Bluegrass Thread.

Hey there ATS. If you're like me, then bluegrass is one of your guilty pleasures. I grew up with it, so it always brings a feeling of nostalgia to me, but I do love some banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and tenor harmonies. Here are a couple of my favorites!

There was a band a few years back called the Hayseed Dixies, they did bluegrass covers of AC/DC. And they sounded great.

My only real link to bluegrass is my Jews harp, a fun and simple instrument.

reply to post by Thecakeisalie


They did a few covers of other groups too. Their version of Gin and Juice is great!

I enjoy regional music that has evolved over time through the efforts of those who play and write it. I wrote a thread on Zydeco which is the Louisiana version of bluegrass. Here is a bluegrass song.

Alison Krauss and Union Station - Dust Bowl Children

Bluegrass is as real as it gets in bringing the harsh realities of life to a melody. That is one of many reasons I love bluegrass.

Musical tales of lost dogs, lost children, a dying loved one, horrible tragedies contrast with proclamations of love for mamas, memories of daddy working in the field, found recounts of a cabin home or a first love... even songs about food, church, and even ghosts.

Oh, don't forget the killing songs... the mortality rate in bluegrass is overwhelming... such songs as "Pretty Polly"... "the Knoxville Girl"... "By the Waterfall"... would challenge the most devoted serial killer...

One of my favorite artists is James King. Very traditional with the "high lonesome sound." His songs can make you smile one moment and literally crying like a baby the next.

"Long Black Veil" by The Country Gentlwemen will send chills down your spine... "Lonesome Ol' Home" from the super group Longview is just plain awesome... and if you grew up in the rolling hills and loved your mama and actually have eaten corn bread fried in a cast iron skillet and hoed corn till the sun went down... like me... it will make you homesick.

One of the best compilations of "sad mama songs" is "Memories of Mother."

I bought this at a bluegrass festival years ago... from Rounder Records.. and is now out of print...I have yet to meet the man that can listen to this album and not breakdown. Sometimes in a sadistic twisted joking way.I will slip this in while riding with a friend and after a few songs, they want to know why am I doing this to them with tears in their eyes.

And if you really want to cry.. play "Slippers With Wings" from Charlie Waller... a little cripple girl is adopted and given a puppy, but being sickly and weak.. she dreams of running and playing like the other children... only to die on Christmas Eve when she finally sees jesus who gives her slippers with wings so she can walk...

starting to tear up even now... sad, sad, sad.

Nothing like the Dueling Banjos from the movie Deliverance

This is not my normal style of music but I have always believed a great song has no genre..just fans...

Three versions of the same song, each a different sound or feel. Like many great songs this is a band taking a specific part from someone else, the chorus was by Dylan, and making it their own..

The first is by OCMS and Darius Rucker live(his voice sounds great in this version)
The second OCMS with their classic lineup doing Wagon Wheel live, the actual song starts about 1 min in..
The third is the original OCMS show video for Wagon Wheel..

reply to post by opethPA


I love that song, though I'm not much of a fan of the Darius Rucker version. I heard it on the radio the other day. However, I love Old Crow!

Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys - Blue Grass Breakdown

reply to post by Iamschist


Good one! Sounds similar to Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

reply to post by dave_welch


You grew up with bluegrass? Are you a Southerner? ;-) There is a nifty place in Nashville called The Station Inn that has a lot of good shows. Very small venue, so it's personal. I've seen the Nashville Bluegrass Band and Infamous Stringdusters there.

reply to post by chelsdh


Yes, I live in the Ozarks of Eastern Oklahoma. Haven't been to Nashville yet, but plan to go to Nashville and Memphis when I get a chance.