Country Music Blog: Sam Bush

The first time I Googled "Coachella Festival," I was surprised to see we would be playing alongside Portishead. Only later did I realize we were playing the "Country Coachella," better known as Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. And to be honest, I was happier because it meant I would get to see The Judds. This may surprise some of you, but as a kid, my brother and I would listen to those records every weekend. Looking at the line-up, everything else was secondary -- Earl Scruggs, Sam Bush, Riders in the Sky. Had any of them recorded "Grandpa"? Or "River Of Time"? I don't think so...

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Merlefest is probably the world's largest Americana and roots music festival. I was at the very first Merle Watson Memorial Festival (as it was called in those days) 21 years ago. The first concert featured jams with Chet Atkins, Doc, Earl Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, Jim Shumate, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Grandpa Jones, Marty Stuart, Newgrass Revival, John Hartford, Mark O'Connor and others inside the Walker Center and outside on a flatbed truck stage. I remember sitting on hay bales outside watching the whole thing go down. A few years later, I was playing Merlefest as a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station. One particular year was memorable because the mainstage show consisted of us and Ronnie Milsap, who just murdered the crowd with a solo guitar version of "Knoxville Girl."

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5:30 a.m. That's a hard hour to get up when you know a long day at school lies just beyond your rising! Especially when you've just spent the last three days at Merlefest in Wilkesboro, N.C. -- one of the most exciting festivals I get to attend all year. This year's Merlefest was indeed a very busy one, but a total blast of many sorts!

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Merlefest is one of those festivals that is sort of addicting. It was my very first music festival back in 2005, and I have not missed a year since. Set in the hills of Wilkesboro, N.C., at Wilkes Community College, Merlefest is a celebration of all types of roots music. It's an absolutely beautiful place for a festival, and a very nice get-away from the hustle and bustle of Music City.

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Dierks Bentley, John Rich and Gretchen Wilson remember the Station nightclub fire, which occurred five years ago, with an acoustic concert in Rhode Island.

Did you bite into something crunchy at Country Radio Seminar? The health scores for the Nashville Convention Center might explain why the lights were so dim.

Speaking of country radio, is your favorite station among the off-camera nominations for the Academy of Country Music Awards?

Sam Bush, Natalie McMaster and Chris Thile will be playing RockyGrass this summer in Telluride, Colo., and the single-day lineups have been announced.

This rock star produced Loretta Lynn's Grammy-winning album and lives in Nashville. Now, Jack White is rush-releasing a CD by his new band, The Raconteurs.

This might be the year I finally go to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado. It's been on my mind for a long time, because the lineup always looks incredible, and you just can't beat listening to music in the mountains. This year, I'm most excited to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova -- who just won the Oscar for Once -- because those songs ... I don't know how to explain it, but they somehow still affect me, months later. Hansard's other band, The Frames, is one of the most dynamic bands I've ever seen in concert. I'm also a big fan of Ryan Adams and Tift Merritt, who are making their first appearances at the festival as well.

On my flight to Austin tomorrow for SXSW, I plan on reading the cover story in the latest (and second-to-last) issue of No Depression, about neo-traditionalist acoustic bands. A good number of them are going to be at Telluride, including Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile, The Duhks, Uncle Earl and Steep Canyon Rangers. It promises to be one of those cool events where you can see a classic soul singer like Solomon Burke, and then Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby. And I'll try to catch Sam Bush (a.k.a. The King of Telluride) just as often as I can.

The Greencards have finally -- after 11 months of solid touring, endless trips on the same freeway and 140 shows later – played their last U.S. show of the year! I’m writing from the comfort of my OWN desk here in MY flat and if I check into a Super 8 motel anytime soon I may have a nervous breakdown. I’ve got my oatmeal, my fine imported English teas, and I’m as happy as the mythical, ever-happy Larry. Gosh, it’s good to be home!

We covered a lot of ground this year and we achieved some great things. Performing with Sam Bush has been a dream come true for all of us, and becoming friends with him and his band and crew has been a life-affirming experience. Now when we cross their path at a festival somewhere, we know we’re welcome to crash their bus and steal the food on their rider! I loved playing the festivals this year, as you are handed a feverish throng of people crying out for entertainment! It’s hard to pick out my favorite festivals of 2007, but I was really blown away by two in the state of New York – Grey Fox and Grass Roots. Incredible music in a beautiful part of the continent surrounded by happy music lovers -- what more do you want? If you are planning your vacations for next year, please consider these destinations.

The last show was such a great experience because we knew we were coming back to normality in our hometown. I really wanted to share that feeling with everybody, and so with that in mind, I made a little movie with my digital camera and a free editing program. It only lasts a few minutes but it does give you the experience of going behind the scenes, watching us gear up for the gig, eating our last band dinner and also the last time we loaded up the van in 2007! It’s on our MySpace page. Let me know if you enjoy it. We look forward to seeing you in 2008.

