RockyGrass

"In December of 1995, [Bill Monroe] honored me by walking out, uninvited, on to the stage of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center twenty minutes into my show and remaining to sing five or six songs. It was the biggest thrill of my life." Two-time Grammy winner, Steve Earle is best known for his rock and country troubadour music, as well as his political views. But he is a restlessly creative artist with broad interests - as a songwriter, author, playwright, DJ, and actor. In 2001, Steve collaborated with the Del McCoury Band for a bluegrass record, The Mountain, with the goal of recording "just one song that would be performed by at least one band at every bluegrass festival in the world long after I have followed Mr. Bill out of this world." On special occasions over the past few years, Steve has assembled his Bluegrass Dukes (Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, Casey Driessen) to perform these bluegrass songs around a single mic. RockyGrass is one of these special occasions. We can't wait.

Hot Rize just reached its 30th year in the bluegrass history book. The eclectic Colorado progressive band came together in 1978 and were named after the secret ingredient of Martha White Self-Rising Flour, the product Flatt & Scruggs promoted early in the 50's amd 60's. During their full-time touring days of 1978-1990, Hot Rize were one of the most popular bluegrass bands in the world thanks to their strong and soulful bluegrass combined with their wacky but musically deft "alter-ego" country swing band, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. After not performing for three years following the death of original member Charles Sawtelle, the band regrouped in 2002 with Bryan Sutton added on guitar. Hot Rize has done five years of shows with its current lineup and has been delivering its high-energy, soulful, and unique sound to fans old and new. We are thrilled to welcome Hot Rize back to the RockyGrass stage.

The Del McCoury Band are undeniably one of the most talented, revered and vital groups in bluegrass history (and one of the most potent bands in any field today). No less than The Washington Post recently called Del “a national treasure”, while numerous music publications have credited The Del McCoury Band with increasing the bluegrass “hip factor," generating much of the genre's steady upswing in popularity with a more youthful crowd. The Del McCoury Band has now won more International Bluegrass Music Association awards than any other artist in the genre’s history with a total of nearly 40 individual and group citations from the IBMA — including a whopping nine “Entertainer Of The Year” honors, been nominated for six Grammy's — and just won his first in February, has seen his videos welcomed by CMT, joined the venerated Grand Ole Opry, represented the cream of the bluegrass crop on national television, making appearances on Austin City Limits, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Late Show with David Letterman.

In 1945, Earl Scruggs was invited to play with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and the classic bluegrass sound was born. Driven by Earl's 3-finger banjo rolls (which he invented at the age of 10), bluegrass music found its drive. Earl made his first recording with Monroe in 1946, and remained with the legendary group for two more years before leaving to take care of his sick mother. Soon after he left the group, guitarist Lester Flatt followed, and together they became known as Flatt and Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. The Foggy Mountain Boys would stick together for twenty years, becoming one of the most legendary and influential bluegrass groups of all time, and winning a Grammy Award in 1969. Earl went on to perform with his two sons as the Earl Scruggs Revue. It impossible to over-state the importance of Earl Scruggs in American music. He has won several Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the fall of 2004, Claire Lynch made plans to reunite with former Front Porch Stringband bandmate Jim Hurst. Hurst himself had earned two IBMA awards for “Guitar Player of the Year.” Along with Ontario’s fiddler-extraordinaire Jason Thomas and redoubtable bassist Mark Schatz, most recently of Nickel Creek, they now comprise the Claire Lynch Band which has been touring since April 1, 2005. “These players are all ‘bluegrass and beyond’ stars in their own rite… all are award-winners and nominees with a myriad of experience.” In the Winter of 2005, Claire signed a three-album deal with Rounder Records. The first release, New Day (2006) scored a #1 song on the National Bluegrass Survey and an IBMA nomination for “Song of the Year”. The band followed this success with the anthology collection, Crowd Favorites (2007) which earned another couple of top ten positions on the survey. Claire is currently working on her follow-up CD, describing it as “bluegrass-inflected acoustic.”

