The Goldsberrys & Friends and The Shady Grovers

Last night, I was invited out to Casa Nueva in Athens, Ohio for a night of jamgrass with The Goldsberrys & Friends and The Shady Grovers, two bands from the Columbus music scene.

The Goldsberrys & Friends
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The night kicked off with The Goldsberrys & Friends, a band that's only been playing together about four months. You may as well have counted the first two songs in their set as part of their sound check, as they were still sorting things out and getting into their groove, but they quickly settled into their act. The Goldsberrys & Friends carried more of a traditional bluegrass sound that was really quite tame.

You could tell their green was showing, but it was a good show nonetheless. Each of the vocalists had great bluegrass voices, but the confidence didn't fully come through in much of the set. In addition, some of the musicians were visibly exerting a lot of effort to play. They still pulled it together for a solid sound, though, which is what really counts. The guitar and banjo also traded off some great riffs.

What I saw last night was a band still trying to find their sound. However, with a foot in the right direction, and some solid originals to boot, I'm excited to see how The Goldsberrys & Friends continue to develop.

The Shady Grovers
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The night's headliners, The Shady Grovers, were a whole other beast. Whatever "it" is, The Shady Grovers had it. With everything from a wicked harmonica, to a mean fiddle, The Shady Grovers carried a jamgrass style that made me think of Blues Traveler on bluegrass.

This band was highly professional, bringing a confidence in their "Nashville" sound that shown through in every aspect of their show. The band was having fun, and so was the crowd. A chair race took place across the dace floor, and I couldn't stop myself from moving.

If I wasn't sold already, and I was, their cover of "Friend of the Devil" was not just solid, it was rocking! **(way better than the version they have on YouTube)** That was, to me, the highlight of the show, though their cover of "You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley" comes in at a close second. That's not to discount their originals, at all; each one was completely solid and fun to listen to!

Former last December, this was their 85th show. It seems to me that this is a group built to play to larger audiences. They've already played several festivals - Comfest, for one, for those of you around the Columbus area - and I would love to see them at even bigger venues. The Shady Grovers really has what it takes to go to Telluride Bluegrass Festival and get noticed in a big way. *Hint hint*

Pickin' On Series

My first encounter with the Pickin' On series was the Iron Horse cover of Modest Mouse's Float On. Actually, I think that was the first time I heard Float On. When I listened to the original later, I just couldn't like it as much as the first time I heard it, though it was still a good song. Later, I heard the cover by Iron Horse again and realized the version I had been searching for.

Iron Horse - Float On

I would later come to realize that this was part of a larger series of "Pickin' On" albums when, looking up Greensky Bluegrass on YouTube, the search results threw Green Day Bluegrass at me and I couldn't not click it.

Done by Honeywagon and Cornbread Red, Green Day Bluegrass - Pickin' On Green Day - A Bluegrass Tribute turned out to be an amazing transition of genres, begging me to look deeper.

As it turns out, there's actually quite a list of "Pickin' On" albums.

From Wikipedia:

• Pickin' on Relient K (2007)
• Pickin' on New Found Glory
• Pickin' on The Avett Brothers
• The Fantastic Pickin' On Series Bluegrass Sampler (2002)
• Heartbreaker: Pickin' on Tom Petty: A Bluegrass Tribute (1996)
• Pickin' on Alan Jackson, Vol. 1–2
• Back in Bluegrass: The Bluegrass Tribute to AC/DC
• Pickin' on Boston
• Pickin' on CCR
• Pickin' on Clapton (1999)
• Pickin' on Coldplay: A Bluegrass Tribute (2005)
• Pickin' on CSNY
• Pickin' on Creed
• Pickin' on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
• Pickin' on Dave Mathews
• Pickin' on Def Leppard
• Pickin' on Elton John
• Pickin' on Green Day
• Pickin' on Widspread Panic: A Bluegrass Tribute (2001)
• Pickin' on Jack Johnson
• Pickin' on John Mayer, Vol. 1–2
• Pickin' on Keith Urban (2003)
• Pickin' on Led Zeppelin, Vol. 1–2 (2003)
• Pickin' on Linkin Park
• Pickin' on Lynyrd Skynyrd: A Tribute (2008)
• "Pickin' on Metallica: Fade To Bluegrass Vol. 1-2(2003, 2006)
• Pickin' on Modest Mouse (2004)
• Pickin' on Mumford and Sons
• Pickin' on Neil Young
• Pickin' on Pink Floyd
• Pickin' on R.E.M.
• Pickin' on Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Pickin' on Santana.
• Pickin' on Shania Twain (2000)
• Pickin' on Springsteen
• Pickin' on Stevie Ray Vaughan: A Bluegrass Tribute (2001)
• Pickin' on Taking Back Sunday
• Pickin' on U2
• Pickin' on Wilco: Casino Side (2004)
• Pickin' on ZZ Top
• Pickin' on the Allman Brothers
• Pickin' on the Beatles
• Pickin' on the Doobie Brothers
• Pickin' on the Grateful Dead: A Tribute (1998)
• Pickin' on the Offspring: A Tribute (2007)
• Pickin' on the Shins: A Tribute
• Pickin' on Widespread panic : A Tribute
• The Bluegrass Tribute to Taylor Swift

The series is produced by CMH Records, an independent country and bluegrass label based out of Los Angles. The series began in 1990, when the founder of CMH died and his son took over, though it did not take off until the success of Pickin' On the Grateful Dead three years later. 

It's incredible how talented the musicians involved with the project are, stripping down and reconstructing songs from a wide range of sounds to fit into the bluegrass genre with such a smooth transition that has a quality to it that can't really be described.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

American Idiot 

Paradise City

Here Without You

I'd totally post more songs from this series, but there's just so many good ones so just go check them out yourself!

Greensky Bluegrass

Today I'd like to talk about one of my favorite bands in the bluegrass/newgrass genre, Greensky Bluegrass.

Formed in late 2000, the band released its first album, Less than Supper, in May 2004. In 2006, the band won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, earning them a spot on the main stage in 2007, releasing their next album, Tuesday Letter, soon after under the production of Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth. The band released Five Interstates in 2008 and Handguns in 2011, the latter of which debuted at #3 on the Billboard's Bluegrass Charts. If Sorrow Swims was released in 2014.

I find Greensky Bluegrass to be one of the best put-together bands in the bluegrass genre, carrying a unique sound that blends old and new in a way I can't describe other than to have you listen.

Windshield

Lose My Way

Forget Everything