As some of you know the annual IBMA awards show took place a few weeks ago in Raleigh, North Carolina, and unfortunately I couldn’t be there like I was previously. Regardless, the award recipients are not stuck in a vacuum and whether I was there or not the IBMA’s decision effects bluegrass for the future. This year was a solid step forward for a brand that has represented stasis previously. Obviously the big news for us California folk is the momentum awards for Both Melody Walker of Front Country and Molly Tuttle for whatever awesome project she has coming up next. Both of these awards are extremely well deserved and are some of the first major California victories since Ikes became the shoe- in Dobro player of the year recipient. If that California victory wasn’t enough, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen won Instrumental Group of the Year. Unlike many years when utter flash has won the award, Dirty Kitchen was given this award I believe for their machine like consistency and tightness on Solivan’s numerous instrumental interludes and breakdowns. Their transitions in and out of those are the best bluegrass has ever seen.
Although these decisions gave me excitement and joy for my friends, my two biggest reactions came in the Male Vocalist and Mandolin Player of the Year categories. Danny Paisley is the best singer in the world no questions asked. The fact that they even attempt most years to throw it on to somebody else I find hilarious. My specific definition of talent is that somebody can do something that you can’t do no matter how hard you try, nobody can or ever will be Danny Paisley. On the other hand, I have heard a million mandolin players either in California or back east that can play like IBMA mandolin player of the year Sierra Hull. I have never seen a more lifeless attempt at the mandolin since Adam Steffey popularized the distanced noodling style. What especially upsets me is the major hostility bluegrass players have about “too many” notes. This has resulted in players like Chris Thile, Jesse Cobb, and other edgier mandolin players being dismissed. How is Sierra Hull different except she puts less dynamics and energy into her solos? I recognize that Becky Buller and Sierra Hull winning is a big step for women in bluegrass, but Sierra Hull is not the answer.
With a Song of the year, Vocal Group of the year, and album of the year victory, Flatt lonesome was clearly the big winner of the night. Honestly, I was disappointed in their Grass Valley performance so I never listened to their new album Runaway Train. But after an award show victory, I thought I would give it a chance. Their sound has definitely grown since their origin and there are a lot of songs I really enjoy on it, but they have taken the style of “flash grass” too far. After the core 4 of Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Stanley Brothers and Jimmy Martin, bluegrass lost a bit of its simple and core parameters. Osborne Brothers’ vocal tags, Reno banjo breaks, and numerous other flashes and glamour were added onto the bluegrass genre. 40 years later, we deem this to be part of the traditional cannon. But that’s only because the songs were. Today, Flatt Lonesome’s songs still contain a bluegrass sound but each is heightened by an instrumental fill here or an extra chord there. While I usually applaud this style they have made these tweaks so blatant on some tracks that it gets distracting. “You’re the One” won Song of the Year and it’s hard to dispute why. The vocals, chord progression and entire feel for the song is strong. But don’t the constant bends and changing textures in the melody get a little exhausting? To me there is no difference between doing that or playing sixteenth notes during the break of a heart-felt 3/4 time song like this track is. Some twists on the genre exceed all expectations. The simple three chord progression and melody for “Still Feeling Blue” seems innocent and basic and then you realize the simple relationship between the progression and melody is ingenious. IF Flatt Lonesome’s IBMA victories are a symbol of the new direction of bluegrass, then be ready to find infinite parallels between this and the 60s and 70s. Could it be worse? Of course, but a new subgenre could also be different and move the genre forward instead of backward.
