bluegrass

Nickel Creek | Scotch and Chocolate

“These are not veterans of bluegrass – these were three young people who drove their string machines like race cars … While Nickel Creek isn’t as intense as England’s Strawbs (originally The Strawberry Hill Boys), they have an appeal for the average ear just short of a confection – but never too sweet,” (Americana Highways). “They have the skill to play impressively and rollick in a bluegrass-commercial flavor that’s tasty … Their recordings are well-made and the group possesses a pearl of musical wisdom to perform with agility, passion, and creative beauty.

… Nickel Creek manages to balance these genres with each performance. It’s obvious the trio could play adeptly alongside such traditional mainstay contemporaries as the classic English ensembles Pentangle, Fairport Convention, Curved Air, the Acoustic Strawbs, Steeleye Span, Dando Shaft, Amazing Blondel and the Incredible String Band.”

After a soft-spoken, meandering intro, “Scotch and Chocolate” (2005) solidly settles into A major at 0:51. At 2:05, with the tempo now at a gallop, D major takes center stage for the balance of the track. This performance is from the COVID-cancelled series Live From Here, the more music-centric successor to A Prairie Home Companion. The series was hosted by Nickel Creek’s mandolinist, Chris Thile.

Manfred Mann | Fox On the Run

The bluegrass standard ‘Fox On the Run’ “… (was) written by Tony Hazzard in 1968,” (Bluegrass Today) ” … Having been raised in the country on the outskirts of Liverpool as a young boy, Tony had a lot of inspiration to draw from for the imagery in the song. ‘The main source was an imagined scene, described in the chorus, of a hot summer’s day, a field of wheat sloping down to a river in the sunshine, and a blonde woman walking through the wheat field towards the river … The second source was really just the feel of the music. I was a fan of The Band in the late 60s, and their style was running through me at the time.’

… Tony played the song for British rockers Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and in 1968, ‘Fox on the Run’ became a hit song for them in the UK … In 1976, Tom T. Hall took ‘Fox On the Run’ to #9 on the US Billboard Charts and to #12 in Canada. The song went on to be recorded many more times by bluegrass and country bands all over the US. You can hardly walk past a festival jam without hearing a version of this beloved chestnut … (Tony adds) ‘I eventually realized it had become a standard, and I’m very proud of that fact; the song will remain long after I’m gone, and if people think it’s an old folk song, that’s fine by me!’”

After a start in C major, a surprising shift to Bb major hits at 0:33, ushered in by an odd time signature. At 0:57, the tune reverts to the original key. These sections alternate until 2:08, when a half-step key change to Db major unfolds and remains in effect for the balance of the tune.

For good measure, here’s an example of the tune’s frequent setting in the Bluegrass genre, as represented by Bolt Hill Band:

The Chicks | Long Time Gone

“Long Time Gone” was originally recorded by American singer/songwriter Darrell Scott, and subsequently covered by the Dixie Chicks (now known as The Chicks) and featured as the lead single on their 2002 album Home. The instrumentation includes banjo and fiddle but no percussion; critic Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe said the track “features the same empowered energy of their best hits…but with a sharper edge and a complete refusal to mince words as they slice and dice the contemporary country landscape that they still ruled at the time.” The Chicks’ cover won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

The track begins in D and briefly modulates to E following the second verse and chorus at 1:42. It returns to D at 2:10.

Seals and Crofts | Dust On My Saddle

Seals and Crofts, the 70s duo synonymous with the soft rock genre, were best known for lushly arranged, wide-ranging musical journeys which somehow also hit the pop charts. But the group also had some country and bluegrass playing in its collective history, demonstrated by the uptempo track “Dust On My Saddle.” The tune shifts throughout between A major on the chorus and F# major on the verses — with unmissable chromatic transitions in the bass.

Stereo Review provided an overview of the track’s hit 1973 album, Diamond Girl: “Radio listening can create the impression that Seals and Crofts have a narrow, restricted style, the core of it being a kind of low-keyed preachiness couched in high-noted harmonies. In fact, their work is eclectic, or extraordinarily varied, and this album is especially so …

You’re almost certain to like some of it, almost certain not to like all of it, but likely to admire, in any case, the way Seals and Crofts manage to sound like Seals and Crofts through all these changes. Myself, I like the guitar-mandolin arrangements, the lyricism, and the taste — and I grow a little weary of being talked down to, which seems necessarily a part of the religious instruction and/or moralizing they periodically lay upon us. I also find this particular album so carefully produced that it is almost sterile in some places. It seems, however, that there are several levels on which I can listen to it, paying varying degrees of attention — and I find some sort of reward at any plateau. Can’t explain that. But people who are more heavily into Eastern Thought than I am are continually doing things that affect me in ways I can’t explain.”

