The Old Hippie Who Gets Bluegrass Right

You know, for an old hippie, Peter Rowan has made some of the most genuine, heartfelt bluegrass music you'll ever hear. He's one second-generation picker who knows that bluegrass works best when you keep the blues in it.

In this clip, however, it's Emmylou Harris and The Nash Ramblers — a band that includes Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas — doing the pickin' and sangin'.

They're covering a song that Rowan wrote with Bill Monroe, and the intensity speaks for itself when two lovers are separated by “The Walls of Time”.

Here’s more from the little band that included fledgling monster pickers Sam Bush and Tony Rice – The Bluegrass Alliance.

This, again, is from their 1972 show at Renfro Valley, and I think this is even better than the last cut I posted. Tony Rice is an absolute genius at vocal phrasing. There’s as much resignation as pain in his voice – what a complex, emotionally-truthful performance for someone so young!

The tune is “Whisper Your Name”.

Now, this is a story!

It was written by Robin and Linda Williams, who sing it here, backed by some of the best session men in bluegrass. That's Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin, and Stuart Duncan on fiddle, giving it plenty of Cajun flavor.

I think I even remember this performance. If memory serves, it's from a predominantly-bluegrass New Year's Eve concert -- 2007 maybe? -- which aired on PBS for Prairie Home Companion. Everybody brought their A game that night, and it was one of the shows that pushed me further toward bluegrass music.

This is "Rollin' and Ramblin' (The Death Of Hank Williams).

Once upon a time, Tony Rice and Sam Bush were just babes in the bluegrass woods. With a genre-bending little band called Bluegrass Alliance, they caused quite a stir back in the day. Bassist Ebo Walker talks a little bit about that as he’s introducing this number.

Here’s Bluegrass Alliance from a 1972 show at Renfro Valley with a plaintive version of Richard Fariña’ s “Pack Up Your Sorrows”.