I went to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco and captured some photos for this blog. So how does the American music of bluegrass fit in here?
Bluegrass is really the combination of three different types of music:
Irish music, blues and European folk. It came out of the Kentucky region originally, thus many people think that it's named after the famous grass from that area. But I recently had a music professor explain another theory - the name comes from the combination of Blues and grassroots or folk music.
Anyway, most of the bluegrass musicians I know also play Celtic and blues and most of the celtic musicians I know play blues and bluegrass as well. The styles really are similar.
Here is a punk rock girl playing bluegrass fiddle during the festival so she can earn some money.
One group I didn't get a photo of because it didn't occur to me until too late was The Pine Leaf Boys. They had a singer who played bluegrass but sang all his songs in traditional Creole - a mix of French, English and Spanish that's often only heard in Louisiana. That language alone is worthy of its own Teriyaki Donuts post.
Maybe another day, though.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Bluegrass punk
Famous British punk rocker Billy Bragg (started recording in the early '80s) performed a complete set of his folk songs at the festival. They fit right in since bluegrass draws heavily from folk. Bragg also threw in a country tune that he wrote as well as one from Johnny Cash.
Superstar
Gillian Welch performs her strict bluegrass set during the festival. She drew a huge overflow crowd. There must have been at least 10,000 people in her audience alone, even though there were five stages altogether.
Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch is a superstar in the bluegrass arena. She was promoted to that when one of her songs was picked for the soundtrack of "O Brother Where Art Thou?" She was then featured on the smach follow-up live album "Down From the Mountain." The crowd was so big for her, I couldn't get very close and had to use a zoom. Since light was quickly fading, it was difficult to get a good shot.
T Bone Burnett crossover
Here, Oscar-nominated and grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer T Bone Burnett plays a nearly rock-like set while backed up by virtually all bluegrass musicians. Because bluegrass essentially came from a hodgepodge of other music from Ireland, Europe and Africa, it's easy to switch between styles because they all follow basically the same formulas.
T Bone Burnett
As I said earlier, many bluegrass musicians easily cross over between styles. Here, T Bone Burnett (Grammy winner and nominated for an Oscar) plays an all-electric set of his Tom Wait's like folk songs.
Austin Lounge Lizards up close
This is one of the big acts at this year's Mostly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the Austin Lounge Lizards. They opened their set with a song called "Yet Another Stupid Song About Texas."
Austin Lounge Lizards
Like blues, bluegrass music sometimes can be irreverant. And one of the most irreverant groups out there is the Austin Lounge Lizards. Their latest album pokes fun at commercials, modern religion and the medical industry.
Dancers
As you can see, people of all ages still seem to enjoy Bluegrass. Here, they dance to a tune by The Stairwell Sisters.
The Stairwell Sisters
Here, The Stairwell Sisters perform a vocal-only or a cappella song during the festival. They were one of the few bands that stuck to almost all traditional bluegrass tunes.
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