Molly Tuttle | She’ll Change

“One of the most compelling new voices in the roots music world, Molly Tuttle is a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter with a lifelong love of bluegrass, a genre the Northern California-bred artist first discovered thanks to her father (a music teacher and multi-instrumentalist) and grandfather (a banjo player whose Illinois farm she visited often throughout her childhood). On her new album Crooked Tree (2022), Tuttle joyfully explores that rich history with bluegrass, bringing her imagination to tales of free spirits and outlaws, weed farmers and cowgirls resulting in a record that is both forward-thinking and steeped in bluegrass heritage,” (MollyTuttleMusic.com)

The Nashville-based Tuttle, a Berklee alumna, began attending bluegrass jams at age eleven. ” … She was the first woman ever named Guitar Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association, as well as her voice—an instrument that shifts from warmly understated to fiercely soulful with equal parts precision and abandon, occasionally treating the listener to some high-spirited yodeling … On the album-opening ‘She’ll Change,’ for instance, her vocals take on a breakneck momentum as she pays homage to the type of woman who fully owns her unabashed complexity.”

“[Molly Tuttle] sings with the gentle authority of Gillian Welch, yet plays astoundingly fleet flat-picking guitar like Chet Atkins on superdrive.”

— American Songwriter Magazine

“She’ll Change” is built in B major for the first two verses and choruses, but at 1:31 a multi-section bridge arrives: the first features vocals and stays more or less grounded, but the second instrumental section shifts to C# major (1:45), remaining there for the balance of the tune.

Dolly Parton | Blue Smoke

“Dolly Parton hasn’t really had a single as great as ‘I Will Always Love You’ or ‘9 To 5’ in a while (AV Club) … You can’t blame her for the fall off, considering her (2014) LP, Blue Smoke, is her 42nd career full-length … imbued with bluegrass melodies, instruments, and heart, making them seem like actual products of Parton’s brain rather than radio-savvy grabs at staying commercially viable … She’s written the songs to make her an icon, obviously, but it’s her down-home charm, apparently genuine goodness, and witty turns of phrase that have solidly put her in the hearts of the people. On Blue Smoke, she handily harnesses those charms — coupled with that stellar musicality, of course — to produce an absolutely lovely LP.”

Although the review describes the up-tempo track as “hokey” with “theme park-styled lyrics,” it’s also nothing short of infectiously charming. After suspending the groove momentarily, Dolly shifts the tune up a whole step via glissando at 1:48.

Steal With Style (from “The Robber Bridegroom”)

“Steal With Style” is from the 1975 Broadway musical The Robber Bridegroom, adapted by Alfred Uhry (book & lyrics) and Robert Waldman (music) from a 1942 novella by Eudora Welty. The score is one of only a handful in Broadway history to be bluegrass-inspired — the band consists of a guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and harp. The show was revived Off-Broadway in 2016 starring Steven Pasquale, featured here, and is regularly performed at regional theaters.

The song alternates between E major and E minor throughout before ultimately modulating to G major at 2:25 for the final chorus.

Nickel Creek | Love of Mine

Acoustic trio Nickel Creek‘s first self-released recordings appeared in the 1990s; its platinum-selling eponymous major label debut was in 2000. 2014’s A Dotted Line appeared after a break of nearly a decade. “There’s a fluid confidence that takes (Nickel Creek’s) precocious virtuosity into a musicianship that is as supple as it is kinetic,” (Paste). “…the progressive bluegrass they embraced as teenagers is a mere starting point—integrating the places the trio explored during the seven years since they released a studio project.

(Mandolinist/vocalist) Chris Thile emerges as perhaps the unrepentant romantic. ‘Love of Mine,’ with his voice tenderly tentative, weightlessly caresses what might be (then later might not). The see-saw of emotions is so well-reflected in how the instruments tangle, merge and fall out—paralleling what’s being sung … Not merely a product of maturity, Nickel Creek has grown without losing its palpable joy or wondrous ability to make musicianship as accessible as the engaging way their voices draw listeners to them.”

After a start in F# minor, a brief foray into F minor appears at 0:44 before reverting to the original key at 0:51. The two keys then proceed to quarrel it out to a draw, the intensity of the upward key changes only magnified by the common melody note on either side of the modulation.

Dirty Loops | Old Armando Had a Farm

Swedish funk/pop phenoms Dirty Loops have been doing their best to stay sane and keep their skills sharp during the gig-less period known as COVID-19 with their Songs for Lovers series. With “Old Armando Had a Farm,” Henrik Linder (bass) and Aron Mellergard (drums) cook up a country/funk/bluegrass concoction without their frontman, vocalist and keyboardist Jonah Nilsson.

In the spirit of the band’s typical humor, the supporting cast (from steel guitar to hand claps to hair colorist!) are all mentioned in the end credits. The tune modulates multiple times, starting at 0:43.

Chris Thile | I’m Nowhere and You’re Everything

American Bluegrass/Newgrass mandolinist Chris Thile, known for his work with Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, released his fourth solo album, Deceiver, in 2004. After a chaotic bridge from 2:50 to 3:10, “I’m Nowhere and You’re Everything” modulates at 3:10, 3:42, and 4:06.

From The Houston Chronicle‘s review: “If you expected Thile to cater to Bluegrass orthodoxy and Newgrass’ oft-meandering constructs, this album’s title suggests you’ve been duped.”