Who are your favorite progressive newgrass, jamgrass bands?

[9lbShellhamer]

I love traditional bluegrass AND progressive jamgrass and newgrass. From Bill Monroe to Chris Thile. Who are your favorite progressive bands? Bands like Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain, Earl Brothers, Town Mountain, Trampled By Turtles, Late Nickle Creek even. Just anything out of the normal traditional BG arena.

I like Greensky Bluegrass, Town Mountain, Earl Brothers, and The 23 String Band.

Are there any local bands you know of I should check out??? (Like local to your area maybe the rest of us haven't heard.)

[Ivan Kelsall]

''The Infamous Stringdusters'' - ''Greensky Bluegrass'' - ''The Earl Bothers'' - ''Town Mountain''. I also pick along to 'Special Concensus''
'Blue Highway' / 'Del McCoury Band' / 'The Steeldrivers' & almost anything else that attracts my attention as being interesting. I stick mainly to trad.Bluegrass,but the other bands have a shed load of stuff that's great to pick along with & which stretches your ability more that some trad.tunes - it's all terrific !,
Ivan

[David Lewis]

Out of Australia check out the string contingent.

[Philippe Bony]

We had a blast last friday at La Roche Bluegrass Festival with Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen... (top of the crop, IMHO)

[mandocrucian]

The outfit that has, by far, impressed me the most is Railroad Earth. - Not only the band as a whole, but also as individual players. The violinist compares well to the great Sid Page (from Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks).

Saw them on TV the other night on the "Front And Center" concert show on PBS backing up Warren Haynes.

[allenhopkins]

Crooked Still (defining the genre loosely).

[Mandobart]

My favorite new grass band is Fruition, from Portland. Another great band from here in the Pacific NW is The Giraffe Dodgers. I also really like Milkdrive. A Chicago band that is a little more traditional, but still able to push the limits is The Henhouse Prowlers.

[lenf12]

[QUOTE=mandocrucian;1421908]The outfit that has, by far, impressed me the most is Railroad Earth. - Not only the band as a whole, but also as individual players. The violinist compares well to the great Sid Page (from Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks).


I was at a friend's place a couple of weeks ago and he played the Railroad Earth "Live At Red Rocks" DVD which kicks serious butt. They are all very impressive players and singers as well as doubling on other instruments. I've seen them only once here in FL but have 2 of their CDs in the car. It always changes my mood for the better while driving. Thanks Niles for mentioning one of my very favorites.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[lenf12]

"Newgrass Revival" just cuz' they're the grand daddy of the progressive acoustic jam music genre...

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Denman John]

My favorite new grass band is Fruition, from Portland. Another great band from here in the Pacific NW is The Giraffe Dodgers. I also really like Milkdrive. A Chicago band that is a little more traditional, but still able to push the limits is The Henhouse Prowlers.

I also really like Fruition and saw them a few times at Northwest String Summit this year. I also agree with the Giraffe Dodgers ~ Ben Larson is a friend and great mandolin player. He also plays in the Crow and the Canyon which are also very good. Another band that I really like from the Pacific NW is Polecat ~ check these guys out if you haven't already.

[dwc]

Another vote for Railroad Earth. Great band. I also really like the new Yonder Mountain String Band lineup with Jake Jolliff on mandolin and Allie Kral on fiddle and vocals. The band really feels complete. Mountain Heart is a band whose lineup changes so frequently that it is hard to keep up, but particularly when they had Seth Taylor on guitar they really cooked.

[Drew Egerton]

The Steep Canyon Rangers have always been one of my favorite bands and have certainly gotten further and further into progressive style over the years. Their latest CD sounds to be the most in that direction so far. In fact, while I used to be very hardcore traditional only, their progression has helped me broaden my horizons into other music as well.
A band I just heard this year for the first time, Brushfire Stankgrass, caught my ear. Electric banjo and whatnot.
Infamous Stringdusters have some songs I really like as well.

A lot of it is still growing on me, so I'm interested to look up some of those mentioned by others here. Thanks.

[9lbShellhamer]

Yeah, I just heard Jake Jolliff the other day and was blown away. I saw him picking with some great players!