First it was BCH: Berline, Crary, and Hickman -- and they were great. Just a fiddler (OK, a three-time national champion), a flat-picker (well, not just any flat-picker, one of the originators of the style), and a quiet five-string banjo man (who is recognized as one of the finest in the world). But they pushed the envelope of traditional bluegrass without abandoning what was essential in the music. The people came, and they loved it. Then, BCH added a cool bass player named Steve Spurgin. He came with a rich baritone voice and some great original songs -- and then they were four. It was an even richer sound now: more voices, more instruments; they could do even more. But when they added a fifth, acclaimed mandolinist John Moore, California was born and the real fireworks began. The band dominated the IBMA Instrumental Band of the Year award for three straight years (1992-94), before calling it quits in 1996. We are thrilled to have California at RockyGrass for one of their far too infrequent reunion shows.

Six-time IBMA fiddler of the year Michael Cleveland has been wowing the bluegrass world with his blistering and unconventional fiddle style since his first appearance at Bill Monroe's Bean Blossom Festival, at the age of 10. In 1993, at the age of 13, he appeared as fellow fiddler Alison Krauss' guest at the Grand Ole Opry, soon appearing on A Prairie Home Companion and playing before the U.S. Congress. In May of 1999, after graduating from the Kentucky School for the Blind, Cleveland joined Dale Ann Bradley and the Coon Creek Girls. Michael has shared the stage with many bluegrass legends including Bill Monroe, Jim and Jesse, Ralph Stanley, Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson, Larry Sparks, Doyle Lawson, and J.D. Crowe. At this year's IBMA awards in Nashville, Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper - which the Wall Street Journal calls "the most exciting band in bluegrass" - earned their second consecutive Instrumental Group of the Year award.

Danny Paisley is one of the finest voices in all of bluegrass, using that familiar high and reedy tone that is so common in the genre, but adding in a raspy sense of phrasing that is as refreshing as it is expressive. Dan joined his father's band - Bob Paisley & the Southern Grass - in 1971 when he was only 15 years old. Following Bob's death in 2004, Dan carried on the band, its name, and its tradition, working with his brother Michael Paisley and two sons of Southern Grass co-founder Ted Lundy. Together they play powerful, unadorned, and intense traditional bluegrass. No hybrid or genre-bending, just music borne of the vibrant old time southern fiddle bands, as well as the lonesome moans of the backwoods mountain blues.

When two premier architects of instrumental acoustic music in America, Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, are able to connect with three like-minded new-traditionalists from Sweden, Väsen, you know that you are living in a very different world. All five virtuosos have been pushing the envelope on their respective instruments for over twenty years - from the David Grisman Quintet (founding members), to the Tony Rice Unit, to the Turtle Island String Quartet, Modern Mandolin Quartet, Psychograss, and Newgrange. From bluegrass to classical to jazz to Brazilian to Swedish fiddle music, they have successfully created a body of work that reflects this never-ending quest for new sounds while remaining deeply rooted in the traditional music of their past. The blend of nyckelharpa (a Swedish keyed fiddle) and the mandolin and fiddle of Mike and Darol is of another world - Appalachia meets Sweden. Amazon says the magical collaboration "finds new trajectories that posit a neoclassical world where bluegrass and polskas (not polkas) dance in aerial pirouettes."

Born and raised in Switzerland, Jens and Uwe Kruger have been performing professionally since 1973. After playing for twenty years throughout Europe in various styles and venues, Uwe on guitar and Jens on banjo, the brothers invited bassist Joel Landsberg to join them, and the three musicians formed the acoustic trio audiences around the world know as the Kruger Brothers. Kruger Brothers performances are exciting, calming, entertaining and spontaneous, reflecting their sheer joy in playing music. Since 1997, Uwe, Jens, and Joel have appeared regularly in the United States - sharing the stage with many popular artists, including Willie Nelson, Bela Fleck, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, Gillian Welch, Nickel Creek, Bill Monroe, Peter Rowan, Tony Rice, Vassar Clements, Alison Brown, and Vince Gill, among others. A highlight of their career arrived in June 2007 when they performed with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra to present the world premiere of Music from the Spring: A Romantic Serenade for Banjo, Guitar, Bass & Orchestra.

