The Grass is Always Bluer... (I really wanted to use that line even though it doesn't really apply anymore) Posted by Sad Blogger , 22.8.12 at Wednesday, August 22, 2012, in

For the sake of easier subject-verb agreement in writing this, I'm just going to be referring to bluegrass, Americana, and old timey music as bluegrass. But as I have mentioned down in the description of Deer Tick's "Easy", I'll also be including rockabilly. So maybe we'll just call everything in this post. "American music that leans toward the folkier side of country but can also be a little louder and groovy". Anyways, BLUEGRASS was another one of those genres that really got me back into exploring music. I dunno if I've relayed the specific circumstances of how it came about with alt-pop and folk and all that jazz (except not jazz jazz because that was a different process), but that story coincides with my conversion to bluegrass fanaticism as well. A friend of mine had mentioned a couple of songs that she couldn't get out of her head and me being deeply (without ever having mentioned it, of course) in love with her, I enthusiastically logged into Last.fm and put together some mix CDs with songs that sounded like the two she liked. One being more folk-popish and the other being very bluegrassy. And since then, I've fiendishly scoured Last.fm, imeem when it existed, IndieFeed, 8tracks, the Hype Machine, and the Sixty One for whatever newest undiscovered (or discovered, whatever) artists I could get my ear-hands on. So I guess what would be about six years later now, I'd like to present you with some of my favorite bluegrass tracks.

1. The Low Anthem - The Horizon is a Beltway

And of course the first three songs I pick would end up not even being bluegrass. I know I said it was going to be an umbrella term, but just considering referring to this masterpiece of Americana as bluegrass is making me uncomfortable. Maybe I should just call it the ol' timey playlist. Whatever. I started listening to the Low Anthem for their softer, poetic folk ballads, but this song and Home I'll Never Be (an Americana-ized rendition of a Tom Waits adaptation of a Jack Kerouac poem) have turned out to be the songs that I associate with this band. I mean you can hear their obvious virtuosity with the variety of instruments they employ in this song and it translates into the even wider range of instruments they use in their slower songs and I think it's for that reason that they're known for said slower songs. But I think they deserve more credit for the power and originality of these gorgeous specimens of old timey caterwaulin'. 

2. The Avett Brothers - And It Spread

I think the Avett Brothers are more widely considered a folk band. And yeah, all their more popular songs are a bit slower and more reflective...but I mean look at those outfits. And there's a fiddle in the studio recording. So we're calling it old timey. Like I and Love and You is a great song...and the Ballad of Love and Hate...and Kickdrum Heart...and all the Pretty Girl songs...they're brilliant, beautiful songs. But I've always been drawn to the reckless abandon of Seth's yelling in the chorus and the imagery of her love being this narcotic that spreads through his body:

You took my hand and held it up
And shot my arm full of love

and it spread 
and it spread into the world 

It's just a goddamn lovely song, yo.

3. Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel

I was going to say that this was the song that started it all for me. But the more I've thought about it, the song that really started it all off was Man of Constant Sorrow as performed in O Brother, Where Art Thou. Actually, it was probably The Road to Nash Vegas by Dan Tyminski. ANYHOW, this is the song I referred to in the intro that my friend couldn't get out of her head. I do believe it's a Bob Dylan song, but I can't be bothered to confirm that. But she mentioned it and I eagerly hopped at the opportunity to put together a MIX TAPE!!! (although it was technically a mix CD) full of similar songs. But in spite of the charming compilation of tunes I put together, this has continued to be my favorite of the bunch. I've referenced it in a couple of posts I've made on here. Actually, I referenced it in the travelogue I composed during my tour of the States last year...and I haven't posted those on here...so never mind. But it's a gorgeous song full of gorgeous harmonies and you should listen to it. In a previous post, I know I described "Million Dollar Bill" by Dawes as being the perfect rolling-down-a-highway-at-night-and-staring-at-the-moon-and-missing-a-gal song, and I think this makes for the perfect rolling-down-a-highway-during-the-day-and-staring-at-the-surrounding-hills-and-missing-a-gal song.

4. Devil Makes Three - Old Number 7

The video that I wanted to post for Devil Makes Three is no longer on YouTube so you can settle for Old Number 7. I mean it's still a good song, but what I really wanted to get across was how just barebones and cool their shows look. There are few things as thrilling to me as watching someone just doing their thing to an upright bass. And it doesn't hurt that in this case it's a chick.

5. The Cramps - The Way I Walk

I adore this song. That's all that matters. People don't make music like this anymore and they should. They almost overkill delay effect on the guitars and the screams in the background and the ridiculous cool guy, monster vocals. The Cramps deserved to be stupid famous. But whatever.

6. The Be Good Tanyas - The Littlest Birds

I do believe the first time I ever heard this song was in an episode of Gilmore Girls, but it didn't really appeal or even occur to me that it was an excellent song. A couple years later, this was one of the songs that got put into that hopeful/hopeless mix CD and it really is just perfect. It's simple and pretty and ladies sing it so it's a refreshing reprieve from the slough of male voices represented in this list. If you want to be like me, you can bounce along to it in your chair.

7. Deer Tick - Easy

K so Deer Tick doesn't really fit into my previously stated Actually you know what? I'm going to go back and change the intro now. As well as my fifth selection in the list. Because the one I have there now is kind of lame and I really want to use this song. So I'm adding another genre to the umbrella: rockabilly. Cuz that's the closest thing I can think of to describing Deer Tick. I had planned to link Smith Hill which is more of an Americana ballad, but this song just so perfectly embodies who they are and what their sound is. The raw vocals and hectic layers of fuzzy, twangy guitars. 

8. Trampled by Turtles - Wait So Long

There is a comment on this video that says something along the lines of "it would be so awesome if Trampled By Turtles waited several years before they released any other songs or records and then just broke up without having released anything else and this was the only song we ever got to hear by them because it's that good." Now, I disagree. Just because they're awesome and need to make music because I and other people need to hear it. But it is that good of a song. I can and do listen to it at least twice a day. And you should too. This entire paragraph stinks. But please listen to this song. Try to wrap your head around the banjo and the fiddle. THE FIDDLE!!!! Look at that dude attack that thing!!! And the lyrics too. Yeah, Dave Simonett's vocals have that sort of grating, lamenting wail, but they're perfectly suited to the lyrics of this song. I mean it's not a profound song. It's about a dude who's been friendzoned. But that's poignant...right? Whatever. LISTEN TO THE SONG!

9. Frontier Rucks - Dark Autumn Hour

This is a perfect song. It is my favorite song to play on the guitar and it has a melodica and a musical saw solo and a pretty girl singing faint harmonies. And it's in the woods and it's recorded on a single camera mic and sounds amazing. AND THE LYRICS!!! Ugh, the lyrics. I mean not even just the words themselves, but the rhyme scheme and the cadence and everything about all of it. It's beautiful and heartbreaking and poignant and a story I want to live because it's sadly romantic and romantically sad. I have nothing to say about this song, really. Just gurgling noises of envy and affection.

10. Carolina Chocolate Drops - Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine

This is just awesome because jug and kazoo solos.