In 1973, Aubery Holt, along with a couple of brothers and an uncle, formed The Boys From Indiana and powered by Holt�s songwriting and crystal clear tenor, the band became a hit of the festival circuit recording albums for the Starday and King bluegrass labels. The group disbanded, uncle Harley Gabbard began to play as a sideman with such groups as the Osborne Brothers and Aubery pursued a songwriting career in Nashville. After being turned away many times for writing songs deemed �too old fashioned,� Holt returned to Indiana and continued to write and perform locally. Daylight�s Burnin� is the newest release by The Wildwood Valley Boys, made up in part by Aubery and son Tony. Aubery contributes eight songs to the twelve song project, (son Tony, brother Tom, banjo player Brian Leaver contribute one each and they also cover the Sterling Whipple train song �Sliver Ghost�) and his workingman point of view places you firmly in the time and place of each of the characters. Also check out the blistering dobro work of Matt Despain and the ringing mandolin of Jake Brown on the instrumental �Boilermaker.�
While Aubrey and the Boys from Indiana were touring the festivals of the �70�s, their path surely crossed that of high tenor and elder statesman Del McCoury. The Promised Land marks the first all gospel album of McCoury�s illustrious career. One unique thing about this album is the selection of the material performed. Instead of reaching into the deep well of classic Bluegrass Gospel songs available, McCoury reaches out to contemporaries such as Shawn Camp, Billy Walker, Scotty Emerick, Dean Dillon and Ronnie Bowman. He also draws half of the album from the catalog of Country Gospel writer Albert E. Brumley, many of which are being recorded for the first time. I recently saw McCoury and band perform many of these songs at an in-store appearance at Ear X-tacy in Louisville, KY. The crowd was predominantly made up of young college students dressed in tie-dye and smelling of patchouli, a crowd of fans who browsed the Grateful Dead section while listening to the Bluegrass float out in to the streets.
The jam band crowd has embraced Bluegrass music and continues to fuel one branch of its evolution. One band who continues to make music embraced by the Bluegrass loving jam band fans is the Yonder Mountain String Band. Their self-titled fourth studio release, finds the band continuing to define their sound by, for the first time, adding a splash of drums to their mix. The band plays a schedule of opening for bands such as Dave Matthews band, headline shows and Bluegrass festivals. While Bluegrass purist might find the band out of their favor, they continue to grow an audience of appreciating music fans with songs such as �Angel,� �Troubled Minds� and �How �Bout You.�
Yonder Mountain String Band isn�t the first band of younger Bluegrass fans to be derided by Bluegrass purists. In the late Sixties, mandolinist Sam Bush and his Bluegrass Alliance where often met with skepticism at Bluegrass festivals for their way of dress, long hair and improvisational tendencies. Bush formed New Grass Revival in 1972 and his new release, Laps in Seven, finds him, fourteen years later, continuing to stretch and broaden the scope of both Bluegrass and NewGrass in to territories of JamGrass. With guests such as Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller and Jean Luc Ponty, Bush creates a canvas on which he paints with precision the lightning strokes of his mandolin work. Only a virtuoso such as Bush could say of the song �Laps in Seven�: �Our dog, Ozzie, was lapping his water one day when I realized he was drinking in a syncopated, 7/14 time signature.�
In 1973, New Grass Revival added lead singer John Cowan, who vocally had more in common with Soul or Rock than Bluegrass. New Tattoo is Cowan�s first release in four years and finds him returning to the Newgrass/acoustic music in which he first gained notoriety. Produced by Jay Joyce, the album takes a rock production take on the acoustic base of Cowans music. With songs from Robbie Fulks, Darrell Scott and others, Cowan proves again that he is a masterful interpreter of material with his soaring vocals taking center stage while not drawing attention from the musicians behind him. Cowan writes one song on the album, �Drown,� a song that is a graphic, while not gratuitous, portrayal of the horror of child molestation taken from the childhood of Cowan himself.
Building on the Jamgrass roots planted by Cowan, Bush and others, The Waybacks� From The Pasture To The Future mixes elements of pure Bluegrass, Newgrass, 1940�s hot jazz and Western swing to develop a rollicking unique sound of their own. Owing equal parts to Bill Monroe and the Grateful Dead, The Waybacks are masterful musicians who bring songs to life with a meddling of styles that will not allow you to merely sit still and listen. Mixing the Bluegrass instruments with surprising elements such as the tuba, the music draws you in and makes you a participant in the way that people enjoyed music in the parlor in days gone by. Song�s such as �Bluebird Waltz,� �Armando�s Rhumba� and �Monkey Pants� transport you to that time while songs like �Moterway� and The Petrified Man� bring you squarely into the Jamgrass movement.
Much as the Waybacks remind us that Bluegrass can not be held by stylistic boundries, Rhonda Vincent reminds us in the opening lines of All American Bluegrass Girl that it also can not be bound by state lines: �Bill might be from Kentucky/Jimmy from Tennessee/I�m an All American Bluegrass Girl/Proud as I can be.� Joined by Dolly Parton on �Heartbreaker�s Alibi� and Bobby Osborne on �Midnight Angel,� Vincent reminds us why she is the reigning IBMA Female Vocalist. She shows her songwriting strength on not only the title cut, but also the touching �God Bless The Soldier.� When you see this album in the stores, don�t be fooled by the glammed up photo on the cover, this is still the same, fantastic and talented Rhonda Vincent. Rage members Mickey Harris and Josh Williams share lead vocals with Rhonda on the album closer, Roy Acuff’s �Precious Jewel,� paying tribute to one influential in many Country music careers.
Paying tribute to those who have come before them is one of the things in Bluegrass that draws many fans. On A Distant Land To Roam: Ralph Stanley Sings Songs Of The Carter Family, Dr. Stanley, a venerable figure in music himself, pays tribute to the Carter Family and their influence on him as well as music as a whole. Growing up in Virginia, Ralph and brother Carter drew from the music that surrounded them, including their Clinch Mountain neighbors the Carter Family. The influential writing of A.P. Carter and the innovative guitar style of Maybelle influenced the young Stanleys as they carved out a niche in what was becoming Bluegrass music. On A Distant Land, Ralph draws the songs of his youth while applying his world weathered and aged voice to them to give them a deeper personal meaning. His acappella reading of �Motherless Children� is haunting and poignant while, in contrast, his joy can be heard in �Waves of the Sea� and �Keep On The Firing Line.� Songs such as �God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign� and �Distant Land To Roam,� songs of longing for another home, take one a rich meaning when interpreted by the 79 year old voice of Stanley.
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