From time to time, bluegrass encounters some sounds that don’t fit the general definition of bluegrass. Let me clear – I’m talking about odd tonalities – not bad players. Aside from the “standard” bluegrass instrumentation of guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and dobro, there are other tonal invaders we may encounter.
Some are historically well documented, and pepper the music from some of the masters of the genre. Collectors of old bluegrass albums will remember experiments with drums, especially during the 1960’s when bluegrass musicians struggled to stay relevant in a rock-driven musical landscape. Harmonica is also a common addition to bluegrass.
Most of these experimentations have not caught on. The most popular bluegrass music seems to feature almost exclusively the instruments listed in the first paragraph. Bluegrass music has an inherent resistance – almost a snobbery – when it comes to new sounds.
Part of this is due, I think, to bluegrass fans wanting to capture the sounds of their favorite bands. But that memory IS selective – how often does someone say at a bluegrass jam “Man, that guy really nailed the snare drum sound on that Osborne Brothers record from 1967!”
I have been to several jams where someone offered to join in with unusual instruments. Often, they were eager musicians who were not familiar to the bluegrass idiom, so they really had little chance of contributing to the jam effectively. Other times, however, musicians on non-standard bluegrass instruments (harmonica, flute, cello, pedal steel, even trumpet), had a sense of bluegrass melodies and rhythms to be pretty darn interesting. If the other folks in the jam are adventurous, this can be a lot of fun.
It’s a tougher row to hoe, however, if a band with non-standard instrumentation wants to be a part of the bluegrass “scene”. For promoters, they know a bluegrass audience will have a limited appetite for experimentation, with a beloved, well defined musical form. But variety is the spice of life, yes?
Recently a band has emerged on the bluegrass/folk music scene, with a decidedly non-standard sound – The Littlest Birds. It’s a duo (sometimes they have a bass player) with just clawhammer banjo (sometimes old school fretless!) and cello. Huh? “That ain’t bluegrass!”, you might exclaim. And you’d be right – their sound falls more into the “old time” niche than straight bluegrass. But cello isn’t a standard instrument for old time music either. The Littlest Birds defy easy categorization.
But these cats know bluegrass, too! I had a chance to jam with them, and even with harder driving bluegrass, they had no problem embracing bluegrass-style guitar and bass accompaniment, or the vocal harmonies. And throughout – there’s that killer cello, playing basically fiddle licks at a lower register. Bill Monroe himself would have found this very interesting, I think.
Are clawhammer banjo/cello duos the future of bluegrass? No, of course not. It’s a niche sound, but the excellent musicianship, and respect for the music speaks for itself. The Littlest BIrds played on Vern’s stage and at Bluegrassin’ in the Foothills, and I hope to see them more often, and I hope they inspire other musicians to follow their muse, and help probe the outer reaches of old time, and bluegrass music!
