Sam Bush Radio John: Songs of John Hartford
There are several releases I want to mention this month. For some pure pop-y folk goodness, I recommend you spin up Palomino, the latest record from First Aid Kit. This is a duo that often flies under my radar for whatever reason, but I enjoy them every time I hear them. And a couple wildly different November recommendations for my fellow guitar nerds: You can’t ever go wrong with Bill Frisell, and his newest, Four, is no exception. Great from start to finish. And for some straight-ahead bluegrass with a giant heap of flatpicking virtuosity thrown in, get your ears on Billy Strings’ new one, Me/And/Dad.
My November pick of the month is Sam Bush’s tribute to his mentor and friend, Radio John: Songs Of John Hartford. Bush is widely known as “The Father Of Newgrass,” and certainly he’s the person most singularly identified with the genre. But he has been quoted as saying “Without [Hartford’s landmark album] Aereo-Plain, there would be no newgrass music.” Indeed, it would be nearly impossible to quantify John Hartford’s extraordinary contribution to newgrass, and folk music more broadly. For this record, Bush has reached back through Hartford’s extensive catalog and selected songs that are of personal importance, and then added a tribute song of his own (co-written with John Pennel), celebrating Hartford’s colorful life as a steamboat captain, musician, songwriter, and performer. This collection is truly a labor of love, as evidenced by the fact that Bush himself plays all the instruments on the record, except on the one original tune, which features the current lineup of the Sam Bush Band.
Get some music in your ears, everybody!