OK, bear with me. I can say at least one really good thing about Skaggs. The first live performance of Bluegrass I ever saw was Skaggs at IBMA in Louisville and he closed with Get Up John. That song alone was the reason I started into Bluegrass and especially the mandolin. Being from Bowling Green Ky, I became aware of Sam Bush. This led in an around about way to being turned on to John Hartford. Then I had to find out who was playing the mando for him. Now I don't agree with everything Skaggs says and his shows are a little.....hokey, but he is radio friendly and does get a lot of people to listen to Bluegrass and like me some of them start digging deeper into the music and finding stuff that really kicks ass. And just for the record I'm in the Compton camp of Bluegrass now that I have dug pass Ricky and his fried chicken stories.
J -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of mistertaterbug Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 13:34 To: Taterbugmando Subject: Re: You Be The Judge One final note from me... To all of you who read this rag, my apologies for being unpleasant. However/whatever I feel about the situation is my own. I'm sure I bring a lot of my own character "warts" to the table that color my perceptions and comments. I think it's only fair to admit it, or at least make it known to the rest of you that I'm aware of it and have no notions that what I say is the gospel. Whatever causes my knee-jerk reaction to the current media blurb is my own and I have no crusade regarding the future of bluegrass or who's at the lead. I mean really, if it means so much to the illustrious Mr. KY Thunder that he be looked upon as the figurehead, then by all means give it to him. Let there be a parade and holiday proclaiming him "Mr. Bluegrass" and all of us can go back to our misguided lives listening to all the wrong stuff. It just seems to me that bluegrass music has been going along just fine in all its current incarnations, however scattered and varied its influences. I don't really think Monroe would have minded, although I'm sure that outwardly he would have complained. Refer back to the story Sam Bush tells about one conversation he had with Monroe... "Now what do you call that stuff you play?" "Newgrass...we call it Newgrass, Bill." "Oh yea....I hate that." Sam just laughs about it. I'm pretty sure that Bill did too when nobody was looking. It was better that he kick up a fuss, but I'm sure he was proud that the music he brought together out of a bunch of rural forms had had such a wide impact. It would be in my own best interest to laugh at some of this business and stop being so aggravated by it. It would be better professionally for me to keep my fool mouth shut. But, if i know me, I suspect I won't. <G> P'tater On Jan 27, 9:20 pm, [email protected] wrote: > thanks Mike, I appreciate you > > Denny > > -----Original Message----- > From: mistertaterbug <[email protected]> > To: Taterbugmando <[email protected]> > Sent: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 8:45 pm > Subject: Re: You Be The Judge > > Denny, > Number one...Thanks for showing us the positive side of this > situation. > Number two...There will never be anyone sitting "at the feet" of yours > truly because that requires worship and I will never be worthy of > that. > Number three...If you start preaching again and I'm in your area, I'll > come listen to at least one sermon considering the amount of fairness > you contributed today. Seems you've something that needs hearing. > Number four...Not bad for a truck driving, oil well drilling, > preacher. <G> > > Prodigal Tater > > On Jan 27, 4:33?pm, [email protected] wrote: > > While I wouldn't think of Ricky as the traditional Bluegrass musician, and I > would expect to see him at festivals because of his commercial approach to the > music, I am thankful that he brings in new and fresh ears to the music. Many > who > like country music will not know who Mike Compton is, though we know he is a > fantastic musician and man, they will listen to Ricky. My friends and family > often bring up Ricky when they hear me play my mandolin. They don't know who > Bill Monroe is, but they know Ricky. They haven't heard of Jim and Jesse but > they know Marty Stuart. They don't know anything about Jimmy Martin but they > seem to think Vince Gill is a bluegrass musician in part because of his recent > album. They have never heard of Seldom Scene but somehow think Chris Thile is > a > bluegrass musician. My point is that with rare exceptions, most people don't > know anything about bluegrass. If they buy a Ricky Skaggs cd at least they > might > here Blackeyed Suzie or Rawhide or PIg in a Pen or Get Up John or LIttle > Maggie > or Rank Strangers. If they are interested, they might even research other > musicians. > > > Second, his record company is producing some very good music with groups > > like > Cherryholmes and artists like Andy Leftwich > > > Third, it presents me with opportunities. When people mention Ricky to me, I > usually respond by bringing them a few cd's to listen to with samples from a > bunch of various artists from the Dawg to Mike Compton to Del McCoury to Do > yle > Lawson to Rhonda Vincent to Sam Bush and so on. Usually, the people come back > and tell me how surprised they were to hear how wonderful the music was and > that > they weren't expecting to enjoy it. I will give them some Steffey and they > will > be amazed at the clean sound. I will give them Evening Prayer Blues from > Compton > and Long (one of my favorite recordings of all time) and they are amazed at > the > feel. I will give them some Roberts/Grascals or Ronnie McCoury or Mandolin > Extravaganza. In the end, because they asked about Ricky, I was able to give > them some other sounds to put into their ears with the hopes that they would > become as big a fan as I am (and I am a big boy). > > > My point is that while I would rather sit at the feet of the Tater and I > > love > the traditional Monroe feel, I think Ricky can help bluegrass. I do agree that > there is probably some pride involved but that is something he will have to > deal > with on his own. I can still enjoy his music. > > > Anyway, just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in the pond...have a great day > > > Denny Wilson > > Snyder, Texas > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: mistertaterbug <[email protected]> > > To: Taterbugmando <[email protected]> > > Sent: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 3:57 pm > > Subject: Re: You Be The Judge > > > Jason, > > I'll have to say that it's pretty much standard procedure to count on > > doing multiple takes on the major sessions, unless of course there are > > players there that can just lay it down first take. Some bands can go > > in and take a couple and get a useable one. Usually, somebody has to > > fix something(frequently it's me) while everybody else sits and eats > > miniature Milky Way bars. A lot of times the focus is to get a good > > rhythm track or get a track that has a good overall feel and then > > start building the finished product. I've heard of artists taking 6 > > months and loads of money (upwards of the cost of a Loar) to cut an > > album. I wonder what used to happen when people like Ella Fitzgerald > > or Frank Sinatra went into the stud > io? You know as well as I do what > > happened. They laid it down and that was that. Being on the road 11 > > months out of the year helps with that. > > > Hey, all ya'll don't get me wrong. Skaggs is a talented man who's > > worked hard and there's no denying that. I'll give him that because > > it's a fact. It's that *other* thing I was talking about anyway. Now > > I'm done with it. > > > Tater > > > On Jan 27, 1:37?pm, J Hill <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The only thing I have to say on the topic is that I had heard someplace > > > that > > > the Ricky Skaggs and KY Thunder frequently use over-dubs / multiple takes > > > and that seems to have tainted my listening to their music. ?I've heard > > > them > > > live and there's no doubt that his band can play and I'll be the first to > > > say, as in the recent Yo-Yo Ma inaugural recording discussion, if you can > > > play it once you can play it in my book (even if it took you 6 takes to > > > get > > > a keeper). ?All that being said, it does differentiate between the > > > recordings we hear today in which recording time can be as cheap as the > > > electricity it takes to run your MacBook and the recording days of old in > > > which there were 5 guys crowding around a single microphone and recording > > > time was a scarce commodity. > > > > It very well could be that RS doesn't use multiple takes anymore than any > > > other band in wh > > ich case I don't mean to single them out unfairly. > > > > Jason --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. 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