Bluegrass has always been a parody music if one is using the term’s original definition which was simply a song that relied on previously composed material. Today, of course, it is associated with comedy which has disconnected bluegrass from its history of re-appropriation. Neil Rosenberg writes about the Stanley Brothers version of “Molly and Tenbrooks” which was designed to be a carbon copy of the previously released Monroe version, but he doesn’t mention that Molly and Tenbrooks were real race horses in the nineteenth century and that the tale depicted is one seen in countless newspapers and was bound to be the inspiration of countless original material. Twenty years later when the folk-revival arrived in the bluegrass realm, groups such as the Country Gentlemen became a success by taking material from folk acts and placing it in the bluegrass medium. Along with paying tribute, The Country Gentlemen also made a point to comically criticize the lack of instrumental virtuosity many of these folk groups had including Peter, Paul and Mary.
Cleverlys show both sides of the parody coin on new project
Today this tradition has sprouted into countless performers, but the one probably best known to most of us is the Cleverlys. Their new album ‘Blue’ includes both the positive potential of this sub-genre, but also the ways that it can simply fall into “pop music with the wrong instruments”. It’s ironic that in an interview with Ryan Tipps for AG daily that Paul Harris (Or front man Digger Cleverly) says that the Cleverlys’ arrangements come simply and each musician knows what their alter-egos would do. Based on their most recent project that seems to be two drastically different things.
There are songs like the first track, Justin Bieber’s “Baby” which opens with a strong syncopated, bluesey Monroe break which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Mike Compton project. Unless you know the lyrics, it would even be understandable to think of this as a tried and true bluegrass song. The jig may be up when you realize the chorus only has seven different words, or it may be emphasized even further that the annoying Justin Bieber chorus has been replaced by a three voice stack similar to such bluegrass favorites as “Get Down on Your Knees and Pray”. Personally, I think it is their most impressive arrangement and idea since I became aware of them almost ten years ago.
In contrast to the first three tracks which all stay relatively close to the chest in regards to instrumental arrangement and tangible connection to traditional bluegrass, the title track and later songs on the project transform their bluegrass ensemble into an 808 orchestra where each instrument is degraded to a certain melody part until it all falls back into a pseudo bluegrass groove. The title track, “Blue (Da Ba Dae)” by Eifel 65 is cleverly arranged and stays true to the song in certain ways that are appreciable, but the making of the sausage is extremely obvious. It seems like an unnecessary and painstaking process of not simply depicting the song through one’s own lens but attempting to stretch oneself too thin to the point where the song doesn’t satisfy any specific demographic. Possibly they find their own edification by depicting these songs that they admittedly enjoy un-ironically as accurately as possible, but if that were the case, I would love to see a more conscious desire to emulate production tactics and truthfully meet the pop-synth sound half way.
This is of course what they do on what will undoubtedly be the most controversial track on this project “Oh Death”. Here they have reversed their usual process by “trapifying” the sacred number. If this isn’t your cup of tea, that’s perfectly understandable, but one should be able to see the economic possibilities available by truthfully emulating both inverses of the pop and bluegrass mixture.
While this is a brave and possibly ground-breaking moment for the band, their version of “Wait a Minute” is the opposite of that. With whatever power I have I would like to decree that this song be added to the list of songs that include “Ruby”, “Fox on the Run”, and “Wagon Wheel”, as songs you only play when requested by your long lost cousin on their birthday if they are dying of terminal cancer. Can somebody please write a new “heartfelt” bluegrass love song with a 1-5-2-4 chord progression please?
