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

Musical Dependency

Musical Dependency - A severe form of addiction. One with musical dependency may not get the shakes if they fail to get their fix. This is very serious.