J.D. Crowe: “We went to Japan in 1975. We were over there for like ten days and I think we played eight concerts, and out of those eight, every one of them were sold out. It was just encore after encore. They wouldn’t let us quit. We had to come back three or four times. I mean, that was a great feeling, you know. I really didn’t want to come back to the US after playing in Japan.”
An asian invasion might sound threatening to people here in the US but it could be a good thing too. I’m not talking about getting nuked by North Korea or an emergent China flexing its muscle in the Pacific. The orient is home to great culture and great art. I’m talking about asians playing bluegrass. Bring it on! We need all the voices we can get to amplify our music and bring it to the attention of people who might otherwise miss out on it. Check out this video of John Reishman’s band playing with Chinese musicians on their traditional instruments:
I first became aware of the asian influence in bluegrass when I heard a band called Bluegrass 45 out of Japan. Formed in Kobe, Japan the band made a successful tour of US in the early 70’s. Their mandolin picker, Akira Otsuka liked the bluegrass vibe so much that he settled in Maryland. Bluegrass legend John Duffy made a cool custom mandolin for him to play.
I’ll never understand how people become interested in and adept at cultural influences so far off the radar screen of their homeland. But people do. Something grabs them about the alien experience. And once in a great while somebody achieves a level of skill in an activity their countrymen don’t understand or maybe haven’t even heard of.
That’s why we have the Kruger Brothers. It’s why Bobby Fischer beat the Russians, why Greg Lemond won the Tour de France. The same quirky phenomenon happens in music. Josh Feinberg is an American virtuoso of the Indian sitar for example.
If a bluegrass band comes from another country I always want to check them out. What will they reflect of the musical culture from which they come? We’ll have an asian invasion at the Father’s Day Festival next month in Grass Valley. Country Gongbang is coming all the way from South Korea and I am really looking forward to hearing them.
Bluegrass is very popular in the orient it seems. One of my favorite Country Gentlemen recordings is Live in Japan. The crowd is truly uproarious. My friend Larry Phegley (promoter of the Otter Opry), visits Japan often and he sent me this link about Japanese Bluegrass with comments that follow. And if you like Country Gongbang at Grass Valley you can hear them again on the Otter Opry stage on June 18 in Monterey.
