Film Reviews Archives - Bluegrass Today

Tony Trischka – Earl Jam

In 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic, master banjoist Tony Trischka spent his time studying rare recordings of his hero Earl Scruggs informally jamming with the great John Hartford in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Though Trischka has been listening to Earl for many decades, these tapes revealed another side to Scruggs’ three finger picking that Tony had never heard before. Wanting to share these discoveries with more listeners and players, Trischka received permission from the Scruggs and Hartford families to record some of these songs. The resulting album, Earl Jam is a virtuous collection that demonstrates the creativity Scruggs maintained throughout his life.

The opening track, Brown’s Ferry Blues sets the tone for everything going forward on this recording. Written and first recorded by the Delmore Brothers in 1933, this tune is played as closely as possible to how Earl played it on the jam recordings, which is how virtually every piece on this project is presented. The supporting cast varies for each song. Billy Strings handles lead vocal and guitar duties for Brown’s Ferry Blues along with Trischka on banjo, Sam Bush on mandolin, Michael Cleveland on fiddle, Mark Schatz on bass, as well as Béla Fleck on banjo, whose solo is described in the liner notes as a “definitely non-Scruggsy banjo solo.”

San Antonio Rose combines the best of Earl Scruggs and Bob Wills. While Trischka’s banjo is still very much part of the song, this piece is dripping with various fiddle parts being played by Darol Anger and Casey Driessen. The vocals from Sierra Ferrell, Phoebe Hunt, and Lindsay Lou give this song a nice touch as well. This track also includes Oliver Craven on guitar, Josh Rilko on mandolin, and Geoff Saunders on bass.

My Horses Ain’t Hungry is a tune that Tony first heard as a fiddle and banjo duet with John Hartford and Earl Scruggs. Here Trischka plays it with old time fiddle authority, Bruce Molsky, who also provides excellent vocals on this track.

Roll On Buddy is one of the album’s ultimate highlights. Reprising a song he first recorded as a member of Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys in 1964, Del McCoury delivers an incredible performance, which is complemented by the powerful twin fiddle work of Jason Carter. They are accompanied on this track by bandmates Ronnie McCoury on mandolin and harmony vocals and Alan Bartram on bass. While Scruggs had been long gone from Monroe’s band by the time McCoury joined, Tony incorporates various ideas from Earl, particularly on the ending of the song.

Freight Train Blues is inspired by the 1936 recording by Roy Acuff and his Crazy Tennesseans. With Dudley Connell handling the lead vocals and guitar, he truly shines on this track as does Michael Cleveland, whose fiddle breaks mimic the harmonica playing of Sam “Dynamite” Hatcher. Other contributors to this performance include Jacob Jolliff on mandolin and Jared Engel on bass.

Dooley is a true bluegrass classic, having first been recorded by the Dillards on their 1963 debut album, Back Porch Bluegrass. Though it’s performed here in a more laid back fashion, Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush both do a wonderful job switching off on lead vocals. This track also includes Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle and harmony vocals, Mark Schatz on bass, and Tony’s son Sean Trischka on harmony vocals.

Other notable tracks include Amazing Grace and Lady Madonna, both largely due to the powerful vocal harmonies. The former features Sierra Ferrell on lead vocals along with who Tony describes as, the “righteous” McCrary Sisters, on backing vocals. The latter features Leigh Gibson on lead vocals and guitar along with Eric Gibson and Dudley Connell on harmony vocals. It’s an astounding performance, one that I’m sure will be on repeat for many listeners.

Earl Jam is not just an entertaining release, but an important one as well. Though Earl Scruggs isn’t here to give us more music, Tony Trischka has meticulously studied these rare informal jam recordings and brought unearthed ideas to the forefront. Tony is furthering his hero’s legacy in an honorable and inventive fashion.

Bill Evans – The Banjo In America

The banjo has lengthy origins dating all the way back to the 1870s. Since the 1990s, banjoist Bill Evans has concisely presented this history in a solo performance titled The Banjo In America, giving audiences a taste of numerous banjo styles on period correct instruments. Evans has now released a DVD/CD combo of this presentation under the same name, which contains nineteen different pieces performed on ten different banjos.

