ETTORE SALATI

This month's Artist in Spotlight is Ettore Salati from Italy. Ettore is a sought after session guitarist by many prog musicians not just in Italy but all around the world. He started playing piano at a very young age (mostly classical music) but when he became a teenager and discovered the world of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and 70's rock in general, he was immediately fascinated by guitar... more

KAT EPPLE (Emerald Web)

KAT EPPLE, flautist and composer, is our interview guest this month. She has won 8 Emmy awards, was nominated for a Grammy and she has released 18 albums internationally. Most of you know her as the other half of the legendary ambient/new age duo EMERALD WEB. She has a very large collection (over 200) of flutes that she gathered from all around the world during her travels. Kat composes original New Age/Jazz/World/orchestral music and has produced film scores and television soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagan, Another World, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, History Channel, HGN, The Guiding Light, PBS, and NASA among others, and was Music Director for the feature-length film, Captiva Island. She also owns a record company and works on both sides of the music industry as a musician and as a business woman... more

New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard

New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more

BAWN IN THE MASH / Hurry Up And Wait

Bawn In The Mash is a progressive bluegrass band from Paducah, KY. The band is formed by 5 musicians: Nathan Blake Lynn (vocals, guitar), Thomas B. Oliverio (Mandolin, vocals), Josh Coffey (violin, viola, mandolin, vocals), Alex Faught (banjo, vocals), Eddie Coffey (upright bass, resophonic guitar). They also have a drummer who plays with them as a special guest, Brey McCoy. On this album they included two more special guests: Donnie Herron (Bob Dylan), and Tyler Grand (Drew Emmitt).

Hurry Up And Wait is the band’s second album after “Welcome to the Atomic City” that they released in 2006. This new album has 16 songs. Bawn In The Mash is one of the most progressive bluegrass bands, and here is why…. First of all, their songwriting. They use different time signatures in some of their songs just a like a progressive rock band does. “Little Piece of Paper”, the opening song is the best example to this. It starts just like a bluegrass song, but towards the middle there are interesting time changes and not only that but, the melody becomes an eastern European tune suddenly; especially with the violin solo. It all wraps up in the end just like it started, as a bluegrass piece, I found it very interesting. There are a few other songs like this on the album, like, “Montana Slim”, “The Thing Of It Is”…. And the song “Down The Road” with Josh’s violin solo becomes psychedelic.

Psychedelic approach is actually very heavy in Hurry Up and Wait, especially in the songs written and performed by Josh Coffey. “Helpless”, “George The Whale” and “Montana Slim” are the songs he does lead vocals on, and he sounds like late 60’s acid folk singers. When I saw them live this past July, he did “Breathe” by Pink Floyd, so I knew they were into this kind of music, and actually, this was the very first time I had seen a bluegrass band perform a Pink Floyd song. It was indeed different.

The band also likes 50’s style rock and roll and often uses it in songs like “Down The Road” and “Huey Lewis and the Blues”. The different genres don’t stop here actually, they sound very jazzy sometimes, especially at the end of Montana Slim. Blues is another noticeable genre on the CD. “Black Mountain” and “Heady Daze” are two of those songs.

Four of the band members do lead vocals on different songs, but I found Nathan’s vocals more original. He can switch from bluegrass to blues, from ragga (not reggae) to rock and roll. “Max’s Travels” is one of those songs, and it is very fun to listen to him sing.

When I opened the album cover, one thing immediately caught my attention. It is very unusual for a bluegrass band to call the “fiddle” “violin”, because of the different style of playing, not that technically there is a difference. As I started listening to each song, I began to think that may be it was intentional, because, when you hear some crazy violin solos that sound very jazzy or classical sometimes, you start to make sense out of it. Of course Donnie Herron’s influence is obvious.

Besides the drums and percussions, the band uses a lot of different instruments, like, harmonica, viola, electric mandolin, resophonic guitar, electric bass, trumpet and electric guitar. On one song, “Heady Daze” they use both electric and upright bass, and on “Big Pappa Reel” there is double fiddle fiesta.

Bawn In The Mash, is not a regular progressive bluegrass band. They apparently have rock and jazz background as well, and they reflect it professionally into their work both live and in the studio. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them play at a rock festival actually. They are fun to listen, and fun to watch onstage. It is obvious that they put a lot of effort on their new album. You can see them play anywhere around Midwest throughout the year. If you are looking for a rugged yet sophisticated jam band, I would recommend you to buy this CD, you won’t regret it.

Hande BURDG