Glancing off the bigtime

Harry Tuft, Billy Strings, and Junior Sisk

Backstage at the Billy Strings show last night at Bridgestone Arena, dobroist Anders Beck commented on the scene. “Who knew that twenty thousand people could get excited by ‘Big Spike Hammer’?” He went on to say that maybe it was more remarkable that such a large collection of Bluegrass fans was all in one place.

Billy’s the guy that brings them together. The timing of both his lightning-fast picking and his post pandemic emergence as an artist is impeccable. The tone is right. He has what people want, and he gives and gives and gives. The effect just multiplies. The lights flash for sure, but his music is the brightest light. His fine band and gracious crew reflect his own excellence. He and the band can lean over a ledge and reach for new notes on extended jams because their feet are planted deep in tradition. With the fans support, they can take the bait and run with it.

A month or so ago, I emailed Billy a song that Jan and l wrote with Pat McLaughlin. He immediately responded and asked if we’d mind if he sang it. He wrote a few more words, and then this week, he tracked the song “I’m One of Those” at the Sound Emporium. After a writing session on Thursday with Larry Keel - another brilliant guitarist on the bluegrass scene - I dropped in at the studio and caught up with Billy Failing, Alex Hargreaves, Jarrod Walker, Royal Masat and their bossman. It led to an invite to the show last night and the request to sing a song. So, Jan and I took and Uber downtown and found the stage door. I put my mandolin in the corner of the greenroom, drank alcohol-free hop water, and ate some backstage olives and cheese. A tech took my mando, plugged it into the giant sound system, and outfitted me with some in-ear stage monitors. Then Billy and the band showed me a list of my songs they were ready to play.

I felt like an old, out-to-pasture minor leaguer invited to pinch hit for the New York Yankees, singing Hot Rize’s version of Grandpa Jones “Been All Around This World” and then Dylan’s “Senor / Tales of Yankee Power” on the first set. I returned along with Jason Carter on the second set to jam along on the aforementioned “Big Spike Hammer”. I had kept pace on “Roanoke” pretty well backstage, twinning with Jarrod’s mandolin. What felt like a festival campground jam backstage became a different thing in the arena glare. As a small city’s worth of eyes watched, the onstage tempo surged and the band lapped me. By the time I’d passed through one beat, the next one came around and slapped me on the other side of my face. I just grinned and held on.

They say bluegrass is better than it sounds, and while new data has come in suggesting otherwise, it still seems like that’s true. Bill Monroe would dismiss some music he didn’t like, saying “That’s no part of nothin.” I can agree in a way. Playing last night was great because it WAS part of something.

It’s high-toned having the top artist on the circuit record your song and invite you onstage, but here’s a couple other ultra cool things that happened this past week. Junior Sisk is one the great bluegrass singers – you only need to hear one note to know who it is - and a couple days ago he sent a rough mix of a song of Jan’s and mine that HE just recorded. The character in “Weather Woman” is a guy who never misses his local TV news because he’s in love with the female meteorologist. It’s a great track and we’re feeling pretty good about our songwriting lately! We pulled the chain this week on manufacture of our new CD “Paper Flowers” and set June 6th as the release date. The week started on Sunday with a show at Swallow Hill in Denver with 87-year-old Harry Tuft, a true folk music hero who started the Denver Folklore Center in 1962. He’s always performed, and he’s made some lovely recordings (I’m going to overdub on his new one tomorrow), but his most important contribution has been in gathering the community in Colorado, getting people to sing and play music together.

Jan and I get back in the trenches this week, playing a special show at my favorite burger joint, Browns Diner, in co-bill with Colin O’Brien, David Long and Scott Simontacchi on Wednesday night. We’re in Raleigh, North Carolina and Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday and Saturday, and back home for Station Inn shows with the band on March 12th and 13th. Come by and say hello.

www.timobrien.net

Photo below by Michael Weintrob