The compositions and the instruments Evans uses vary in provenance. Pompey Ran Away & Phil Rice’s Excelsior Jig are both pieces with West African and Caribbean roots.

Devil’s Dream is a tune that most bluegrass audiences associate with Bill Keith and his melodic style of banjo, but the rendition Evans plays is drawn from Phil Rice’s Method for the Banjo: With or Without a Master from 1858. It’s played alongside Bully For All & St. Patrick’s Day which come from Frank B. Converse’s 1865 banjo method.

Pretty Polly, based on the 1927 recording by Dock Boggs, is widely known due to the classic rendition by Ralph Stanley. Home Sweet Home is a tune most familiar to banjo players through Earl Scruggs or Don Reno, yet the rendition played here contains many different variations. Devil’s Dream, Pretty Polly, and Home Sweet Home are all perfect examples of why a project such as this is so important. It both educates and allows the listener to examine the roots of these tunes on an even deeper level.

Other pieces such as Sunflower Dance and A Ragtime Episode come from classic and ragtime traditions while Coal Creek March and I’ll Remember You Love In My Prayers are rooted in old time styles.

The Banjo In America also contains six of Bill Evans’ original compositions. Native and Fine, the title track of Bill’s first solo recording is a haunting piece in D minor. Petersburg Gal is a straight up traditional bluegrass piece that should please any fan of Scruggs style picking. The closing track is a medley featuring Leaving Owensboro, Catching the Dickens, and Corey’s Slide. These three tunes are a really great conclusion to this work as they have the most modern feel of all the pieces on this project.

The DVD, directed by David Bragger, is also very well done. There are really great closeups of Evans’ right and left hands, which should be helpful to any banjoist trying to learn these tunes. The accompanying booklet is extremely informative, not only giving historical information about these pieces, but also explaining which banjos are being played and which tunings are used for each composition.

The Banjo In America is one of the most important projects to come along in a long time. Bill Evans has presented over two hundred years of banjo history in a way that a listener or musician can fully comprehend and enjoy. This release should be in the collection of any aspiring banjoist trying to gain a deeper understanding of the biography and culture of this beloved instrument.

Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story

Most everyone who is a fan of bluegrass music knows that Michael Cleveland is blind; the fact is often briefly mentioned in bios and introductions, or tossed around in stories from one picker to another. However, any disabilities he may have are often quickly forgotten in the face of his sheer musical talent and the magnetism he displays on stage. He’s Michael Cleveland the 11-time Fiddle Player of the Year, the leader of Flamekeeper, the multi-instrumentalist – not Michael Cleveland, the blind musician. However, the fact remains that his blindness has influenced his growth as a musician and bandleader, and this is what is explored by the new documentary from Validate Films, Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story.

Throughout the feature-length film, director John Presley deftly weaves together recent live performances, interviews with family, friends, and fellow musicians, and video, audio, and photographs from Michael’s childhood, creating an intriguing portrait of a man whose entire life has centered around his love of bluegrass music. Michael’s love for the music bloomed early. His grandparents were bluegrass fans and had a huge collection of records and 8-tracks. He recalls hearing a fiddle for the first time and being absolutely, completely hooked, then spending nights with his head laid against a speaker trying to soak in as much as he could. Michael reveals that while many musicians steer themselves away from fan favorite Orange Blossom Special, he embraces it. It was the song that inspired him to pick up the instrument, and he relishes playing and reinventing it.

The film is mostly chronological, taking viewers through Michael’s parents worries upon learning about his disabilities immediately after his birth, to his time spent attending the Kentucky School for the Blind, where he took many of his first musical lessons. A particularly poignant moment comes from Michael’s voiceover describing his first week at the residential school as a young child. After his parents dropped him off, his roommate continually told him that he would never be able to return home – he would be at the school forever. His fear turned into surprise when he was able to visit his family the next weekend.

The film also covers more recent struggles in Michael’s life, helped along by candid interviews with several of his Flamekeeper bandmates. While their admiration for Michael’s talents as both a musician and a bandleader are evident, they also discuss his former problems with alcoholism and how it affected life on the road and other musicians’ perceptions of Michael. Michael and his bandmates each acknowledge that his decision to quit drinking several years ago was one of the best choices he could have made.

