ROUNDUP: Del & Shorty, Sam Bush, Chris Thile
As always, just want to keep you up to speed on some kick-ass developments in the wonderful world of bluegrass.
Del & Shorty
Congratulations are in order for Del McCoury and “Texas Shorty” (fiddler Jim Chancellor) who are amongst this year’s 2010 recipients of National Heritage Fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts. They will be honored at The Library of Congress and give a concert in Bethesda, MD on September 24.
Del & Shorty join a long pedigree of bluegrass and americana musicians who have received this lifetime achievement award. Among them are the likes of Mike Seeger, Mac Wiseman, Doyle Lawson, Jim & Jesse McReynolds, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, Wade Mainer and Kenny Baker.
Sam Bush Keynote at WOB 2010
Mr. Bush has been on fire this year. His newest LP, Circles Around Me has received some serious critical acclaim, but that’s not why I’m excited, rather, I just got word from The Bluegrass Blog that Mr. Bush is giving the main keynote on 9/27 at this year’s IBMA World Of Bluegrass, a gathering of the who’s who of bluegrass music and industry. Working on my passes now, so feel free to reach out and I’ll see you there! Also, he has two more instructional DVDs due out on Homespun Tapes about lead and rhythm mando, respectively. They are both due out Monday, 7/12.
Chris Thile Review
We wrote here a while back about The Punch Brothers’ CD release party in Brooklyn (which was totally amazing by the way). Their recent release is causing a major stir in the acoustic community and so there are a few things I think are worth a read.
- A show/music review from the NYTimes about The Punch Brothers and their recent release. Gives you an idea of how amazing the Brooklyn show was. Goes far enough to classify their material as mostly “acoustic prog rock”, a characterization I will definitely be using in future posts.
My favorite quote however, was about Mr. Thile and Noam “Pickles” Pikelny:
Mr. Thile contains multitudes: he connects the full-hearted yodel of Jimmie Rodgers and the insecure falsetto of Thom Yorke; he looks a bit like Robert Pattinson, and talks in manic raps of hyper self-consciousness. (“I’m having an absurd amount of fun,” he announced, eyeing his audience hungrily.)
Noam Pikelny, the banjoist, played the foil, delivering saturnine jokes behind the beat. It’s in their humor — spoken and musical — where their bluegrass training comes through most.
- As posted before, a great interview (via The Fretboard Journal) between David Grisman and Chris Thile about early influences, practice and my favorite instrument, the mandolin.
That should keep you busy for now, keep checking back for more heady bluegrass content.
