Bluegrass players-Wow

[Peterma]

I know very few of the big names in Bluegrass, Chris Thile & Nickel Creek, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck & of course Bill Monroe. I was listening to the Bluegrass station on Sirius Radio today and was treated to dozens of bands I had never heard of that absolutely smoked on all of their instruments. Some of the guitar runs were almost Yngwie inspired with their speed and accuracy. Banjo and mandolin players that must have had fire on their fingers. Its a testament to the limits of the form when such amazing players get absolutely no recognition.

A lot of buegrass sounds similar though due to the limited intruments and tradition of the form.

Do you guys know of other bluegrass inspired groups that are pushing boundaries and kicking ass?

[colin617]

I'm a big fan of the Punch Brothers, but I don't know how traditional or innovative they are. I just like them.

[3LittleBirds]

More mainstream than what you already know, but how about the Avett Brothers! ...Mumford and Sons... also Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs made a great Bluegrass album together with a great re-work of Mandolin Rain.

[Realfi]

Originally Posted by Peterma

I know very few of the big names in Bluegrass, Chris Thile & Nickel Creek, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck & of course Bill Monroe. I was listening to the Bluegrass station on Sirius Radio today and was treated to dozens of bands I had never heard of that absolutely smoked on all of their instruments. Some of the guitar runs were almost Yngwie inspired with their speed and accuracy. Banjo and mandolin players that must have had fire on their fingers. Its a testament to the limits of the form when such amazing players get absolutely no recognition.

A lot of buegrass sounds similar though due to the limited intruments and tradition of the form.

Do you guys know of other bluegrass inspired groups that are pushing boundaries and kicking ass?

Yngwie inspired? Those runs have been around a lot longer than Yngwie and definitely didn't come from that sort of influence but I think I get where you're coming from with the comparison.

[tsar nicholas]

My favorite, that I kind of lump in with bluegrass even though he doesn't like or totally fit the label, is Larry Sparks. A seriously underrated player with unimpeachable rhythm.

His recent material has been uniformly outstanding.


Also, Doc Watson -- again, not straight bluegrass, but incredible and classic

[Crowder]

There are a ton of world-class pickers in bluegrass, and in most of the good bands you could make them do a blind draw on which instrument to play and they'd still put on a great show.

Check out the Infamous Stringdusters, Cadillac Sky, or Blue Highway for some really great music.

[leofenderbender]

Originally Posted by colin617

I'm a big fan of the Punch Brothers, but I don't know how traditional or innovative they are. I just like them.

Another fan of Chris Thile.

[oldschoolguy]

The most proficient person on any instrument i know plays guitar and mandolin. He's ok on acoustic guitar but absolutely killer on mando. He'g got everthing: speed, feel, presence. He plays every Friday with a violin/fiddle player who won several of those big Idaho contests a few years ago. They let anyone play along so long as it's what they call "old time music" (don't think they call it bluegrass, actually). Totally unknown player in a relatively small town with monster abilities. BTW, he doesn't even own an electric guitar.

[SteveGaines]

Pickup anything with Tony Rice, Sam Bush, David Grisman, Jerry Douglas, Tim O'Brien, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder...All great stuff!

[SteveGaines]

Originally Posted by tsar nicholas

My favorite, that I kind of lump in with bluegrass even though he doesn't like or totally fit the label, is Larry Sparks. A seriously underrated player with unimpeachable rhythm.

His recent material has been uniformly outstanding.


Also, Doc Watson -- again, not straight bluegrass, but incredible and classic

Take a long hard look at Larry and his mannerism's and Carter Stanley took him out on the road with him the last year of his life. Folks who know will tell you he's Carter's son...I really do believe it.

[tsar nicholas]

^ Holy cats, that is pretty amazing! Makes sense, I know he played with the S. Brothers way back in the day.

A truly amazing player and songwriter. I hope to meet him someday when I'm up in Indiana where he lives

[Swain]

I really like Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, David Grisman, Marty Stewart, Bryan Sutton, Alison Krauss and Union Station, and a lot more I can't think of right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgXrpuayWtU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jczDbsMZzWc

And the "Pickin' On" Series has some great playing and arranging.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...q=Pickin%27+On+


Some of it is pretty fun, too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7I9g...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7_T0...eature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAWl5...eature=related




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXJrV...eature=related

[Manic Manager]

Del McCoury and the Boys

[Swain]

Marty Stewart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUa72...8C5050C883C5BB

[clintb]

Today my wife and I were listening to a bluegrass compilation CD while driving around today and I was thinking those guys have chops as good as Al Di Meola, Yngwie, John Mclaughlin, etc.