The musicians of note featured in the film are not necessarily ones you would expect from a film about someone who is largely viewed as a very traditional bluegrass player. Bela Fleck, the Kruger Brothers, and Andy Statman are each included playing with Michael, and in interviews, largely remarking on his ability to take traditional-sounding bluegrass to entirely new places. Louisville-based musician Adam Bibelhauser perhaps sums up the film’s thoughts on Michael’s music best near the end of the documentary, noting that “he does traditional songs that people like, and then he does his own thing.”

Flamekeeper is certainly inspirational. Learning about Michael’s health issues – particularly severe hearing loss from ear infections as a child – makes it easy to wonder how he could have ever become such a talented and highly-regarded musician. However, at no point is this a “woe is me” tale. Instead, it’s more of a glimpse inside the background and everyday life of a popular musician who has otherwise led a fairly private life. Some of the film’s best moments are those where the camera captures Michael going about his daily routine: giving Skype lessons, using voice technology on his iPhone to locate apps, and calling a Lyft to take him to a jam. Fans of Michael, and those of bluegrass in general, should thoroughly enjoy this look into his world.

Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story is available for streaming now on Amazon and Vimeo. For more information, visit www.flamekeeperfilm.com.

Big Family presents bluegrass in all its majesty

This past weekend I made the trek to Owensboro in northwestern Kentucky to visit the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, and attend the premiere of the new documentary film from Kentucky Educational Television, Big Family – The Story of Bluegrass Music.

One thing you often hear from folks who see the IBMA’s Awards Show for the first time, is that in addition to the stirring performances on stage, and the fun of catching your favorite artists in unscripted moments, what most warms the heart of a bluegrass lover is seeing the music and the nominees treated with such respect and dignity during the gala production. Everyone is dressed so nicely, and the audience is aware and on top of all the nuances of the awards and hall of fame presentations, that it feels good to be a witness to it.

You get precisely the same feeling watching Big Family. Producers Matt Grimm and Nick Helton have done their research, and interviewed dozens of personalities directly involved in the music. They also had visited the Hall of Fame in Owensboro and talked with its Director, Chris Joslin, himself a life-long picker, to make sure they had all the historical details right before completing the script by Teresa Day that ties the film together.

The Story of Bluegrass Music is told over two full hours in a familiar documentary style that mixes brief interview clips with photos and video from both recent and early bluegrass festivals and shows. Ed Helms of TV and movie fame narrates the film, but most of the content is provided from the many bluegrass stars who sat for interviews over a two year process. Many were captured during the World Of Bluegrass convention in 2016 and ’17, and in subsequent visits to Nashville and Tokyo.

The list of luminaries who appear on screen runs to 58 people, including superstars like Bobby Osborne, J.D. Crowe, Ricky Skaggs, Chris Thile, Del McCoury, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush to rising stars like Sierra Hull, Chris Eldridge, Becky Buller, and Kaia Kater. Each provides their own viewpoint on issues important to our industry, and their personal memories of their time in bluegrass. Taken together, the producers have put together a seamless narrative that illuminates as well as inspires, while laying out the timeline across which it all happened.

Looking back from today’s perspective, it may seem like it was all destined to come about just as it did, but the truth is that a good many chance occurrences and random meetings formed the music over the past 70 years. The late 1940s found the United States in a unique position, the sole financial power that had not had its infrastructure destroyed by WWII, with an energized and optimistic populace ready for new challenges. All of the arts flourished, with novel sounds, sights, and themes the order of the day. Just as Monoe and Flatt & Scruggs were defining what would become bluegrass, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie were inventing a new style of jazz, while Frida Kahlo and Henry Moore were reinventing portrait painting, and Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed were reimagining film.

The early portions of Big Family lean heavily on historian Neil Rosenberg, who helps describe how Bill Monroe grew up in a musical family, which led to The Monroe Brothers, and eventually The Blue Grass Boys. From there we watch as Flatt & Scruggs become a commercial success, and The Stanley Brothers provide their mountain soul to the mix. Bobby Osborne talk about what he and Sonny did in the country world, while annoying a few purists, as do Sam Bush and John Cowan regarding New Grass Revival.

