Re: Cello in bluegrass?
Spurred by a conversation with a fan of my folk music radio show who also plays (classical) cello, I recently spent a weekend searching for folk, stringband, and Celtic albums that include cello, and put together several sets for my show (which isn't archived, unfortunately).
Some of the best-known cellists in those genres have already been mentioned, including Rushad Eggleston with Crooked Still (among other bands) and Nancy Blake, who adds lovely rich backing to Norman's guitar on many of their albums together. In addition to his own bands, Rushad appears on many other people's albums, including Tim Stafford's [Blue Highway's guitarist] own CD "Endless Line," and a couple of albums by banjo player Ben Steed.
I was surprised to learn that Mike Seeger played cello -- I guess I shouldn't have been! Although he rarely recorded with it, he plays it on one or two tracks of his album with Alice Gerrard, "Bowling Green," which was recently reissued on CD (and expanded with extra tracks) by 5-String Productions. According to Matt Brown, Mike would sometimes pick up the cello during jam sessions in his home, to add instrumentation that didn't duplicate what the others were playing.
Though I didn't go through their albums checking for tracks, I understand that Matt Sexton, fiddle player with the bluegrass band Nothin' Fancy, also occasionally plays cello (and viola) with the band.
Peter Ostroushko has used several cellists on his albums of original music. One of the more uptempo (and traditional) examples is the cello on "Virginia Reel from Hell" medley (with Peter playing fiddle on a medley of tunes) on his album "Heart of the Heartland."
Here in Michigan, Pooh Stevenson is both a fine mandolinist and cello player, and has played both with the local folk trio Lady of the Lake.
Going further from bluegrass (or even old-time stringband music), I should also mention Abby Newton's work accompanying folksingers like Jean Redpath and Priscilla Herdman, and Natalie Haas' extraordinary duets with Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser (on their CDs "In the Moment" and "Fire & Grace" -- truly empathic playing at the highest level!).
Most of those examples aren't bluegrass -- at least not anything like traditional bluegrass -- but musicians and listeners with eclectic taste would enjoy them all.
Bob Blackman
Former host of "The Folk Tradition," WKAR-FM
East Lansing, MI
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