Generation Bluegrass, a film made about and by young bluegrass musicians, was released in September of 2012. Corey Smith, guitarist with Ash Breeze, was the impetus behind the project, using the money he made working on his family’s farm to fund the production.
Corey has almost finished another edition, Generation Bluegrass 2 – The Grass Roots Up, featuring a second batch of youth grassers. Included in this one are The Willis Clan, an absurdly handsome and talented family from Tennessee, Missouri’s Meyer Family (the best hair in bluegrass), Cory Piatt, mandolinist with Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, banjoist Brandy Miller and reso-guitarist Gaven Largent from Virginia, and Ohio’s Jackson family who perform as Lonesome Meadow.
As with the first edition, Corey is being assisted by Zeb Snyder of the Snyder Family Band who serves as Assistant Director and Production Coordinator. For such a young team (Corey is 19 and Zeb 18), these two have pulled off an impressive bit of work. Both also perform on screen in GB2.
The DVD should be ready in the next few months, and Corey has released a trailer to offer a tease beforehand.
There is a chance that a CD of the music from Generation Bluegrass 2 will be released this summer as well.
Hats off to Corey Smith for pulling all this together. Regardless of where his career in bluegrass may take him, he’s got the mind of an entrepreneur, the soul of a filmmaker, and the work ethic to take care of what needs to be done. Ditto where Zeb Snyder is concerned.
Mountain Fever has released a debut single from the upcoming self-titled album by Ash Breeze, formerly The Smith Family Band.
The group includes siblings Corey Smith on guitar, Nellie Smith on fiddle, Luke Smith on banjo, and Eli Smith on mandolin, along with their proud papa Allen Smith on bass.
For their first single, the Smith’s have chosen Without Love, written by Corey and Nellie, and featuring Nellie on lead.
See what you think…
The video was filmed and edited by Corey Smith, the young filmmaker behind the two Generation Bluegrass DVDs. Additional videos from Ash Breeze can be viewed at their web site.
Look for the new album, produced by Aaron Ramsey, early in 2014.
Last year we dedicated a good many pixels to a film project called Generation Bluegrass. It was the brainchild of Corey Smith, an 18 year old filmmaker and bluegrass guitarist. His idea was to highlight some of the stellar young musicians about to break out in the bluegrass world, and demonstrate the appeal the music holds for younger folks – in their own words and music.
And it seems to have been prophetic. Two of the acts profiled in the film, The Church Sisters and The Snyder Family, have since made significant career gains, and seemed poised to leave a mark in the music business. Savannah and Samantha Church, set to turn 18 later this year, have been turning heads on the country and Gospel music scenes, while Zeb and Samantha Snyder (18 and 14) will be featured on the upcoming Adam Steffey album, and have a new record of their own on the way.
Generation Bluegrass was screened during World of Bluegrass 2012, and generated quite a bit of buzz in the biz.
Just one year later, Smith is working on a follow-up entitled Generation Bluegrass 2: The Grass Roots Up. Like the first project, Corey has the help of Zeb Snyder as assistant director.
But unlike the first one, he doesn’t plan to try and finance it himself from the money he earns with The Smith Family Band. Corey said that they turned a profit on Generation Bluegrass, selling copies on DVD, but has decided to go the crowd sourcing route for volume two. He and Zeb are hoping to raise $5000 through Indiegogo to finish the work on GB2.
Smith shared a few thoughts about this new effort, along with the video appeal he created for Indiegogo.
“I am very excited about Generation Bluegrass 2, mainly because its a new video project with new artists and new songs, but also because of the slightly different focus than the last film. We are really focusing on the ‘grass roots’ of bluegrass and the Irish influence in the bluegrass genre. We are bringing in a band that has mastered Irish music and is incorporating it into their bluegrass.
But we aren’t stopping at the roots, we are also bringing in some more contemporary young bluegrass artists to show how far the music has come, and what each generation brings to the plate to develop bluegrass music.
This film is for all ages; the young and the old will enjoy seeing these youth musicians playing together at a professional level.
We hope this film will not only provide quality entertainment, but will encourage aspiring bluegrass musicians.”
Featured in Volume 2 are The Willis Clan, Lonesome Meadow, and The Meyer Family Bluegrass Band, along with Cory Piatt, Jonah Horton, Gavin Largent, Brandy Miller, Matt Love, Zeb and Samantha Snyder, and Jacob Burleson.
