, that the Steep Canyon Rangers had simply became the backing band for banjo-playing comedian Steve Martin, I am glad to say for certain that we were all incorrect. Although they have been touring with Martin for quite a while now, the Steep Canyon Rangers seem to be back to making their own music again with the release of a new project titled Nobody Knows You.

Their brand new disc, which was released on Rounder Records, is a collection of 12 songs, written or co-written almost entirely by band members. In fact, a whopping 11 pieces can be attributed to band members only: Mike Guggino (mandolin), Charles R Humphrey III (bass), Woody Platt (guitar), Nicky Sanders (fiddle), and Graham Sharp (banjo). Musicians Jon Randall (guitar), Randy Kohrs (dobro), Jimmy Wallace (piano), and the unwavering beat of percussionist John Gardner (drums) are also included in the mix.

An album titled Nobody Knows You may seem a bit out of place for a band currently enjoying their highest level of popularity within their 12 year existence, however, after giving this record a spin, I’m sure you’ll agree that the Steep Canyon Rangers have turned out yet another high quality product which really shows their unique band sound. With enjoyably edgy yet refined song arrangements, the new album is likely to appeal to a wide range of listeners, ranging from traditional music lovers to progressive bluegrass fans.

The album’s upbeat title track, which includes the lyrics “You were always the wind and never a wife,” tells the tale of a man who longs for companionship from a lady who had left him long ago. Songs like Ungrateful One are straight ahead compositions, while others like Rescue Me and Knob Creek (a G minor instrumental which includes a banjo chime solo and a really awesome bass ride) really show the group’s musicianship and personality. Other standout numbers include the partially a cappella number As I Go and the haunting echoes of Between Midnight and the Dawn, a sauntering melody about a man who has trouble dealing with his past. Yet another nearly perfect track, Natural Disaster, describes love as something which cannot be achieved due to an act of God interfering.

Fiddler Nicky Sanders describes bluegrass as “American Mountain Jazz,” and his description definitely fits what the Steep Canyon Rangers are creating: complex music played by virtuosos.

For more information on their music, performances, and to obtain a copy of their latest release, please visit www.steepcanyon.com. Their music can also be found on Amazon and iTunes.

Looking Forward – The Bankesters

Family bands have a long history in traditional music. From the earliest days of country music with the Carter Family and the Stonemans, to more recent bands such as the Whites and Cherryholmes, some of the most popular bands in bluegrass, country, and Gospel music have been related. Now, a new family has joined their ranks.

The Bankesters, a six-piece group from southern Illinois comprised of dad Phil, mom Dorene, daughters Emily, Melissa, and Alysha, and son-in-law Kyle Triplett, have been on the bluegrass radar ever since their discovery in the parking lot of a bluegrass festival close to a decade ago. With the release of their third album, Looking Forward, on Tom T. and Dixie Hall’s Blue Circle Records, they have further honed their skills, presenting a smooth, contemporary bluegrass sound.

The family presents a well-rounded collection of tunes on their new CD. Most of the songs have a positive message, such as Some Things Never Change, which reminds listeners to remember those people who are always there for them, and Don’t Try to Be Anyone Else, which states that there “ain’t nothing more beautiful than you just being yourself.” Other songs celebrate the value of family and friends. Looking Forward to Looking Back is an enjoyable piece in which the singer is thankful for a life full of good memories, while All Good Things, featuring Phil on lead vocals, specifically mentions some of those memories, such as carving your name in a porch swing and learning to play guitar.

A few songs have a bit of a different sound, displaying the band’s varied influences. Emily’s fiddle helps flavor these tracks, from western swing on Where I Am, written by Chris Jones and Tom T. and Dixie Hall, to a Celtic feel on the Becky Buller Gospel song The Captain. Triplett’s banjo matches well with the fiddle, helping to drive one of the more traditional sounding songs on the album, Gypsy Jubilee, and creating a haunting, mournful tone on the Civil War tune First Minnesota.

One thing family bands are often known for are their harmonies, and the Bankesters are no exception. The women of the family blend their voices almost seamlessly throughout the album. This is especially evident in Desert Lullaby, which is sung a capella. Two songs showcase only Phil and Dorene’s vocals, creating unique husband-and-wife duets.

The Bankesters’ sweet, uplifting music will appeal to fans of such artists as Darin and Brooke Aldridge and Detour. Looking Forward’s solid musicianship and spot-on harmonies are sure to help the band continue their success. For more information, visit the band’s website at www.bankesters.com.

