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”.

I’ve posted clips before but here, at long last, is the full set. From 1975, J.D. Crowe & The New South – Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, and Bobby Slone.

Highlights include the opening track, “Rock, Salt, and Nails”; “The Old Home Place” (always a staple of Crowe’s New South sets); “Ten Degrees and Getting Colder” (Tony Rice was the premier bluegrass interpreter of the songs of Gordon Lightfoot) and, of course, “Sin City”, which I believe I’ve reblogged individually more than once. Even so, this performance of it is especially powerful.

A lot of folks would look at this lineup of The Bluegrass Album Band, and see many of the folks responsible for the sound of contemporary bluegrass:

・J.D. Crowe (Banjo, Vocals)
・Tony Rice (Guitar, Vocals)
・Doyle Lawson (Mandolin, Vocals)
・Bobby Hicks (Fiddle)
・Todd Phillips (Bass)

They’d be right, which is just one of the things that makes this 1981 concert so intriguing. As progressive and genre-bending as they have been, these guys can play straight-up bluegrass astonishingly well, and have fun with it, too. In fact, the set is traditional to a fault, yet this band sees traditional bluegrass as the canvas on which they paint their best pictures.

Memorable moments: Crowe’s blazing kickoff of “You Don’t Know My Mind”, which is rivaled by Hicks’s stunning back-up. The way the two of them stoke the fire on “Shuckin’ the Corn”. The way Lawson out-picks Crowe on “Bugle Call Rag” — a traditional banjo showcase. The way Rice and Lawson apply traditional bluegrass elements in unexpected ways on “Sittin’ Alone In the Moonlight”, and the way Hicks outshines his work with Bill Monroe on that same number.

With all that said, I’m only scratching the surface. Enjoy the show.

When you’re talking about J.D. Crowe & The New South, this was the lineup: Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, and Bobby Slone.

You know the reputations and the brilliant work of all these musicians and singers, I hope. If you don’t, here’s a little factoid to give you an idea of how influential this lineup was and is to this day: Their first album is so legendary that it’s known, not by its name, but by its number: 0044.

Legends aside, drunk looks like shit – and sounds far worse – on a certain mandolin player who’d just turned 21. Matter of fact, it doesn’t serve a certain superstar guitarist very well either. The good news is that these days, they both give themselves fully to the music, and their occasions in the spotlight are all the better for it.

This song has never been considered a gospel song. It certainly isn’t a hymn. But it’s as reflective of Jesus’s preaching and teaching as anything you’d hear on Sunday – more so, in many cases. The second verse is about Bobby Kennedy and talks about his assassination. It’s as sad to contemplate today as it was when it was written. The futility is palpable, both in the lyrics and in this performance.

J.D. Crowe and the New South gave us some stunning interpretations of the songs of Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers. This is one. It’s called “Sin City”. And yes, that’s Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice up there with J.D.

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”.

This is so sad and beautiful! It’s almost as though John Hartford is under-performing to keep his emotions from spilling over.

That said, it’s on the instrumental breaks that these musicians really shine.The late Junior Huskey is on bass, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Vassar Clements on fiddle, Mark O’Connor laying aside his fiddle for the mandolin, and Tony Rice on guitar.

It’s funny: Usually, folks are dazzled by O’Connor’s fiddling and Rice’s blinding speed. Yet O’Connor on mando, and Rice taking his sweet time to be thoughtful with the melody, turn in the two best performances on “Old Time River Man”.