This strikes us as a very worthy project, and can assure anyone considering a donation that the final product will be something you can be proud to support.
To make a pledge, visit the GB2 page at Indiegogo.
You can read our review of the first film here at Bluegrass Today.
One of the highlights of walking around IBMA is seeing the number of young people hanging around picking and jamming in groups, sometimes in just pairs or trios, sometimes by the dozen. These youngsters, sometimes as young as nine or ten and all the way up to 18, are enthusiastic, devoted, focused and good. And inclusive, which is one of the best things about bluegrass; it’s music for all the people. Famous or not, highly skilled or just learning, groups of people get together for the love of the music and play into the very wee hours. A couple of nights ago, I stumbled onto a jam of 11 young people that included Jacob and Isaac Moore of the Moore Brothers, and they were having a good old time picking with fans. It’s a common occurrence, and one of the most appealing aspects of the music.
It’s this devotion and love for bluegrass that director/producer Corey Smith and assistant director Zeb Snyder are hoping that viewers will see and understand when they watch Generation Bluegrass, the new movie that documents some of the hottest young pickers of today. Just 17, both young men are excited and anxious to present bluegrass from their point of view, the horizon of possibility and promise.
The Mast Farm Inn in Valle Crucis, North Carolina and Bluegrass Today were pleased to present the premiere of Generation Bluegrass on Friday afternoon at IBMA Fan Fest. Several of the young people appearing in the film were on hand, including the directors and members of their families.
The film showcases the music of the Smith Family Band, the Moore Brothers with Daniel Perry, the Snyder Family Band, the Church Sisters, Jacob Burleson and Shane and Alex Edwards. The talents of the performers are clear, and we learn that the philosophies of bluegrass as pure, wholesome music are as important to these young people as they are to players decades older.
The idea to showcase the current new generation of pickers came to Corey Smith in part because he loves video production almost as much as he loves playing bluegrass with his family. With the support of his folks, he set out to make his dream come true. It wasn’t handed to him; Smith financed the entire production from his own pocket by working on his family’s grass-fed cattle farm (Deep River Cattle), plus with money he made from his band and by working on smaller video projects. He bought and rented the equipment he needed, set up a studio at his home and he and Zeb did all of the shooting between last November and this past June. Licensing hassles, financing issues and scheduling problems at times were a little discouraging to the process, but that’s one of the beautiful things about youth – the boys had enough dogged determination and sheer willpower to make sure the project’s completion was never in question.
And dreams – the film and its directors are full of dreams. Smith is hopeful that the film can make its way to as many schools and young people as possible, so that students can see that bluegrass isn’t the “hick-ish, redneck” music that it is sometimes mistakenly assumed to be. Snyder sees even bigger things.
“I would love to see this even get outside the bluegrass community, so that people could see, ‘Hey, these kids are really interested in this, there must be something to this bluegrass. This film can demonstrate that, because it was filmed by kids, funded by kids, had all youth positions on it except for some family members playing bass. So that aspect of how much fun we’re having, if that could get outside the bluegrass community and bring people in, then I think that would be a great thing that we could accomplish.”
Adds Smith…
“I want to get this out and show how cool bluegrass is, to show how much fun it is to play. And not just to play, but to listen to.”
One concern the young men have is that sometimes when the public sees a family band, it suspects the parents are taking advantage of their children’s’ talents and are putting the young people through a life and process they do not enjoy. Smith and Snyder want to make very clear that the belief is utterly unfounded and is wildly untrue.
“One thing I want to say about this, all of these kids were not pushed by their parents at all,” asserts Smith. “Their parents started them, but they took it from there. They love bluegrass, all of the kids on the DVD.”
Says Snyder…
“It’s usually the parents that are begging to go to bed, not the kids! The kids want to be there, they want to play.”
One of the reasons bluegrass is so appealing to the young people is the high-octane energy that the music inherently possesses. It’s perfect for a young, energetic person to let off a little steam. “It’s not hard to put energy into it, it’s hard to back off,” laughs Snyder. “People tell us, ‘Okay, time to play a slow song now!’ It’s so much fun to play.”
Some of the songs the young people perform in the movie are A Soldier’s Song from the Smith Family Band; Nine Pound Hammer from the Snyder Family Band; The Angels Rejoiced Last Night from the Church Sisters; the jazzy/blues instrumental take on Wayfaring Stranger from the Moore Brothers and EMD from a collective jam. These folks even show off a little of their songwriting skills, as Zeb Snyder leads his family through Sarah Joy, a song he wrote based on a young neighbor friend back home in North Carolina.