A hit with the theater audience was a segment with members of Bluegrass 45, with recent clips of them performing at the Rocky Top club in Tokyo set against video of their first US tour in the early ’70s. It was also interesting to hear the groan in the crowd when the Dueling Banjos scene from Deliverance popped up on the screen.

The film continues on to more recent history of the music, including a number of younger artists performing now. Featured are interviews with members of Steep Canyon Rangers, Giri & Uma Peters, Charli Roberston, and Kelsi Harigill who share their enthusiasm for bluegrass. A segment on women in bluegrass finds discussion with veterans Rhonda Vincent, Missy Raines and Laurie Lewis alongside Becky Buller and Sierra Hull.

All in all, this film is a masterpiece that will inform those curious about the style, bring a smile to the face of dedicated bluegrass nerds, and possibly set off a fascination with the music for a new generation of young boys and girls getting their first exposure to its magic.

Bluegrass lovers in Kentucky have a few more opportunities to catch Big Family on the big screen prior to its national PBS debut on August 30. Though made to be viewed on television, there is nothing that can replace the immediacy and intensity of seeing it in a theater, with high end audio, and a live audience.

Remaining show dates include:

July 16 in Lexington at The Kentucky Theatre
July 18 in Morehead at the Morehead Conference Center
July 23 in Murray at Murray State University’s Curris Center Theater (1 hour preview)
July 30 in Louisville at Kentucky Country Day Theater (1 hour preview)
August 1 in Prestonsburg at Mountain Arts Center (1 hour preview)

Any fan of bluegrass would be unwise to miss the August 30 airing. Owing to the complexities of obtaining permission to use the live footage and archival images and clips that tell the story, PBS only has the rights to broadcast Big Family for the next four years. During that time, it may be aired by local PBS affiliates, but it will not be made into a DVD or released onto streaming video platforms, other than PBS Passport, as that requires a wholly different set of thorny rights negotiations. See it now while you have the chance!

Check local listings to verify when it may air in your region, though the TV premiere is set for 9:00-11:00 p.m. on August 30. For the month following each airing, Passport subscribers can watch on demand.

And be prepared to feel pride in the music you love.

Mandolin Originals with Scott Napier

Need one last Christmas present or stocking stuffer for the mandolin player in your life? Consider Scott Napier’s recently released instructional DVD, Mandolin Originals with Scott Napier. Napier, the longtime mandolin player for the Lost and Found and one of the newest instructors at the Kentucky School of Bluegrass & Traditional Music, has assembled a sampling of original tunes he has written and recorded over the past two decades. The six songs on the disc range from a strictly traditional Monroe style to pieces influenced by gypsy jazz.

According to the DVD packaging, the instruction on this disc is intended for intermediate to advanced level players, and that does seem accurate. Because the songs are originals, they won’t be as familiar to most pickers as standards or classics might be. In addition, Napier’s explanation of the tunes is geared toward a higher level musician as opposed to a beginner. After giving a brief description of the song’s style, its influences, and where it was previously recorded, Napier quickly plays through the tune. He then slows things down to explain specific parts of the song in more detail and show the viewer specific fingerings and picking patterns. The visual alternates between a wider angle of Napier playing and a close-up of his fingers on the fretboard. One helpful aspect is the addition of a split screen at times to see both the close-up and wider shots.

Viewers will probably be most familiar with Parkway Blues, a Monroe-style number that Napier recorded while he was playing with Larry Sparks in the late 1990s. Roadside Waltz is another that seems to be modeled after Monroe’s playing, and Napier specifically mentions that he attempted to make it sound like something that would have been composed in the early twentieth century. Young One takes things in another direction, with a bouncy, jazzier melody. Shanksmare mixes things up again, incorporating cross-D tuning and an old-time mountain mandolin sound, inspired by the fiddle playing of Art Stamper.

Napier might best be known for his ability to channel and add to the unique mandolin stylings of Dempsey Young, but this DVD showcases his more personal tastes and various approaches to the mandolin. The overall feel of the disc may have benefited from the addition of a guitar accompanist, especially when Napier previews each tune before the periods of instruction commence. However, as this DVD shows, Napier is obviously a talented musician who has a strong understanding of a wide array of mandolin styles. Mandolin students unable to attend formal, in-person classes or Skype lessons will certainly appreciate this disc, and aficionados of the instrument will enjoy the look at Napier’s mandolin collection and preferred set-ups in the disc’s “Special Features.”

