Bluegrass Across the Years

A pair of fairly recent DVDs that show two very different views of the bluegrass world. "Bluegrass Country Soul" was filmed at a bluegrass festival in 1971, and it shows a genre in flux. "Traditional" bluegrass was flummoxed by the popular long-hair culture -- how do we keep current without betraying our roots? I'm sure at the time some of the crossover song choices were considered radical (John Denver! Elton John!!) and it's weird seeing Earl Scruggs in short hair and short sleeves playing with his far more hirsute offspring. We also get to see Ralph Stanley (long before "O Death" but still every inch the patriarch), J.D. Crowe (with a young chubby-faced Tony Rice -- who doesn't even get to solo!), Chubby Wise playing his trademark "Orange Blossom Special" with the biggest grin on his face, and Bluegrass 45, a band of young Japanese men that elicits one of the biggest responses from the crowd. But my favorite has to be the Stanley Brothers. They play like they could do it in their sleep, but I never felt they were phoning it in -- and "Ruby" still has all those hill-holler piercing high notes. Jump ahead 30 years, and you get "Bluegrass Journey", recorded at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in 2000. We get to see performers from "Bluegrass Country Soul" like Del McCoury and Tony Rice, but this DVD includes the full festival experience, which by now includes the special instrumental workshops and the crazy jamming through the night at the official hotel (I REALLY need to get to Wintergrass in Bellevue next year). Highlights for me: Peter Rowan performing "The Hobo Song" that he recorded with Old & In the Way which featured Jerry Garcia and started me on the road to bluegrass, Nickel Creek stretching the boundaries with "Old Cold Coffee On the Dashboard" (oh, wait, it's just a variation on what David Grisman was doing in, umm, 1976, but okay, I still like it), and yes, you guessed it, Tony Rice performing his medley of "Shenandoah" and "Danny Boy". I also love the energy in the hotel, from the lobby where old friends meet again to the hallways and rooms where all the jam sessions happen. The scenes from the International Bluegrass Music Association's "World of Bluegrass" (the bluegrass Grammys) show we're a long way from 1971. Two DVDs, two very different looks at a fascinating culture. And RIP, Earl. His performance in "Bluegrass Country Soul" shows a gracious, humble man, performing with so many of the people he influenced. Priceless.