New Grass Revival
Encyclopedia
New Grass Revival was an American
progressive bluegrass
band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush
, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins
, John Cowan
, Béla Fleck
and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles. Their highest-charting single is "Callin' Baton Rouge
", which peaked at #37 on the U.S. country charts in 1989 and was a Top 5 country hit for Garth Brooks
five years later.
, Eddie Adcock
's II Generation, and the Country Gentlemen
, but few did it with the flair of the New Grass Revival. At the time, bluegrass was a very tradition-bound music; bands were expected to have short hair and dress in matching outfits. Not the New Grass Revival. They all had long hair, wore whatever they wanted to wear, and played whatever they wanted to play, including music by Jerry Lee Lewis
("Great Balls of Fire"), the Beatles ("Get Back"; "I'm Down"), Bob Marley
("One Love"), and protest songs ("One Tin Soldier"). This caused problems. A lot of people didn't like it and thought it wasn't the way Bill Monroe
meant for Bluegrass to be played. "Our reason for doing the newer-type music wasn't pretentious or irreverent or sarcastic or disrespectful," explained Curtis Burch. "We just felt like people were ready to see that you could really expand the sound, using those same instruments." Interestingly, Monroe was fan of New Grass Revival. In 1979, they became the backup group and opening act for Leon Russell
and this further alienated them from the mainstream bluegrass community.
The group moved to Sugar Hill Records in 1984 and released their first album featuring the new lineup, On the Boulevard. Two years later, the band signed with EMI Records and released an eponymous album, which proved to be their breakthrough into the mainstream. Two of the singles from the album -- "What You Do to Me" and "Ain't That Peculiar" -- were minor hits on the country charts, and Fleck's showcase "Seven by Seven" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental. Hold to a Dream, released in 1987, was just as successful as its predecessor, featuring the hits "Unconditional Love" and "Can't Stop Now," which both nearly made the Top 40.
In 1989, New Grass Revival released their third major-label album, Friday Night in America, which was yet another commercial success. "Callin' Baton Rouge" became their first Top 40 single, followed by the number 58 hit "You Plant Your Fields." Even though the band was more popular than ever, Bush decided to pull the plug on the group after the release of Friday Night in America. Bush became a session musician, and Fleck went on to a successful and respected solo career.
in Nashville, Tennessee
to benefit his widow.
The concert included a number of musicians and groups, such as John Hartford
, Hot Rize
, Tim O'Brien
, Vassar Clements
, Del McCoury Band
, Ricky Skaggs
, Pete Rowan, Jerry Douglas
and others.
In 1997, when Garth Brooks was invited to perform on The Late Show with Conan O'Brien to perform "Do What You Gotta Do", a song written by Pat Flynn, he asked Flynn, Bush, Cowan, and Fleck to join him in performing it. Since that performance, Flynn has worked with both Cowan and Fleck, but not Bush. Likewise, Bush has also worked with Cowan and Fleck on numerous occasions. Bush and Cowan have also played with Burch.
In April 2007, Bush, Fleck, Cowan, and Flynn stepped into the spotlight together during the Merlefest 20th Anniversary Jam and played the Townes Van Zandt
song "White Freight Liner." The single song reunion was the first time the four of them had played together in a decade.
Sam Bush, John Cowan and Curtis Burch performed with their own groups on the world's first International Newgrass Festival 21–23 August 2009 at Ballance Motox, Kentucky.
Sam Bush
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Courtney Johnson - banjo, guitar, vocals
Ebo Walker - acoustic bass, vocals
Sam Bush
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Courtney Johnson - banjo, guitar, vocals
Butch Robins
- bass guitar
Sam Bush
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Courtney Johnson - banjo, guitar, vocals
John Cowan
- bass guitar, vocals
Sam Bush
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Pat Flynn - guitar, vocals
Béla Fleck
- banjo, guitar, vocals
John Cowan
- bass guitar, vocals
(beneficial concert for Courtney Johnson)
Sam Bush
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Béla Fleck
- banjo, guitar, vocals
John Cowan
- bass guitar, vocals
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
progressive bluegrass
Progressive bluegrass
Progressive bluegrass is one of two major subgenres of bluegrass music. It is also known as newgrass, a term attributed to New Grass Revival member Ebo Walker. Musicians and bands John Hartford, New Grass Revival, J.D. Crowe and the New South, The Dillards, Boone Creek, Country Gazette, and the...
band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins
Butch Robins
Joseph Calvin "Butch" Robins is an American five-string banjo player with his own distinct style of picking. He's an individualist and, according to himself "a seeker of information, knowledge and wisdom".-Biography:...