If there has ever been a deep soul capable of healing us through song, voice, and virtuosity, it is Darrell Scott. Recognized with 2 Grammy nominations, multiple songwriter of the year awards from ASCAP and the IBMA, and universal acclaim from peers like Tim O’Brien and Sam Bush, the depth of Darrell’s gifts is simply remarkable. Darrell writes timeless songs drenched in traditional folk with a twist of contemporary phrasing — true American gems. His songs have been recorded on over 70 CDs, including the Dixie Chicks (“Long Time Gone) and Travis Tritt (“It’s a Great Day to Be Alive”). As an instrumentalist Darrell is dazzling on everything he touches - from banjos to guitars to pianos. And when he opens his glorious pipes to sing, we are transported and healed. Darrell will be joined by his bluegrass band at RockyGrass for a set of songs, soul, and stunning virtuosity.

Three Ring Circle is a "jamgrass acoustic power trio" formed by three of the hottest pickers to be found anywhere - Rob Ickes, Andy Leftwich, and Dave Pomeroy. Individually they are world-renowned players who are known for expanding the vocabulary and boundaries of their chosen instruments. Individually, they have worked with everyone from Elton John to Ricky Skaggs, Earl Scruggs and Bruce Hornsby, but as 'Three Ring Circle', they are collectively blazing a new trail for fans of instrumental music everywhere. Their music is exciting, innovative, emotional, and as Duke Ellington used to say, "Beyond Category." The trio format allows them unprecedented creative freedom and stylistic versatility. Their debut CD - which includes 7 originals written by all three members and creative reworkings of tunes by Stevie Wonder, Jeff Beck and Bireli Lagrene - has been described as "sweet lyricism, audacious virtuosity and greasy funk" (No Depression).

It is but one word, but it slyly nods to the wilds of their native Alaska; it conjures images of rural stringband musicians; and in its simple elegance, it elevates the quintet to the top of a cultural mountain where they overlook the past, present, and future of American music, seeing it as one single, continuous Bearfoot frontier. Boasting five distinctive lead voices, they showcase a remarkable breadth of rich original songs, each inspired by landscapes, emotions, and stories. Balanced by sonorous female trio harmonies and the swells of twin fiddles, their arrangements soar with smoky, spacious lyricism. To the musicians of Bearfoot who were raised in this musical community, lines were never drawn between bluegrass, old-time, and blues. Our modern musical fusions were a practical and natural consequence of their small music community and this value is instilled deeply in Bearfoot. Just two years after their initial meeting as camp counselors in 1999, Bearfoot earned one of roots music's most prestigious awards – Telluride Bluegrass band champions. Now after years of national touring , Bearfoot is the future of American roots music – with bluegrass in their hearts and the broadly-visioned horizon of the American frontier in their souls.

Austin-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, Sarah Jarosz began playing mandolin at age 10. That was just 6 years ago. Since then Sarah has performed on festival stages across the country with artists like Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, The David Grisman Quintet, Tim O'Brien, Chris Thile, and Mike Marshall. She has been featured as a guest mandolinist with the Austin Symphony Orchestra and one of five teens invited to perform with Earl Scruggs and Ricky Skaggs as part of the ABC television presentation of the 2005 CMA (Country Music Association) Music Festival. In March of 2007, Sarah won an Austin Music Award during the SXSW Music conference. She is the youngest individual to win an AMA since Charlie Sexton won in the mid-80s. At sixteen years old, Sarah has just signed to Sugar Hill Records, who will be releasing her debut in 2009.

Named after the railroad slang for the box cars on Hot Shot trains, the High 48s play bluegrass in the traditional style, with close three-part harmonies sung around a single microphone. Since forming in Minneapolis in 2006, The High 48s have grabbed the attention of festival audiences in the Upper Midwest and beyond, toured steadily, and released two critically acclaimed CDs. Though the band is rooted in the sounds of classic bluegrass, they focus on writing original material that combines the soul and drive of first-generation bluegrass with the harder-edged sound of alternative country and roots rock. It’s a style of music the band calls Hard Grass.