| New Grass Revival |
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464
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New Grass Revival
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Past Members: |
Sam Bush |
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Born: |
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Origin: |
Louisville, Kentucky |
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Years active: |
1971–1989 |
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Labels: |
Starday Flying Fish Rounder Sugar Hill Capitol Liberty |
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New Grass Revival was a progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971 and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles. Their highest-charting single is "Callin' Baton Rouge", which peaked at #37 on the U.S. country charts in 1989 and was a Top 5 country hit for Garth Brooks five years later.'
The origins of New Grass Revival lay in the Bluegrass Alliance, which Sam Bush (vocals, fiddle, guitar, mandolin) and Courtney Johnson (banjo, vocals) joined in 1970. At the time, the Alliance also featured bassist Ebo Walker and fiddler Lonnie Peerce. Within a year after Bush's and Johnson's arrival, Curtis Burch (dobro, guitar, vocals) joined the band. In 1972, Peerce left the band, and the remaining members decided to continue under a new name—New Grass Revival. The band released their eponymous debut, Arrival of the New Grass Revival, later that year on Starday Records.
[edit]Separation from mainstream bluegrass
Other groups were also playing progressive bluegrass at the time, such as The Dillards, Eddie Adcock's II Generation, and the Country Gentlemen, but few did it with the flair of the New Grass Revival. At the time, bluegrass was a very tradition-bound music; bands were expected to have short hair and dress in matching outfits. Not the New Grass Revival. They all had long hair, wore whatever they wanted to wear, and played whatever they wanted to play, including music by Jerry Lee Lewis ("Great Balls of Fire"), the Beatles ("Get Back"; "I'm Down"), Bob Marley ("One Love"), and protest songs ("One Tin Soldier"). This caused problems. A lot of people didn't like it and thought it wasn't the way Bill Monroe meant for Bluegrass to be played. "Our reason for doing the newer-type music wasn't pretentious or irreverent or sarcastic or disrespectful," explained Curtis Burch. "We just felt like people were ready to see that you could really expand the sound, using those same instruments." Interestingly, Monroe was fan of New Grass Revival. In 1979, they became the backup group and opening act for Leon Russell and this further alienated them from the mainstream bluegrass community.
The origins of New Grass Revival lay in the Bluegrass Alliance, which Sam Bush (vocals, fiddle, guitar, mandolin) and Courtney Johnson (banjo, vocals) joined in 1970. At the time, the Alliance also featured bassist Ebo Walker and fiddler Lonnie Peerce. Within a year after Bush's and Johnson's arrival, Curtis Burch (dobro, guitar, vocals) joined the band. In 1972, Peerce left the band, and the remaining members decided to continue under a new name—New Grass Revival. The band released their eponymous debut, Arrival of the New Grass Revival, later that year on Starday Records.
[edit]Separation from mainstream bluegrass
Other groups were also playing progressive bluegrass at the time, such as The Dillards, Eddie Adcock's II Generation, and the Country Gentlemen, but few did it with the flair of the New Grass Revival. At the time, bluegrass was a very tradition-bound music; bands were expected to have short hair and dress in matching outfits. Not the New Grass Revival. They all had long hair, wore whatever they wanted to wear, and played whatever they wanted to play, including music by Jerry Lee Lewis ("Great Balls of Fire"), the Beatles ("Get Back"; "I'm Down"), Bob Marley ("One Love"), and protest songs ("One Tin Soldier"). This caused problems. A lot of people didn't like it and thought it wasn't the way Bill Monroe meant for Bluegrass to be played. "Our reason for doing the newer-type music wasn't pretentious or irreverent or sarcastic or disrespectful," explained Curtis Burch. "We just felt like people were ready to see that you could really expand the sound, using those same instruments." Interestingly, Monroe was fan of New Grass Revival. In 1979, they became the backup group and opening act for Leon Russell and this further alienated them from the mainstream bluegrass community.