ebs@mcnc.UUCP (07/05/83)
Anyone who appreciates FANTASTIC vocal work (a la Otis Redding,
Aretha Franklin, etc.) owes it to themselves to give a listen
to the latest album by the NEWGRASS REVIVAL, entitled "Commonwealth".
Besides having flawless jazz-rock-bluegrass instrumental work
(a la David Grisman with a banjo), the album features the vocals
of John Cowan (no explanation possible). If you like the album,
then you'll love the live show (coming to your town soon, I hope).
"Commonwealth" features only two members of the current REVIVAL
(Sam Bush and John Cowan); the other two are award winning
jazz-bluegrass banjoist Bela Fleck (no joke) and amazing guitarist
Pat Flynn (anyone ever heard of him before? please let me know
where he came from!).
P.S. - The other two people on "Commonwealth" (Courtney Johnson
and Curtis Burch) have now formed their own band, the BARREN COUNTY REVIVAL,
and they, too, are well worth watching. No albums as yet.
eddie (unc-charlotte)jsc@nbires.UUCP (07/08/83)
simply amazing...a net article about bluegrass. the Newgrass Revival is, and always has been, an outstanding band. I remember seeing their forerunner, the Bluegrass Alliance, in Beanblossom, Indiana in about 1970. The only thing wrong with the band was their fiddler, Lonnie Pierce. (He had an album out called The Golden Fiddle of Lonnie Pierce, which we renamed, The Piercing Fiddle of Lonnie Golden.) In the early seventies, I joined a band that played in the same clubs and at the same universities as the Newgrass boys. People (bluegrass "fans") were always coming up and saying, "You guys are good, but the Newgrass Revival played here last week and were fantastic!!" That made us feel terrible, until we played Union Grove, where Sam Bush said, "You know, every time we play someplace, somebody comes up to us and says, 'You guys are good, but...'"