If you read the title of today’s piece and immediately thought of a classic rock song by The Who, then you’re probably part of my generation. Over the course of my sixty plus years I have had the good fortune to listen to some great music from many genres, including of course Bluegrass.
But I get bored listening to the same old stuff all the time these days and I long for the days when my musical antenna was tuned to the full range of music, old and new. Occasionally I hear young bands playing stuff I never heard before and I pick up on it to my benefit but I sure wish I had a better pipeline to the good stuff.
So I have an idea. I beg all of you from every generation of Bluegrass fans to participate on the message board by taking a little survey. (I don’t like doing surveys myself but I implore you to please do this for me).
What I want each of you to do is to think of three to five Bluegrass bands within your generation that have meant the most to you. The leader of the band has to be within ten years of your own age. So if you’re around 96, I would expect you to have Bill Monroe on your list. If you’re 83 you can include Earl Scruggs and if you’re five years younger than that you can include Jesse McReynolds. You get the idea. All of these musicians and many more after them have contributed Bluegrass music and many of their tunes we now consider classics. We hear these tunes older and newer around campsite jams every wonderful Bluegrass festival evening.
I will start the survey (even though I don’t like to do surveys). I was born in 1954 and within ten years of my birth year there a ton of great musicians. I have to sidestep great pickers like Mike Compton and Marty Stuart for example to give you my generational top five:
1) Ricky Skaggs. Here’s a guy who played on stage with Bill Monroe at the age of six. He flourished as a mainstream country singer and then returned to his Bluegrass roots when his cash cow faded. Killer mandolinist and sings Bluegrass from the heart.
2) Tony Rice. I heard Tony for the first time on the first Blake and Rice recording which I promptly purchased after first hearing. (I couldn’t vote for Norman in this survey but I would have). As a result of my first Tony Rice music purchase I went out and found more good stuff from Tony. J.D Crowe had a pretty good band with Tony and the other guy mentioned above.
3) Sam Bush. I bought a vinyl LP many years ago that had a cool album cover design. Honestly, that’s the only reason I bought it. When I got it home and listened to the New Grass Revival, I was hooked. I think Bela Fleck was playing banjo for them then. It was certainly eclectic for Bluegrass at the time but at the time I didn’t know very much about Bluegrass. I liked it then and i still like Sam’s music whether he’s playing for Emmy Lou or premiering his own new music.
4) Hot Rize. I know this is a band name and not one person but i am proud to claim Tim O’Brien, Pete Wernick and Charles Sawtelle as part of my own generation. Sadly, Charles passed early. Pete came pretty close to perishing too in a plane crash but the still off and on Hot Rize nucleus is still producing some great music.
5) Mark O’Connor. One of my favorite CDs is one from Mark called Heroes. There is so much great musical collaboration on that recording it’s unbelievable. Mark’s heroes are mostly of a previous generation as you would expect from the title. Byron Berline is just barely in my generation. Side man Marty Stuart is more of my contemporary. When i lived in Charleston, South Carolina I often went to hear my favorite Rock band play live. That band was called the Dixie Dregs and I unfortunately missed Mark by a year a two. That guy can play anything.
I really appreciate all of your suggestions for bands from your generation. I will check them out. YouTube makes that process pretty easy these days. I especially hope to hear something from the youngest generations but i fear that their social media transcends the lowly message board. At least I can query my fellow welcome columnists Marty and Cameron. They know and write about a lot of the new stuff already.
I treasure the Bluegrass heroes of my generation and I revere the Bluegrass founders of the generations before me. Music is timeless and so is musical talent. The musical inspiration from today’s Bluegrassers will be part of the standards played at festivals in years to come. My generation is not the only generation and Bluegrass and Old Time music is a testament to the fact that we can share music across generations.