For more information on Napier and his new instructional DVD, visit his Facebook page.

He will soon have online ordering available, but for now, you can send $25 (+$2 for S&H) to:

PO Box 443
Clay City, KY 40312

Scott will ship you one right out.

How To Write A Banjo Concerto comes to VOD

Finally! The 2014 film How To Write A Banjo Concerto, which follows Béla Fleck through the process of conceiving and composing The Imposter, is being released to video on demand. Starting tomorrow, April 21, viewers will be able to watch the movie through iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo on Demand, Vudu, and Cinema Now.

In truth, the film could have been called “How To Learn How To Write A Banjo Concerto,” because that’s exactly what it shows. Béla was commissioned by The Nashville Symphony in 2010 to create such a piece, which he accepted even though he had no experience in that realm. Over the course of 96 minutes, we watch him go from a confused neophyte to a nervous and uncertain performer, a process that takes almost exactly a year.

The early stages of the film find Fleck in discussion with friends and fellow musical titans like Edgar Meyer, Noam Pikelny, and Chris Thile, inviting their input as he prepares to start writing. He is quite open about his ignorance of the process, and the fact that he has little training or experience with standard musical notation.

There is tremendous intimacy to this early part of the project. Filmmaker Sascha Paladino trusted Fleck to collect much of this early footage himself, setting up a camera in his work space to record impressions as he went along. It surely helped that Sascha and Béla are half-brothers, who have collaborated in the past on film ventures like Throw Down Your Heart, a documentary on Béla’s journey of musical discovery to Africa.

We follow the composer first to write in a cottage by the Oregon seashore, and later to do the same in Tecate, just across the US border with Mexico near San Deigo. The use of camera audio and found lighting in these sections gives the impression of a home movie. It could be distracting to some, but it suits the “reality TV” vibe it is meant to portray.

As the piece comes together, we recognize Béla’s realization that he also has to learn to play it by a date certain. You can see the terror in his eyes as he prepares to run through the piece for the first time with the Nashville Symphony

An effective technique throughout is the addition of Béla’s notes and recollections in text on the screen, like “I want to kill myself…” after flubbing some of his parts during the initial read through. It serves its narrative function far more smoothly than a running voiceover, since so much of the footage is already Fleck addressing the camera.

Overall the film is a bit impressionistic, with little dabs of the process here, and small bits of the concept there, but building always towards the ultimate climax, the live premiere performance which is also to be telecast and recorded for CD release. The accumulating stress is neatly registered with an ongoing countdown of days, then hours, and finally minutes, displayed in text at the beginning of each scene.

But as the film reaches the actual performance, it switches from a loose documentary style, to a multi-camera shoot which captures each section of the orchestra in turn as their lines are featured. Most of the first movement is included here.

Following the intensity of the concert, Palatino ends the film with a celebratory day-after brunch and jam session at the Flecks’ home. Here we see Béla and Abby with Sam Bush, Rayna Gellert and Nashville Symphony Concertmaster Juni Iwasaki playing an old time tune together, interspersed with scenes of Fleck accepting congratulations all around.

How To Write A Banjo Concerto might be best enjoyed by viewers with a good understanding of Béla’s career trajectory, and it probably helps if you love the banjo and banjo players, as I do. If so, you’ll find Fleck previewing the concerto for Earl Scruggs accompanied by his computer disarmingly charming, as you will his discussion over whiskey with Noam Pikelny about the Scruggs personal concert.

But anyone who simply loves music, and has an interest in how it is created, will appreciate this film. Look for it April 21 at the sites mentioned above.

The Hayloft Gang, the Story of the National Barn Dance

This terrific documentary aired on PBS in 2011. Producer Stephen Parrys Hayloft Gang Productions now offers it for sale at www.hayloftgang.com. It includes never-before-seen footage of pre-WWII country music. Although Chicago’s WLS National Barn Dance isn’t known for bluegrass, it is interwoven with bluegrass history.