Looking Forward can be purchased or downloaded from the website, or from iTunes.

Crowe and the Wildman

Many popular reality shows currently highlight Americans with somewhat unusual occupations, largely living in rural Southern communities. One of these programs is Animal Planet’s Call of the Wildman, which depicts the adventures of “Turtleman” Ernie Brown, Jr. Brown, who lives in central Kentucky, is featured weekly as he catches a wide variety of wild creatures, ranging from snakes to opossums to his favorite, turtles (which he often kisses in celebration).

This past Sunday (August 5), Turtleman was charged with ridding the workshop of world-renowned banjo maker Frank Neat of a snake. Turtleman’s pay? A jam session with banjo legend J.D. Crowe, who was arriving soon to pick up a banjo Neat had repaired for him. Crowe made a brief appearance, even picking for a few minutes with Turtleman’s sidekick Neal James, who plays clawhammer style banjo. Turtleman also displayed a custom banjo Neat had made for him.

Interestingly, Crowe did a fan a favor this past weekend at the Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival in Hyden, Kentucky, by playing Back to the Barrooms on a Frank Neat banjo, one of two in existence to bear Crowe’s endorsement and likeness on the back of the resonator.

Just in case you missed it, Call of the Wildman typically reruns episodes each week and also posts episodes and video clips on their website. Be on the lookout for a different type of Crowe on the Animal Planet!

The 19th Annual Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival

This past weekend, the small town of Hyden, Kentucky was filled with bluegrass fans from around the country for the 19th Annual Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival. The festival, which is coordinated by Dean Osborne, the director of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music, featured both local and national acts over three days.

With a lineup consisting of such renowned artists as Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, J.D. Crowe and the New South, the Lonesome River Band, Ralph Stanley II, and Bobby Osborne and Rocky Top X-Press, as well as a wide variety of local groups from the Kentucky and West Virginia area, festival goers surely got their money’s worth. Not only did fans get to hear from some of the best in bluegrass, their ticket purchases also helped benefit the Volunteer Fire Departments of Leslie County, Kentucky. According to Dean Osborne, the festival has helped to raise approximately $500,000 for the community.

On Friday night, Bobby Osborne was honored for his legacy in bluegrass music and his dedication to helping younger musicians as an instructor at the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music. The festival’s location, a brand new outdoor pavilion at the Richard M. Nixon Recreation Center in Hyden, was officially named the “Bobby Osborne Pavilion.”

Later that evening, J.D. Crowe was also recognized by the festival organizers for his long career in bluegrass music. As many Bluegrass Today readers know, J.D. will be retiring from active touring at the end of the year, with less than a dozen shows left with the New South.

The rural town of Hyden may seem like an unlikely location for a bluegrass festival of this magnitude. However, as the hometown of the Osborne Brothers, Hyden is a sure draw for fans of the music. This festival is a great, family-friendly event – hope to see you there next year!


 

Running with the Moon – Breaking Grass

In the world of bluegrass music, it is important for artists to establish their own musical footprint, while also playing and recording standards. One group working hard to form a sound of their own is Mississippi-based Breaking Grass. With the release of their all-original second album, Running with the Moon, they have combined creative lyrics with a fresh bluegrass style to create a contemporary sound which should appeal to fans of country-tinged bluegrass.

Running with the Moon features twelve tracks written by lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Cody Farrar. These range from fun, upbeat tunes like Carry On Carolina, the tale of a “country queen” who just wants to dance at the local honky-tonk, to lonesome tunes sharing stories of unfaithful lovers and people who have wandered far from home. Several of the album’s standout tracks fall into the latter category. Before I Could Lie, which demonstrates the band’s country influences, is told from the point of view of a bitter husband whose wife assumed he was cheating. Still the Roses Bloom is a mournful account of a love with no lasting reminders except for the roses the singer planted for his wife.

Farrar also contributes a love song – the cheerful Good Love, which could have fit in easily on 90’s country radio – and shows his clever side with I’m Not Crying Cause You’re Leaving, perhaps the album’s most interesting track. This song begins as if it will be just another standard lonesome bluegrass tune, but quickly provides a twist when the singer reveals exactly what is more painful than the fact that his woman is leaving him.

Even though Farrar’s lyrics are showcased on the album, the entire band puts forth a solid performance. Farrar is joined by Tyler White (fiddle), Zach Wooten (mandolin), Britt Sheffield (bass), and Thelton Vanderford (banjo). Sheffield also takes over lead vocal duties for two tracks, Before I Could Lie and the rambler’s lament Amongst the Stones. The group’s tight harmonies also stand out on such songs as Strings and Still the Roses Bloom.

