Bluegrass education

I got to learn a new song called Roanoke this week. Here's Bill Monroe doing it:


Don't worry, I can't do it anywhere near that fast, but I can almost get through the whole thing! Which is exciting given that it's the second hardest song I've learned to play, and I only just (re-)learned it on Tuesday.

I should really get myself some Bill Monroe, although this makes me want to take up the fiddle instead of the mandolin to get that bowing sound.

Then, the education part of my banjo lesson was on these guys:


Supposedly the Bluegrass Album Band is/was the best bluegrass band ever...until Tony Rice (guitar/lead vocals) couldn't sing anymore, which the banjo teacher informs me had something or other to do with the dissolution of his septum thanks to his extracurricular activities. JD Crowe is also "pretty much the best banjo player of all time" even though I'm still rather partial to Earl Scruggs myself because he makes the banjo sound so happy. We also have Doyle Lawson on mandolin, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Mark Schatz on bass, and then that's the same Bobby Hicks on fiddle as in the first Bill Monroe vid.

Here's a little more of the rest of the band.


Swoon. I am not at all ashamed to be way, way into this stuff. How could anyone not love bluegrass?

You can't beat that kind of music with a stick, now. I don't care what you say.