Does it get any better...

[lukmanohnz]

...than this?

[Mark Hudson]

That link doesn't seem to go anyplace.. (well, youtube, but no particular video)

[Scotti Adams]

I assuming you are refering to Black Jack. Hard to beat Crowe hammering home BJ with T behind him. That other stuff Ive got no interest in.

[Willie Poole]

"Does it get any better than this?" I sure hope so....

[lukmanohnz]

Let's try again....

THIS.

[Willie Poole]

Much better....What I have never understood about those pickers is they made a good name playing bluegrass and then they all split and went different ways and some even play a type of music that can`t be defined, like Bella Fleck, I understand that is his chioce to play what he wants and if he is happy doing it thats what matters, like a lot of bands the pickers seem to think they can do better and they don`t stay with a band very long...I have the same band members that I had seven years ago and they seem happy....

I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.....

BTW, that is a great video and thanks for sharing it....

Willie

[Denny Gies]

That would be good if only Sam learned how to play that shrunken guitar.

[Scotti Adams]

Willie..this band never was a "band"....its something they did whenever they could...Plus they would get big $$$ for it. We..as fans..are better for it. No doubt those boys are "it". Its like the Bluegrass Album Band...most of the time that band was booked when Crowes, Doyles and Tonys Unit were on the same bill. They would do the show with their own bands then then do the BGAB thing. That would fetch them as much as $3000 per man per show. Im glad they did it. We are all better for it.

[lukmanohnz]

Much better....What I have never understood about those pickers is they made a good name playing bluegrass and then they all split and went different ways and some even play a type of music that can`t be defined, like Bella Fleck, I understand that is his chioce to play what he wants and if he is happy doing it thats what matters, like a lot of bands the pickers seem to think they can do better and they don`t stay with a band very long...I have the same band members that I had seven years ago and they seem happy....

I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.....

BTW, that is a great video and thanks for sharing it....

Willie

It would be fascinating to understand what motivates a given artist to pursue the musical path they follow. Early in his career, Jerry Garcia wanted to master the banjo. He did develop a great facility on the instrument and left his footprints with the banjo on the Old And In The Way recordings. But his greater legacy in terms of span of influence was his work with the Dead. Luckily, he remained connected to roots music and we have the body of work he created with Grisman. I wonder if the Tony Rice biography delves into these questions. I doubt I would ever get tired of listening to that group play straight ahead bluegrass - if they had put out three dozen albums every one of them would be in my collection. As it is, nearly every one of Tony Rice's albums is in my collection, but only a handful of Bela Fleck's and Jerry Douglas's. It has more to do with the emotional response that Tony's music elicits for me personally, not with the quality or level of musicianship. There are no doubt many fans of Bela Fleck who own every thing he's done over the years, and who would pass on much of Tony's work.

[Mark Robertson-Tessi]

Much better....What I have never understood about those pickers is they made a good name playing bluegrass and then they all split and went different ways and some even play a type of music that can`t be defined, like Bella Fleck, I understand that is his chioce to play what he wants and if he is happy doing it thats what matters, like a lot of bands the pickers seem to think they can do better and they don`t stay with a band very long...I have the same band members that I had seven years ago and they seem happy....

I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.....

BTW, that is a great video and thanks for sharing it....

Willie

It's probably not a case of the grass being greener. All these players still play bluegrass at times, and I doubt they consider it to be less green than their more individual projects. The thing to remember is that these players will play hundreds of shows a year, on top of daily practice. It's natural that some of them will eventually seek different paths to apply themselves. The exploration of new territory is vital food for creativity. Some will choose a smaller field to graze in, digging into the subtleties of their genre, others will go farther out, yet still come back from time to time.

Cheers
MRT

[farmerjones]

What i wanna know is, what keeps Tony from droppin his pick?

[justkaron]

Nah...doesn't get any better than that. I've watched that video over and over and over during the past several months. Wondered if I was the only one mesmerized by it. I also do that with New Grass Revival videos.