CMT Blog: Archive

Though some folks may resent the fact, it’s pretty hard to argue that the center for bluegrass these days is anywhere but Nashville. Music City’s full of bluegrass musicians, from long-timers like Roland White, who arrived back in the ‘60s, to more recent arrivals like the Infamous Stringdusters’ Travis Book and NewFound Road fiddler Brandon Godman. Because they share a common songbook, it’s easy for the line between music-making and socializing to get blurry, or even disappear altogether — and of course, once you’re making music together, you might as well find an audience for it. Fortunately for the city’s pickers, the world famous Station Inn stands ready to serve one up.

For the last year or so, the every-Tuesday-night-at-the-Inn mantle has been picked up by The Mashville Brigade: Jim Van Cleve, Ashby Frank, Darrell Webb, Aaron McDaris and Randy Barnes. All of them are young, all of them are relatively recent arrivals here (in fact, one hasn’t even moved to Nashville — yet) and all of them have gigs with other bands, but the pleasure they get from giving a modern twist to the classic songbook is as unmistakable as their desire to initiate a new generation of listeners.

Luckily, you don’t have to make a pilgrimage to Music City to hear the Brigade anymore. Bluegrass Smash Hits, Volume 1 (Rural Rhythm Records) both delivers a resoundingly energetic, thoroughly modern take on such staples as “Sitting on Top of the World,” “Little Maggie” and “Take This Hammer” — the latter triggering a clever promotional campaign involving (what else?) a giveaway hammer — and, as its title suggests, the promise of more to come. For a taste of the way some of today’s top youngsters are taking the past into the future, it just can’t be beat.