, John Cowan
John Cowan
John Cowan is an American soul music and progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival...
, Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles. Their highest-charting single is "Callin' Baton Rouge
Callin' Baton Rouge
"Callin' Baton Rouge" is the title of a country music song written by Dennis Linde. It was originally recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys on their 1978 album Room Service, and was later covered by New Grass Revival on their 1989 album Friday Night in America, and more famously by Garth Brooks on his...
", which peaked at #37 on the U.S. country charts in 1989 and was a Top 5 country hit for Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
five years later.
Early years
The origins of New Grass Revival lay in the Bluegrass Alliance, which Sam Bush (vocals, fiddle, guitar, mandolin) and Courtney Johnson (banjo, vocals) joined in 1970. At the time, the Alliance also featured bassist Ebo Walker and fiddler Lonnie Peerce. Within a year after Bush's and Johnson's arrival, Curtis Burch (dobro, guitar, vocals) joined the band. In 1972, Peerce left the band, and the remaining members decided to continue under a new name—New Grass Revival. The band released their eponymous debut, Arrival of the New Grass Revival, later that year on Starday Records.Separation from mainstream bluegrass
Other groups were also playing progressive bluegrass at the time, such as The DillardsThe Dillards
The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...
, Eddie Adcock
Eddie Adcock
Eddie Adcock was born in Scottsville, Virginia, USA, on June 21, 1938. His professional musical career as a 5 string banjoist began in 1953 when he joined Smokey Graves & His Blue Star Boys, who had a regular show at a radio station in Crewe, VA. His exposure with Graves led to jobs with other...
's II Generation, and the Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentlemen were a bluegrass band that originated during the 1950s in the area of Washington, DC, United States, and recorded and toured with various members until the death in 2004 of Charlie Waller, one of the group's founders who in its later years served as the group's "focal point...
, but few did it with the flair of the New Grass Revival. At the time, bluegrass was a very tradition-bound music; bands were expected to have short hair and dress in matching outfits. Not the New Grass Revival. They all had long hair, wore whatever they wanted to wear, and played whatever they wanted to play, including music by Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
("Great Balls of Fire"), the Beatles ("Get Back"; "I'm Down"), Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
("One Love"), and protest songs ("One Tin Soldier"). This caused problems. A lot of people didn't like it and thought it wasn't the way Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
meant for Bluegrass to be played. "Our reason for doing the newer-type music wasn't pretentious or irreverent or sarcastic or disrespectful," explained Curtis Burch. "We just felt like people were ready to see that you could really expand the sound, using those same instruments." Interestingly, Monroe was fan of New Grass Revival. In 1979, they became the backup group and opening act for Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
and this further alienated them from the mainstream bluegrass community.
1972 - 1981 - first lineup
After the release of their debut, Walker parted ways with the band, and the group replaced him with Butch Robins, who was only with the band for a short time. He was replaced by John Cowan, an Evansville, Indiana, native. This lineup was stable throughout the 1970s, recording a number of albums for Flying Fish Records. As their name suggested, New Grass Revival never played traditional bluegrass—all of the members brought elements of rock & roll, jazz, and blues to the group's sound. Consequently, certain portions of the bluegrass community scorned them, but they also gained a devoted following of listeners who believed they were moving the genre in a new, fresh direction.1981 - 1989 - second lineup
In 1981, Johnson and Burch left the band, claiming they were tired of touring. Bush and Cowan continued the group, replacing them with virtuoso banjoist Béla Fleck and guitarist Pat Flynn. These two energized the band and moved it to new musical heights. Fleck's compositions such as "Metric Lips", "Seven by Seven" or "Big Foot" were very well received as were Pat Flynn's "Do What You Gotta Do", "Lonely Rider" and "On The Boulevard". Pat Flynn also brought a strong lead as well as harmony vocals to the group and his style of guitar playing is incomparable.The group moved to Sugar Hill Records in 1984 and released their first album featuring the new lineup, On the Boulevard. Two years later, the band signed with EMI Records and released an eponymous album, which proved to be their breakthrough into the mainstream. Two of the singles from the album -- "What You Do to Me" and "Ain't That Peculiar" -- were minor hits on the country charts, and Fleck's showcase "Seven by Seven" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental. Hold to a Dream, released in 1987, was just as successful as its predecessor, featuring the hits "Unconditional Love" and "Can't Stop Now," which both nearly made the Top 40.
