16 December 2013
I'm a fortunate man. I have a lot of friends in different circles. I was in one of my different circles the other night at a church event and the male banter got around to my needing a haircut and my Levi's. These are all former government and military associates. More than associates, they're friends. Right after the hair-cut comment someone mentioned my penchant for "Bluegrass." More jokes and friendly banter ensued. I tried to interject with some basic musical knowledge but it was useless. Then one of them did a totally off-color bad imitation of Vietnamese singing. I happen to collect Vietnamese folk music. That rattled my sense of world-view. I shook it all off. Any further attempt at educating the uneducated about my personal musical interests would fall on deaf ears. Three of them are golfers and spend a lot of time together discussing the rules of golf out on the links - whatever a link is. They don't understand my music, I don't understand the esoteric golf language they speak.
We all need a starting point for acquiring any basic knowledge. You've heard the old saw: "You need to know the rules before you can break them" The same holds true for bluegrass music or any one starting out in bluegrass who thinks they can become the next Ralph Stanley or Jimmy Martin. Seeing "O Brother Where Art Thou" a few times and hearing the name Alison Krauss only gives you a side-glance into this uniquely American musical art form. Last night I witnessed an event. One of the best traditional bluegrass bands in our region called it quits after eight years of playing together. Baltimore Bluegrass played at Jumbo Jimmy's Crab Shack in Port Deposit, Maryland. Notice I used the term Traditional Bluegrass. If my golfing friends took the time to listen to what I had to say on the subject, then maybe they'd be interested enough to know there's a real difference. But I know they're not interested. Basically they're good people and basically harmless, and I know that only two of them share any music interests at all. What they don't share with me is my addiction to good bluegrass music. It would take each of them years to catch up to my addiction level. At last night's event Kenny Blair and Warren Blair set up a CD stand near the playing space. I'm always interested in buying a CD so I checked it out. The title is "East of the Blueridge" by "Fastest Grass Alive." Fastest Grass Alive consists of Kenny Blair, Warren Blair, Jim Green, Dave Propst, and Scott Walker. I got home late last night and I've been playing the disk continually through today. It was produced in 2001 and I'm amazed I just discovered it here on the edge of 2014. Interestingly, "Fastest Grass Alive" was one of the featured groups at Rob's Barn recently. Rob Miller and the old gang from the Friendly Inn in Maryland have been staging 'reunion' events at Rob's beautiful old Amish barn-complex up in Westminster, Maryland. Well worth checking out in 2014 when the weather gets nice again.
One interesting feature of this CD is the Liner Notes, written by Jon Weisberger (January, 2001). They're hidden in a duo-fold inside the CD liner and I almost overlooked what Jon had written. He's written a primer on what constitutes traditional bluegrass. Anyone interested in the continuing debate about what constitutes traditional bluegrass should read it. I've copied it here in full:
" For the most serious fans, there is no greater satisfaction than that which comes from hearing bluegrass done right. Though it is a style in which tradition plays a greater role than in practically any other form of commercial popular music, that doesn't mean simply recapping the classics. To those who know and appreciate the music, "Tradition" doesn't describe a style or sound, but rather a way of learning and a kind of musical conservationism; traditional musicians learn their craft by a process of apprenticeship, and they concentrate their creative energies on variation and incremental innovation, not wholesale or radical change. Bluegrass is done right then, when it's played with soul, drive, elegance and equal measures of familiarity with the classics and appreciation for the creativity of the musicians who made them.
From this perspective, Fastest Grass Alive is unquestionably a traditional bluegrass band. East of the Blueridge reveals a mature, confident ensemble with a wealth of talent tempered by years of experience and though you won't find any of the old bluegrass classics here, every song fits comfortably into the repertoire. The result is an album that is the equal of many of those from the biggest bluegrass labels, and easily one of the strongest debuts of the past decade.
In some ways, that should come as no surprise, for among the members of Fastest Grass Alive there are some familiar figures. Warren Blair is perhaps the best known of the group, having served with distinction in the bands of bluegrass legends Charlie Moore and Bill Harrell as well as the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Del McCoury Band and Jimmy Gaudreau's Bluegrass Unit. Dave Propst and Scott Walker impressed east coast audiences with their deft contributions to Paul Adkins' band, while Jim Green did the same on the opposite side of the country with with Byron Berline and Bluegrass Etc. Kenny Blair is less familiar to bluegrassers, but brings his own considerable experience and unique perspective to the group as a country music veteran, having worked with brother Warren for acts like Melba Montgomery, Tommy Overstreet and Johnny Rodriguez.
This assortment of backgrounds and interests makes Fastest Grass Alive a group with an especially sharp eye for engaging material. Rather than disdain country music, they see bluegrass as integrally related to the larger genre, a fertile ground from which to harvest outstanding songs, not only classics like Hank Williams' "Take These Chains from My Heart," but modern entries like "If I Fall" and "Just How Little I Know," which come from recordings by Trace Adkins and Gene Watson respectively. Yet they also know how to draw on the bluegrass repertoire, resurrecting an under-appreciated gem like "Goin' Back to the Old Home" and giving Hazel Dickens' "My Better Years" an unexpected twist, and how to contribute to it themselves with solid new entries like the title track.
Most importantly, Fastest Grass Alive understands that while instrumental virtuosity is a requirement in bluegrass, the music is fundamentally vocal. This insight places them squarely in the tradition of the Osborne Brothers, J.D. Crowe and the New South and the Bluegrass Cardinals, while the group's depth is in this department, four of its five members not only sing, but take turns singing lead and allows them an unusual flexibility in creating just right vocal arrangement for each song. Yet despite the many permutations of parts and voices on East of the Blueridge, there is never any doubt as to who the band is, thanks to a consistent precision of harmonies, rooted in both skill and intensive rehearsal, that blend the separate voices into a distinctive whole in every trio passage. And though banjoist Scott Walker doesn't sing, his sensitive, elegant backup work is the perfect compliment not only to Warren Blair's supple fiddle playing and Dave Propst's sturdy mandolin, but to the vocals, truly the mark of a banjo player to be contended with.
Add it all up, and the conclusion is inescapable: this CD marks the debut of a major addition to the bluegrass scene, and of the most important kind, one that augments and enhances the music's traditions rather than clinging single-mindedly to the past or abandoning its riches altogether. In its blend of the old and the new, its dedication to craft and its devotion to songs that tell a story, Fastest Grass Alive shows just how deeply its members have absorbed not the outer attributes, but the innermost values of bluegrass's greats. That's an accomplishment that is all too rare these days, and it deserves the highest praise, which is simply this: East of the Blueridge is bluegrass done right. In the end, that's all one needs to know."
- Jon Weisberger, January 2001
Fastest Grass Alive - Kenny Blair, Warren Blair, Jim Green, David Propst, and Scott Walker.
Garrick Alden Studio, Laurel, Md. 2001.
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