While the band is relatively new and its members are still quite young (Wooten and White are just teenagers), they have racked up numerous honors in the past few years including several festival band competition championships as well as the Band on the Rise Nationally (B.O.R.N.) award, which they received in June 2012. With the combination of original lyrics and strong instrumentation, Running with the Moon is sure to help Breaking Grass gather many new fans.

For more information on the band, visit their website at breakinggrass.com. Their music can be purchased from iTunes or CDBaby.

Pa’s Fiddle: Charles Ingalls, American Fiddler

One of the most popular television series of the 1970s and 1980s was Little House on the Prairie, depicting the lives of the Ingalls family, settlers in late 1800s Minnesota. Fans of the show may remember Charles Ingalls, or “Pa,” occasionally playing the fiddle for his family. The real-life Charles Ingalls was actually an accomplished fiddler, and in the book series which inspired the television show, his daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, documented 127 separate tunes that she remembered him playing.

The Pa’s Fiddle Project, led by Vanderbilt University musicologist Dale Cockrell, is currently attempting to shine new light on each of these songs. Since 2005, the project has released three albums featuring music from the Little House on the Prairie books. The most recent of these is Pa’s Fiddle: Charles Ingalls, American Fiddler.

Pa’s Fiddle contains 17 tracks pulled from instances in the series when Pa is recorded playing the fiddle unaccompanied. The majority of the tunes are performed by the Pa’s Fiddle Band, featuring Shad Cobb (banjo, fiddle), Matt Combs (fiddle), Dennis Crouch (bass), Matt Flinner (mandolin), Buddy Greene (harmonica), Bryan Sutton (guitar), and Jeff Taylor (accordion, pennywhistle, and piano). The album includes both familiar traditional songs, such as Buffalo Gals, Polly Put the Kettle On, and When Johnny Comes Marching Home, as well as more obscure hymns and fiddle tunes.

The album’s liner notes provide excellent background information on each song featured within this compilation. Written by Cockrell, the notes not only share the book from which the track is drawn, but also give historical information and composers of the tunes where known. This helps to give the listener a fuller perspective of each song, in addition to demonstrating the depth of Pa’s knowledge of fiddle tunes. It is interesting to note that one song on the album has been included simply on an assumption. The upbeat song Yellow Heifer is not actually mentioned in any of the books. Instead, a song named Red Heifer was mentioned in Little House in the Big Woods, and because no other record of that song exists, the producers chose to include a similar tune which was originally performed in the area close to where Pa was born.

Some songs on the album are lively dance tunes performed in an old-time style, such as Buffalo Gals and Yellow Heifer. Another is Boatman’s Dance, which includes a great bluegrass-style guitar break from David Grier and fiddle from both Matt Combs and Joe Weed. Other songs are slower, with a sweeter, more sensitive feel. Mary of the Wild Moor is a tender tune featuring the interesting addition of accordion, while Golden Years are Passing By is a very delicate and touching song. Several tunes have a Scottish background, including The Campbells are Coming, which is given a great Celtic treatment here.

Pa’s Fiddle is more than just a new album full of traditional tunes. It is a great addition to historical research on old-time music, connecting history, literature, and music in one noteworthy package. You can find more information on the album and the Pa’s Fiddle Project online. The album can be purchased from the website or downloaded from iTunes or E-Music.

The music is also featured in a new PBS special, Pa’s Fiddle: The Music of America, which will be aired during PBS’s upcoming pledge drive and available for purchase on DVD and CD on July 31.

Take Me Back – Karl Shiflett

From their high-spirited, energy-filled show to the playful lyrical delivery, Texas-based band The Karl Shiflett and Big Country Show always seems to deliver a memorable performance. With the release of their latest album Take Me Back, Shiflett and company seem unwavering in their brand of entertainment, certainly deserving of the term “a bonafide hillbilly music extravaganza,” given to the band by Shiflett.

Take Me Back is an enjoyable throwback to the sounds of the 1940s and 50s, mixing classic country influences with a traditional bluegrass style. The thirteen-track album consists mostly of upbeat, bouncy songs with a Texas swing feel and hot bluegrass picking. The majority of tracks clock in at under three minutes, but Shiflett packs everything he can into each tune. Songs are filled with spot-on instrumental breaks and Shiflett’s creative vocal stylings.