The subjects also share their dreams and hopes for their place in bluegrass. Savannah Church says that someday she hopes that she and twin sister Sarah might sing on the Grand Ole Opry, but “for us that’s just a dream right now.” With their undeniably angelic harmonies and instrumental prowess, a person has to think that it’s only a matter of time.
We’re not sure what Sam Bush and Bela Fleck might think of being called the “oldies” of bluegrass, but these kids do know the pioneers of bluegrass and want to honor them with the film. Their musical goals are to continue what Messrs. Monroe and Scruggs began, build on Tony Rice, Bush and Fleck and then draw on the influences of their own time to continue to evolve the music while holding steadfast to what came before. Snyder sums it up:
“I think it’s good for the health of the music that it’s a naturally creative kind of music. I think as long as it stays like that, it will go on for as long as people want to play.”
Be looking for Generation Bluegrass near you, and take the opportunity to see it. It is also available for sale on DVD.
You’ll be impressed by what lies ahead for the music, and relieved that such clear-headed thinking will lead bluegrass into the future.
As you might guess from the title, the film is focused on young bluegrass musicians, and is a joint effort of teen pickers – and filmmakers – Corey Smith and Zeb Snyder. Both perform with their family bands, and put this project together to highlight the talents of a number of other prodigies deserving of wider attention. Their own groups are featured (The Smith Family Band and The Snyder Family Band), along with The Church Sisters, The Moore Brothers, Jacob Burleson, Daniel Perry, and Alex and Shane Edwards.
Last month we posted an extended trailer, along with word that Corey would be in attendance at World of Bluegrass to promote the film. On short notice, and through the generosity of Henri Deschamps with Mast Farm Inn, we were able to arrange for the film to be shown during Fan Fest at the end of this month.
We invite everyone to join us for the premiere on the 28th, at either 2:00 or 5:00 p.m., in Room 104 at the Nashville Convention Center. There is no additional fee to attend, and Corey and Zeb, along with some of the talented young musicians from the film, will be on hand to perform a few songs, and talk about Generation Bluegrass. DVDs will be available for sale, both at the screenings and in the Fan Fest exhibit area.
This is an especially worthy project, both for its content and the high overall quality of the film itself, and we trust that the bluegrass community will show the support it deserves.
Here’s more news about an upcoming bluegrass film project, this time the youth-focused Generation Bluegrass.
Actually, this film is more than just youth-focused. It was conceived, filmed, produced, edited and financed by bluegrass teens Corey Smith and Zeb Snyder. Both young men, who perform with their family bands, decided to make this film to showcase the talent of this next generation of talented grassers.
Corey set up a studio at his family’s home in Glendon, NC and shot all the footage between November of 2011 and this past June. He financed the project himself by pooling all the money he made working on his family farm, performing with the band (The Smith Family), and doing film work for local businesses in his area.
Generation Bluegrass features both performances and interviews with the members of the Snyder Family Band, The Church Sisters, The Moore Brothers, and The Smith Family Band. Individual pickers are also included, with spots highlighting Jacob Burleson, Daniel Perry, and Alex and Shane Edwards.
Judging from the extended trailer released last week, the production values are quite high. Young Mr. Smith displays quite a talent as a videographer as well as a guitarist.
Corey will have a booth during IBMA’s World of Bluegrass at the end of September and hopes that finished DVDs will be available at that time.
Each year at IBMA, there are discussions and panels about getting young people involved in the music, and the organization. There will never be a recruiting tool more effective than seeing other young folks playing and enjoying the music. Bravo Corey and Zeb!
Another project that’s in the works is Generation Bluegrass, made by, for, and about the young folks who will soon assume the mantle of keeping the tradition alive. Producing and directing is 17 year old Corey Smith, guitarist with The Smith Family Band, with help from his friend Zeb Snyder, the 16 year old guitarist with The Snyder Family.
Their film highlightstheir two family bands, plus The Moore Brothers, another teen and pre-teen outfit. Also featured are Jacob Burleson, son of Blue Highway’s Jason, and Daniel Perry, bass player with the Moores. All are superb pickers with a bright future in bluegrass should they choose to pursue a career in music.
Here’s a short trailer Corey has created for Generation Bluegrass…
…and a version of Sweet Georgia Brown from the film:
It will be exciting to see what Corey comes up with when the project is complete.
