We just heard Damn Tall Buildings live at a Music in the Mountains presentation in Bayfield, CO.
They were great!
Kind of amazing for a group from Brooklyn, of all places.
Yes, I am quite fond of bluegrass and bluegrass adjacent music.
I love bluegrass and see many shows each year. I’m not familiar with that band though. I’ll check them out in the morning
Love bluegrass music! It’s great to play spoons to (ahem).
Tee hee! I knew this thread would grab you, @Spoons.
My brother has his own Bluegrass band. He lives in Oklahoma and does a steady clip of gig work with it.
Made a couple CDs. I love them.
I have to say I would have never chosen bluegrass to listen to. Now I find it quite good.
Yeah, I like it.
I like it quite fine, have had an attraction to it since childhood.
I have friends who once a week meet in a pub and play a mixture of country, bluegrass and folk music on guitars (and a mandolin and a bass guitar).
I can’t play any of those and, wanting to be able to accompany them (and other friends around the campfire), I got @Spoons to give me instruction in the musical spoons, which he did marvellously. Now I play along with my friends - but not on every song they play, because their music is a fusion of styles, and not every tune is a bluegrass or a good spoons tune.
I quite like bluegrass (tho I prefer oldtime. Happy to bore anyone who cares with the distinction.) A lot of people tend to call any acoustic music with some combination of fiddle, mando, and banjo bluegrass, tho strictly, bluegrass adheres closely to Bill Monroe’s 5-piece.
I play upright bass in a string band and at several jams that play a lot of bluegrass. Driving a bluegrass tune w/ a good mando chop is a ton of fun. My biggest objection is when a band steps the tempo up to a point where IMO the song loses some of its musicality. Seems almost like showing off how fast they can play more than making music. JMO.
Now for the dispute - do you love or hate the high lonesome vocals of Del McCoury or Bill Monroe? 
Counting down the appearance of the Billy Strings fans in 5-4-3-2-1…
The Billy Strings fans appeared in the first two posts and both of us have been going to bluegrass since before he was born.
I’m well aware of the difference between BG and OT. It’s pretty basic. My cousin’s partner is a OT fiddle national champion.
I like Jimmy Martin. Can’t stand Bill Monroe.
Most people confuse the two. Bill Monroe invented “Bluegrass” in 1940s. “Old Timey” music goes back long before that. As a Bluegrass musician once explained to me in a newspaper interview I had with him, the hallmark of Bluegrass was Mr. Monroe’s development of the “three finger banjo roll.”
I’ve always enjoyed both Bluegrass and Old Timey. I was a Country DJ for a spell, and one song I always turned up to 10 was Ricky Skaggs version of Bill Monroe’s “Uncle Pen.” There’s some great musicianship there.
Now for the dispute - do you love or hate the high lonesome vocals of Del McCoury or Bill Monroe?
Del McCoury is a local guy, so my vote goes to him.
Cool. And I agree. But in my not inconsiderable personal experience (I also play clawhammer), the vast majority of folk have zero clue.
IMO, the Del McCoury Band pretty much sets the standard for BG.
There’s a genre called jam grass that I love which is a mix of jam band (like Grateful Dead) and BG. Jerry Garcia played a mean banjo in his youth. My favorite in that genre is The Infamous Stringdusters but there are many with the previously mentioned Billy Strings having arguably the most success.
A local amateur musician in my town put on a (first annual?!) Bluegrass Festival early this summer and I volunteered so I saw some of it for free. I really enjoyed it! From listening in, I know at least some of the attendees preferred Old Time vs the other types but I just enjoyed all of it that I heard. Even the one band that I’m pretty sure was just country.
So, I obviously know very little about it but when I hear fiddles it makes me happy. I will volunteer again next year if it happens. The man who put it on was glad just to break even, since the point was for people to jam together not to make a profit.
ETA: glad to have all these names to check out
That’s the best thing about OT and BG fests. The jams that breakout everywhere. It’s a great community.
I grew up in the East Tennessee hills, so it was hard not to become a fan. AJ Lee of AJ Lee and Blue Summit plays a mandolin built by my older brother. I see she’s playing in Baltimore in November; I’ll try and make the show.
I like that the thread title is just a Yes/No question…
No.
Because I played with a bluegrass band. Often enough to OD on the sound of a banjo.
I’ve seen AJ Lee a few times. She is world class. Her guitar player is the very talented Sully Tuttle, Molly Tuttle’s brother. Molly is amazing and has moved up to bigger venues.
I think someone in the Tuttle family may have given her the mandolin.
The only bluegrass I listen to is The Cleverlys.
I really like the instrumentals. I often have a problem with the vocals – that traditional whiny voice sets my teeth on edge. Obviously, a lot of people like it.