Sally Don’t You Grieve, written by folk singer Woody Guthrie, is a banjo-fueled tune about a restless, rambling man who tells his woman not to miss him when he’s gone. Blue Blue Day also contains a classic bluegrass subject – that of a man whose love has “been untrue, she’s found somebody new.” I Gotta Get Drunk is rendered somewhat differently from songwriter Willie Nelson’s original cut – while Willie sounded resigned at the prospect of getting drunk, Shiflett sounds quite cheerful, making the song animated and fun. Take Me Back to Tulsa is another fun track, demonstrating Shiflett’s respect of fellow Texan Bob Wills. Shiflett also contributes one original, the persuasive Gospel tune Open Up Your Heart (And Let Jesus In).

Two songs feature other band members taking over lead vocals, proving that Shiflett has assembled an all-around talented group. Mandolin player C.J. Lewandowski sounds reminiscent of traditional country vocalists of the 1950s in Brand New Silent Partner, while banjo player Christopher Hill is convincing and heartfelt on Just Come to Get My Baby.

Several instrumentals are also included on Take Me Back, giving the band members a chance to shine. Don Reno’s Tennessee Cut Up Breakdown features blistering solos. Public domain tune Frog on a Lily Pad, while still upbeat, is a more laid-back mandolin piece.

The album’s closing track, bluegrass jam standard Mama Don’t Allow, is a nice way to end the record. While not an instrumental, each band member takes a verse to demonstrate their skills. Billy Hurt, Jr. (fiddle), Lewandowksi (mandolin), Hill (banjo), Dany Bureau (scrub board), and Shiflett’s son Kris (upright bass) all verify that they are extremely skilled at what they do.

The Karl Shiflett and Big Country Show is one of the most unique acts in bluegrass today, and Take Me Back captures their essence perfectly. Shiflett has compiled both familiar and more obscure tracks which will certainly please fans of classic bluegrass and country music.

For more information on the band, visit their website at www.karlshiflett.com.

Take Me Back can be purchased through the website, as well as on iTunes and Amazon.

A Better Place – Detour

Fans of contemporary original bluegrass music can’t go wrong with the latest release from Michigan-based band Detour, A Better Place. Detour, led by the clear lead vocals of Missy Armstrong and the inspired songwriting of Jeff Rose, has compiled a fourteen-track album filled with country-tinged originals, a few revamped standards, and skilled instrumentation by the six-piece band. Produced, engineered, mastered, and mixed completely by band members, A Better Place showcases a band with a multitude of skills.

The bulk of the album contains original songs by band members, with mandolin player Jeff Rose contributing eight songs (including the album’s first single and number one hit on the Bluegrass Today charts, Quarterline Road) and lead singer Missy Armstrong offering one (the new, foot-tapping single, Lovin’ Liza Jane). These originals contain many common bluegrass themes (Quarterline Road reminisces about growing up in the country, while the lonesome banjo and fiddle of Wind in the Willows back up the tale of a woman who feels distant from the one she loves), put to a smooth, fresh, country-flavored sound. Also from Rose’s pen is the stirring Homeless of the Brave, which shares the story of veterans who have returned from battle, yet been unable to find work and even a home.

Even the few older tunes on the album receive an updated treatment. Loretta Lynn’s Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven has a bluesy vibe, while I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages, which often has an old-time, mountain feel when recorded by bluegrass artists, manages to sound soulful and mournful at the same time. One interesting track is a cover of 1960s pop song Put A Little Love in Your Heart, which is bouncy and cheerful.

Rose’s compositions on the album also include three instrumentals which showcase the picking skills of the band, including Rose (mandolin and guitar), Scott Zylstra (guitar), Peter Knupfer (fiddle), Kevin Gaugier (banjo and mandolin), and Jack Grant (bass). The first, Banjo Warning, is one of the most bluegrass-influenced songs on the album, beginning and ending with Rose’s strong mandolin playing. Rella’s Waltz is a sweet tune anchored by the fiddle playing of Knupfer, while Big Shake and Howdy is a traditional-sounding song featuring red-hot picking.

While Detour is just beginning to make a name for itself on the national bluegrass scene, there is no doubt that they have earned the praise they are sure to receive. For more information about the band, visit their website at www.detourbluegrass.com.

A Better Place can be purchased from CDBaby or downloaded from Amazon and iTunes, while all three albums can be purchased from Elderly Instruments.

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