Sassafras are a quartet from North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Mountains, who play classic Bluegrass in the style of Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers. The music that was the second component in the heart of the atomic bomb that detonated in July 1954 and created the Rock’n’roll era.
When Elvis Presley dropped That’s All Right, an adaptation of Arthur Crudup’s original song, he also reworked Bill Monroe’s slow waltz Blue Moon of Kentucky completely, and put it on the B-side. Salvation and a global domination in four minutes.
Bluegrass is for obsessives, and it attracts purists who love to protect their patch and jealously guard the tradition.
But it existed in a parallel world to Be-Bop Jazz. Young Turks who wanted to upset tradition and play music to alienate the elder musicians so they couldn’t follow them. And at breakneck speed where melody comes within a nanosecond of annihilating.
Be-Bop continued to evolve into atonal and free-form Jazz.
Bluegrass certainly did not stop evolving. The Godfather of Bluegrass was an early champion of Presley and changed his style of playing Blue Moon of Kentucky immediately.
More Blues elements have been added. There is Newgrass. I have seen irreverent bands incorporate James Brown. There is juxtaposition with Gangsta Rap in recent times.
All of which has caused purists to spray their Jack Daniels and fume silently. But it also means that younger musicians continually pump fresh blood through (Molly Tuttle, Chris Thile, James King).
For a real treat, check out Chinese musicians playing Bluegrass on traditional Asian instruments on YouTube. The purists should increase their medications first.
Sassafras start with a familiar traditional Bluegrass instrumental and then drop it into high gear with a racing version of How Mountain Girls Can Love, the Stanley Brothers classic.
Sea Of Heartbreak is a Country song, co-written by Hal David and covered by everyone and my favourite is from the Everly Brothers.
The mandolin player Wes Tuttle does have the high lonesome vocal style, and he does this with the Original Carter Family’s I Know What It Means to be Lonesome.
The rest of the band. Randy Gambill guitar and vocals leads the band, and it is probably Gray Tuttle, banjo and vocals and Zeb Gambill acoustic bass.
We get to hear many standards and classics. Done in traditional manner with little subtleties to give a distinctive stamp from the band.
Orange Blossom Special, Nine Pound Hammer, Your Love is Like a Flower.
Blue Night has a stand-out vocal from Wes Tuttle on a lesser-known Bill Monroe song.
They can cover Western Swing with a workout of Cherokee.
Across the Great Divide is not The Band song, the guys that played with Dylan.
It’s from Kate Wolf who is a Folkie singer-songwriter who is hard to confine to specific genres, so she gets compared to Joni Mitchell. Her original sounds like classic Country and the band give it a Bluegrass makeover. But he’s gone across the borderline/ He’s gone away in yesterday.
The Border Radio music played an essential role in the rise of Americana. Radio stations lined up along Mexico’s northern border, blasting out with fifty thousand watts of power. Escaping the regulators and able to reach all the way up to Canada.
The Carter Family with Helen, Janette, June, and Anita made legendary music from the transcripts of these shows turned into albums.
The story is told on the Blaster’s Border Radio. Pirate radio stations played pivotal roles here and in the UK.
Wild Bill Jones is a traditional murder ballad which sounds like proto-Rockabilly.
The bass guitar leads this one nicely.
A great cover of John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads. Hundreds of versions and the opening lines are instantly recognisable. Almost heaven, West Virginia/ Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.
Panhandle Rag is more Western Swing, and they end appropriately with a song that ties everything together, Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
Paul Trenwith and a few of the other Back Porch Bluegrass players have joined them by then.
Randy Gambill tells me he plays in diverse bands. Soul, Rock’n’roll, Cajun style and even Godfather James Brown Sex Machine music. That makes perfect sense to me.
Sassafras honour the roots and traditions of Bluegrass. Which is to honour diversity and innovation. It is Americana and this is the United States greatest gift to the world.
Rev. Orange Peel