Bluegrass is a genre very much known for its sense of tradition. Improvisation within traditional bluegrass usually comes less in the form of song structure and theme, and more in the actual instrumental solos. In other words, new ideas are usually explored within established boundaries. Local boys The Lowcountry Boil Bluegrass Band (LCB) is an example of an outfit that resists the "proper" ideas of what bluegrass should be.
"Our CD and our live playing are different than traditional bluegrass,"
says Jevon Daly, mandolin player and vocalist for LCB. "Even though the music kind of sounds like bluegrass, we don't go after the same ideas as traditional bluegrass players do. There's a tendency to write songs with this kind of blue-collar country theme. But we're not farmers, and you know, we don't sit out on our back porch or that kind of thing. We take the sounds of the genre and make them our own. We write songs based on what we know and our own lives, not some vision of working on trains."
These songs have come together in LCB's new CD, Break Me Off Some Bluegrass, which will be formally introduced at the band's CD release party, Tuesday, Jan. 25 at the Music Farm.
Featuring legendary fiddle player, Vassar Clements, the recording is a
definite departure both lyrically and structurally from the same old bluegrass.
"I'm not really a 'bluegrass guy," Daly says. "I listen to all kinds of
stuff and try to learn from everything. We like the whole format of bluegrass, though. It is naturally just a hard driving, high-energy kind of music. It's kind of like rap. Rappers go up on stage, and they have high energy coming into whatever they do, just because that's the kind of music rap is. It's the same way with bluegrass ---- there's automatically going to be an upbeat feel coming into it. And as far as playing out in clubs, it really gets people's attention, just like blues, funk, or jazz. It has a sound that makes people take notice. Many people don't really know how interesting bluegrass music can be. When most people think of bluegrass, they think of 'Dueling Banjos,' or something like that. And 'Dueling Banjos' is such a sore example of bluegrass as a whole."
Though they might be influenced by a large spectrum of music, the band embraces the bluegrass designation as a way of locating the general sound of their playing.
"I really like bluegrass," Daly says. "It's so hard to be truly original
in a band with the traditional 'rock' setup ---- you know, drums, bass and guitar. It's kind of wierd, but with bluegrass, we're already in a category that people expect a certain thing from. It makes it easier to break free from those expectations and do something distinctive."
While working at cutting their own groove in the genre, LCB have also demonstrated a strong connection to the roots of bluegrass. A great indicator of this is their alliance with living bluegrass legend Vassar Clements, who appears on their new CD and who will be performing with them here in Charleston.
"Having Vassar play with us was really important in terms of getting
through the doors of bluegrass. He's really one of the best soloists of all time. Having him aboard really lends some validity to what we're doing. That's another nice thing about bluegrass ---- it is a small genre. Nobody in bluegrass is out to get rich. So you can have these kind of opprotunites we've had with Vassar."
The CD strikes an interesting balance between the seasoned playing of Clements and the young go-getter ambitiousness of the Lowcountry Boil boys.
"When we were recoding our songs with Vassar, my hope was that we would push him," says Daly. "Because our songs don't follow a traditional bluegrass progression, I knew they would pose some kind of challenge. I wanted him to be able to do things musically that he didn't normally do. Essentially, I wanted to maximize the opprotunity to play with a great player like Vassar, and get the most out of his abilities. At the very least, i think we got him to play on a level removed from where he plays with other instrumentalists who share his skill. I encouraged him to take the spotlight more, and you know, open up as much as possible."
This attitude of both respect and assertiveness is reflective of the band's well-developed sense of musicality.
"I've come to realize just how important experience is in playing music,"
Daly says. "You can write a great song at 18, but you can really play a great solo at 70. There are just certain things you can only learn through years of playing. For me, that's how I look at how much i have progressed as a person through the years. I'm not a body-builder ---- I can't look at my muscles, so I look at the music that I've created and how it has improved as I've grown older."