If the only thing John Hartford ever did were to write "Gentle on My Mind," his place in country music history would be secure. But the truth is he contributed much more. After the enormous financial freedom given to him by Glen Campbell's 1967 hit, Hartford went on to a career that was incredibly diverse and always defied categorization. As well as playing banjo, guitar, fiddle and tap dancing, he listed his other occupations as tugboat and steamboat pilot. Not exactly your average star of country music…

An artist with such a huge catalogue can often be off-putting for the uninitiated, and I'll admit I didn’t own any Hartford records until I came across this re-release by Rounder Records -- Gum Tree Canoe. The cover itself is gorgeous and inviting in the way it presents the main players on the record. The legendary Jack Clement produced this masterpiece, and he sits next to Hartford like a Cheshire cat. Mark O'Connor played fiddle and this has to be some of the best stuff he ever recorded in Nashville -- hungry and incredibly imaginative. For those of you familiar with his work, you really need to inspect the cover to enjoy Mark's incredible beard -- an impressive Abraham Lincoln impression! The late great Roy Huskey Jr. holds down the rhythm section as he only he could and no one else has since. Guest appearances by Sam Bush, Marty Stuart and Jerry Douglas mean this album is my new definition of sublime charm.

The original songs are all wonderful, but top marks to these guys for re-inventing the Janis Joplin hit "Piece of My Heart" and upping the hillbilly ante on the Stones' "No Expectations." Although this collection of songs is now 20 years old, it could well have been recorded yesterday. It still sounds fresh and innovative.

I haven't found much new music to rave about this year, but stumbling across gems like this me a happy man again. I can't guarantee you'll feel as strongly as I do if you take a listen, but I'd be surprised if anyone writes in and tells me they don't like this record. Hartford simply charms you into wearing a grin as wide as the Mississippi River!

Back in 1989, a band called Strength in Numbers formed to create one record, The Telluride Sessions. This bluegrass supergroup set a standard in instrumental progressive bluegrass that has still to be superseded today.  MCA Records recently repackaged and reissued the album – lucky for us as this is an incredible piece of music. 

The band consisted of five of the greatest instrumentalists in acoustic music: Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor. Each musician wrote with every other partner to create compositions that draw on jazz, chamber music and middle Eastern influences. It should come as no surprise that the playing is sublime and defies categorization. I recently played it in our van on a drive back from New York and we were all amazed by how fresh and modern the whole record is. Given this album is almost 20 years old, that is no mean feat. The sounds are incredible, and a quick look at the credits reveal the assistant engineer was none other than Gary Paczosa, who went on to greater success as Alison Krauss’ engineer.

The greatest achievement of this project, in my mind at least, is how all of these fantastic musicians (who have maintained significant solo careers) pushed their egos aside to create a band. The record stands up today because these guys were creating music and not just vehicles for their flashy licks. In bluegrass it is especially easy to fall into that trap, and these musicians showed their pedigree in this recording.

If any of these musicians sound familiar to you (you’ve also heard them on thousands of country records), then I heartily recommend that you find a copy. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better instrumental record in this genre.

My personal highlight of today is easy – I sat next to Sam Bush at the IBMA nominations announcement this morning. (IBMA is the bluegrass equivalent of the CMAs.) Sam Bush is only one of the greatest mandolin players ever. He’s hosting the awards show on Oct. 4, so he was on hand to talk about how much fun it’s going to be. The last time I saw him play was at Bonnaroo, when Dierks Bentley brought him out for a rousing rendition of “Same Old Moon.” I couldn’t get that song out of my head for days.

Right now I have “If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor, Then You Don’t Love God” bouncing around in my mind. That’s because the songwriter Carl Story was announced as one of two new inductees into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. (It’s officially changed its name from Bluegrass Hall of Honor, starting this year.) One of the most pivotal bass players in bluegrass history, Howard Watts, a.k.a. Cedric Rainwater, is this year’s other inductee. He played with Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys (in what many people refer to as ‘the classic lineup’), as well as Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, the Osborne Brothers and even Kitty Wells.

One of the most promising bands in bluegrass, the Infamous Stringdusters, kicked off the easygoing morning with a few songs. I remember seeing these guys at Station Inn when they were billed as Wheelhouse, under a slightly different configuration. They’re definitely talented but I know I’d be sweating bullets with several of the top bluegrass musicians in the world sitting in the crowd, including fellow nominees Del McCoury, Doyle Lawson, Tim O’Brien, Dale Ann Bradley, Jim Van Cleve and Andy Leftwich. I’m happy to report that the Stringdusters did a terrific job. Meanwhile, I was just trying to play it cool, because did I mention I was sitting next to Sam Bush?