Song Review: Alison Brown & Steve Martin - “Bluegrass Radio”
It’s not the humor that makes Steve Martin attractive to women. It’s the music.
At least that’s the story he tells on “Bluegrass Radio,” a new single credited to Martin and fellow banjoist Alison Brown and with assistance from Sam Bush on mandolin, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Trey Hensley on guitar and Todd Phillips on bass.
Number three in California/five in Arizona/didn’t seem to mean a thing to you/but I got number one in Texas/and now you fix me breakfast/because I am a hit on bluegrass radio, goes the chorus.
It’s an uptempo, pure-bluegrass number with vocal harmonies smoothing out Martin’s spoken lyrics and virtuosic playing making the humorous “Bluegrass Radio” much more than a novelty.
The tune is in reference to the duo’s previous hit “Foggy Morning Breaking,” which appeared on Brown’s 2023 On Banjo LP.
Grade card: Alison Brown & Steve Martin - “Bluegrass Radio” - A
3/18/24
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Mark O'Connor violin, Tony Rice guitar, Jerry Douglas dobro, Sam Bush mandolin, Mark Schatz bass and Bela Fleck banjo performing “Freeborn Man“. Merlefest early 1990's.
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Freeborn Man
Songwriters: Keith Allison and Mark Lindsay
I was born in the Southland
Some twenty odd years ago
I ran away for the first time
When I was only four years old
I'm a freeborn man
My home is on my back
I know every inch of highway
Every foot of back road
Every mile of railroad track
I got a lady in Cincinnati
A woman in San Antone
And I always love the girl next door
But any place is home
I'm a freeborn man
Home is on my back
I know every inch of highway
Every foot of back road
Every mile of railroad track
And I got me a worn out guitar
I carry an old tone sack
And I hocked it about two hundred times
But I always get it back
I'm a freeborn man
Home is on my back
I know every inch of highway
Every foot of back road
Every mile of railroad track
Well, you may not like my appearance
You may not like my song
You may not like the way I talk
But you sure like the way I'm gone
I'm a freeborn man
Home is on my back
I know every inch of highway
Every foot of back road
Every mile of railroad track
I was born in the Southland
Some twenty odd years ago
I ran away for the first time
When I was only four years old
I'm a freeborn man
Home is on my back
I know every inch of highway
Every foot of back road
Every mile of railroad track
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"Guess I'm Doing Fine"
Original by Bob Dylan
Covered by Dom Flemons feat. Sam Bush
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Song Review: Tony Trischka feat. Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush - “Dooley”
The ghosts of Earl Scruggs and his pal “Dooley” are back on the haunt courtesy of Tony Trischka and other living disciples.
The banjo man recruited singer/guitarist Molly Tuttle and mandolinist/singer Sam Bush to front the second single from Earl Jam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs. And with Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle and Mark Schatz on bass, the all-star quintet makes the moon-shining anthem sparkle.
Nothing fancy here. Just three minutes of tightly focused bluegrass to follow “Brown’s Ferry Blues,” the Billy Strings-Trischka joint that announced Earl Jam’s June 7 arrival.
Grade card: Tony Trischka feat. Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush - “Dooley” - B
3/15/24
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you know, if only i could
i’d make a deal
for your soul
i’d take your burden
make a deal, with god
get him to swap our places
so you’ll get your picket fence
and i get eternal hell in the flames
(it’s what we deserve, you and me, sammy)
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Sam Bush
Radio John (2022)
… songs of John Hartford …
#SamBush
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