I’ve become keen on small bluegrass/not quite bluegrass bands – couple of guitars, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, bass, invariably a gorgeous Eartrumpet mike. Stumbled on these guys doing an absolutely beautiful cover of Harvest Moon – so simple, so musical, and very cool. They are all about covers, but they seem to smash them all out of the park every time.
The two brothers are the core of the group, and there seems to be a shifting group of people who pop in and out. A. J. Lee has a band called Blue Summit – they do a hilarious shitkicking cover of I’m a Believer.
Absolutely beautiful indeed. …
Yes, this is wonderful. One of my favourite songs elevated.
The original is in the key of D and played in drop D (the low E string lowered a whole tone to D) which on an acoustic guitar sounds unbelievably deep and rich. One of the few songs I can play without f-ing up.
This version appears to be in E. I assume to suit their voices.
Whatever. It’s beautiful.
A. J. Lee and Blue Summit.
They make it look so easy. I’ll stop now.
I’ve been following them for a while especially like Ear snacks & City painted gold albums. I see they are doing a few dates in England in September.
Very moreish. Thanks.
Brilliant. I love that kind of thing. It’s often delivered with a touch of humour too, like these chaps.
That’s great. Lot of work went into that vid!
Great isn’t it. Oddly they’re v popular with Twang Jr’s circle though I suspect they’re not representative of wider gen z.
The bluegrass scene is a small wonder, full of terrific musicians; they even fly the flag for the term ‘progressive’, and that avenue of their exploration results in some extraordinary music. It’s not a new thing, it’s ancient as the hills and forests, but there are little glades of simple wonder at extraordinary heights within it.
Stroll through this for a start:
Brilliant. A few folk, like Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings and Rhiannon Giddens, have made it out of the pack, but there’s such a lot more great stuff to discover.
Forgot to say that I just love the little jump of glee that A.J. does at the end of Harvest Moon. Quite right too.
One of my favourite clips on the tube. Tony Rice is the inspiration for all the amazing pickers who followed. All star band is right!
Here’s a good bluegrass lineup. Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Edgar Meyer ..