In 1989, New Grass Revival released their third major-label album, Friday Night in America, which was yet another commercial success. "Callin' Baton Rouge" became their first Top 40 single, followed by the number 58 hit "You Plant Your Fields." Even though the band was more popular than ever, Bush decided to pull the plug on the group after the release of Friday Night in America. Bush became a session musician, and Fleck went on to a successful and respected solo career.
After breakup
Banjoist Courtney Johnson died of lung cancer in 1996 at age of just 56. Bush, Fleck, Cowan, and Burch reunited for one concert (September 24, 1996) at the Ryman AuditoriumRyman Auditorium
The Ryman Auditorium is a 2,362-seat live performance venue, located at 115 5th Avenue North, in Nashville, Tennessee and is best known as the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry....
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
to benefit his widow.
The concert included a number of musicians and groups, such as John Hartford
John Hartford
John Cowan Hartford was an American folk, country and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore...
, Hot Rize
Hot Rize
Hot Rize is a bluegrass band that rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Established in 1978, the founding members were Mike Scap , Tim O'Brien on mandolin and fiddle, Pete Wernick on banjo and Charles Sawtelle on bass....
, Tim O'Brien
Tim O'Brien (musician)
Tim O'Brien is an American country and bluegrass musician. In addition to singing, he plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki and mandocello...
, Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements was a Grammy Award- winning American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical...
, Del McCoury Band
Del McCoury Band
The Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo,...
, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
, Pete Rowan, Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas may refer to:*Jerry Douglas , actor, who was on The Young and the Restless for 25 years*Jerry Douglas, country/bluegrass musician*Jerry Douglas , director and writer of adult films such as, Score...
and others.
In 1997, when Garth Brooks was invited to perform on The Late Show with Conan O'Brien to perform "Do What You Gotta Do", a song written by Pat Flynn, he asked Flynn, Bush, Cowan, and Fleck to join him in performing it. Since that performance, Flynn has worked with both Cowan and Fleck, but not Bush. Likewise, Bush has also worked with Cowan and Fleck on numerous occasions. Bush and Cowan have also played with Burch.
In April 2007, Bush, Fleck, Cowan, and Flynn stepped into the spotlight together during the Merlefest 20th Anniversary Jam and played the Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
song "White Freight Liner." The single song reunion was the first time the four of them had played together in a decade.
Sam Bush, John Cowan and Curtis Burch performed with their own groups on the world's first International Newgrass Festival 21–23 August 2009 at Ballance Motox, Kentucky.
Band members
- 1972 - 1974
Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Courtney Johnson - banjo, guitar, vocals
Ebo Walker - acoustic bass, vocals
- 1974
Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Courtney Johnson - banjo, guitar, vocals
Butch Robins
Butch Robins
Joseph Calvin "Butch" Robins is an American five-string banjo player with his own distinct style of picking. He's an individualist and, according to himself "a seeker of information, knowledge and wisdom".-Biography:...
- bass guitar
- 1974 - 1981
Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Courtney Johnson - banjo, guitar, vocals
John Cowan
John Cowan
John Cowan is an American soul music and progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival...
- bass guitar, vocals
- 1981 - 1989
Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Pat Flynn - guitar, vocals
Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
- banjo, guitar, vocals
John Cowan
John Cowan
John Cowan is an American soul music and progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival...
- bass guitar, vocals
- 1996 reunion
(beneficial concert for Courtney Johnson)
Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
- mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals
Curtis Burch - guitar, Dobro, vocals
Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
- banjo, guitar, vocals
John Cowan
John Cowan
John Cowan is an American soul music and progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival...
- bass guitar, vocals