Garrison Keillor narrates.

The first section deals with the 1920s birth of popular hillbilly music and broadcast radio. In an amazingly short time, the two industries intertwine through Sears & Roebuck’s marketing of their WLS radio National Barn Dance and Silvertone radios.

Stressing the FAMILY experience around the radio, WLS wanted a music program that “sounded like home.” The program used nostalgia even in 1924, reminding folks of “our farm communities of yesteryear.”

In 1928 Sears sold the successful station to Prairie Farmer magazine. In 1930 the signal was boosted to 50,000 watt clear channel status. The show prided itself that millions were listening TOGETHER over four hours each Saturday night. The cast became familiar friends nicknamed the Hayloft Gang.

Nashville’s WSM Barn Dance/Grand Ole Opry is the most familiar imitator – there were many. Judge George D. Hay was stolen away from the National Barn Dance by WSM in 1925, expressly to mimic WLS’ success.

The middle portion of this program highlights many star personalities in the National Barn Dance’s Hayloft Gang, including:

Bradley Kincaid — although classically trained, Kincaid focused on “mountain purity.” He introduced folk music to millions, selling 200,000 song books in 1930.
TV comedian George Gobel — “Little Georgie Gobel” was the Hayloft Gang’s youngest cowboy singer at age 14.
Gene Autry was the monster star to come out of the Hayloft Gang, starting in 1931.
The Kentucky Ramblers — of Davenport Iowa’s WOC radio. WLS stole the group (a common practice) and renamed them The Prairie Ramblers (Prairie Farmer magazine, remember?). They featured the exact instrumentation (including hot mandolin) and “stomp music” that Bill Monroe used later with his early Blue Grass Boys. Monroe credited the Ramblers as making an impression on him. (The three Monroe brothers of course danced in the National Barn Dance road show.)
John Lair — recruited rural musicians from Kentucky, including Karl & Harty, an early brother duet influence (although they weren’t brothers). Lair’s instrument was the typewriter – generating romanticized marketing material about country life and music. Lair later founded Cincinnati’s WLW Renfro Valley show.
Linda Parker — reformed juvenile delinquent saloon singer from industrial Hammond, Indiana, made famous as the Little Sunbonnet Girl with her mountain dulcimer. Her untimely death (from appendicitis) was nearly a national disaster. Lair marketed her death story aggressively.
Pat Buttram — hayseed comedian. Later he played Gene Autry’s sidekick, and Mr. Haney on the TV show Green Acres.
Patsy Montana – Ruby Blevins came in from the farm for an audition announced over WLS. As Patsy Montana, by 1934 she wrote and sang I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart (using a polka beat to appeal in Wisconsin) — the first female million-selling record. She’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman – these Kentuckians met and married on the National Barn Dance. Lulu Belle won a 1936 nationwide poll as favorite female star, beating Hollywood movie queens… since John Lair heavily promoted her pregnancy and the birth of Linda Lou (neatly named for the dear departed Linda Parker). Bluegrassers will like Scotty playing his Gibson Mastertone in a clear, precise, if old-fashioned 3-finger roll. It harkens back to Charlie Poole rather than anticipates Earl Scruggs, but there’s no question it’s 3-finger.
The DeZuriks — “the Cackle Sisters,” with clucking and barnyard noises incorporated into their fine duet harmony and yodeling.

As the program concludes, WWII pulls millions off the farm for factory production, and nostalgia for rural life wanes. Although the Grand Ole Opry modernized with honky tonk juke box music, the National Barn Dance felt it unwholesome, and refocused on patriotic production numbers broadcasting over Armed Forces Radio.

TV and rock ‘n’ roll doomed the National Barn Dance, which modernized the Hayloft Gang with fresh acts including Homer & Jethro. But Prairie Farmer wanted out, and by 1960 the station format changed to rock ‘n’ roll records. Thirty-six years of music that was described as “like going to Grandma’s” was over.

Besides the excellent original recordings, air checks and movie sound tracks, incidental acoustic music is provided by Chris Walz, Colby Maddox, and Paul Tyler of Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music.

This DVD is an engaging 60 minutes of history, music and images. I enjoyed it immensely.

Go to www.hayloftgang.com to get a copy.