Musical diversity is one important touchstone for our lineups at Roots On The Rivers, and as co-host of The Old Fashioned, I maybe want to say that we’ve been a little light on bluegrass music over these past few years. That all changes on Saturday, May 31, when we bring you two stars of the genre from different generations and styles, the iconic Sam Bush and breakout fiddler, singer and songwriter Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. In case you aren’t up to speed or up to date with this artistic mutual admiration society, here’s a briefing.
Sam Bush was one of the first musicians to grab my attention when I was just coming to understand bluegrass in my college and post-college years. I’m sure he was the first mandolin player I knew by name, besides Bill Monroe himself. I saw him jamming with the elite of string band music at Merlefest. Then I discovered his instrumental supergroup Strength In Numbers, whose lone album The Telluride Sessions changed my life after it came out in 1990. Even in the bright light of his bandmates - Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer, Sam stood out for his crisp attack, his sense of melody, and his perfect rhythmic chop. But with time I learned there was so much more.
Bush grew up in Bowling Green, KY and got noticed as a mandolinist and fiddler by the Grand Ole Opry and other regional outlets. His breakthrough came from forming and in many ways leading the innovative band New Grass Revival between 1972 and 1990. His solo career afterwards led to a string of magnificent albums, original songs, creative composing and dynamic crossover projects. He’s also been a mentor and supporter of talent coming along over the decades, sharing his stages and guesting on others’ projects. Few in the music’s history radiate as much positivity and enthusiasm.
Sam has also been good to WMOT over the years, playing our Wired In show and sitting for many interviews, including the very first episode of The String in 2016. A few weeks before he was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame with New Grass Revival he told me this: “it's an overwhelming sense of gratitude to be recognized for what we accomplished. Did (we) set out to change bluegrass? No, we were just playing it the way we felt.” Yet their name fit so perfectly that we’ve been dancing to “newgrass” music ever since. “I'm pretty proud of that. I'm proud of us. We were our own direction.”
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes joins Roots on the Rivers at a potent and pivotal time in her life. Just last week, Molly Tuttle announced that after three years, two albums, and some Grammy Awards, her bluegrass band Golden Highway was calling it a day, and she was moving on to a more eclectic all-woman band with a drummer. That means Golden Highway’s fiddler has time and space to pursue the solo career that launched last year with the splendid album I Built A World. Though it was her first album of vocal tunes, it was nominated for the Bluegrass Album Grammy Award.
Bronwyn is not unfamiliar with winning things. In less than a decade on the national bluegrass scene, starting with her post-college band Mile Twelve, she’s won two IBMA Awards for Fiddle Player of the Year. The Charlottesville, VA native started out with a mix of classical and Celtic music, and her studies at the Berklee College of Music led her deep into bluegrass. Now, following successful turns with two top bands, she’s pushing ahead as a band leader and singer. While she didn’t write any of the songs on I Built A World, she’s done a savvy job selecting songs that tell her story, even her love story with Del McCoury Band fiddler Jason Carter, which culminated in their marriage last year.
“I think I really started working on singing during the pandemic. I had a lot of extra time, and I was like, this is something I've always wanted to do,” Keith-Hynes told me in an episode of The String last year, adding that being around the two fine singers in Golden Highway (Molly Tuttle and bass player Shelby Means) helped her find her voice. “I think that both of those things together were kind of inspiring, and I think it's nice to have more than one outlet. I think it's just kind of healthy to keep pushing myself to grow.”
Sam will perform with his band of many years, featuring Stephen Mougin on guitar, Todd Parks on bass, Wes Corbett on banjo and Chris Brown on drums. Bronwyn has a core of players who have been platooning with her on Monday shows at Dee’s and recent touring, including Frank Evans on banjo, Reed Stutz on mandolin, and Frank Rische on guitar.
