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

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.

After Ebo Walker parted with the band, John Cowan, an Indiana native with rock and soul background joined the band. He was playing electric bass and had no experience in this domain. He also was a great tenor and he started doing lead vocals with Sam Bush after joining the band. His addition gave New Grass Revival a more progressive sound, not only because he was playing electric bass but his vocals were very different compared to the traditional bluegrass singers. It was as if a Motown artist was singing bluegrass. This was something unheard of, and revolutionary. In fact, still to this day he is one and only in this area.

Courtney Johnson and Curtis Burch left the band in 1981, Cowan and Bush met two incredibly talented musicians: Pat Flynn and Béla Fleck. Pat Flynn was a Southern California native who had moved to Colorado, and had actually opened for New Grass Revival before. He was a fan of the band, and had all their previous albums. Béla Fleck was a New Yorker, a very unique three finger style banjo player coming from an unusual place to play this instrument if you think about New York’s jazz and rock background. However, Fleck was not only into bluegrass, but he had a passion for Celtic music, reggae, and most of all, jazz.

After playing together for a couple years, the band recorded their first album together: “On The Boulevard”. There are 13 songs on the album, and you can see each musician's different musical tendencies coming together in great harmony. Pat Flynn appears as the third lead singer of the band with his steamy vocals and rock and blues influences. On The Boulevard and Get In The Wind are the songs that he sings on the album. John Cowan does most of the lead vocals and Sam Bush appears on One More Love Song, One of These Trains, and a Bob Marley cover One Love.

There are 2 instrumental songs. First one is Country Clare, with Fleck’s Celtic touch and Indian Hills with great Hungarian folk dance style fiddling by Sam Bush. The band adds a live song to end the album with: Walking in Jerusalem.

This is indeed a very important album in the band’s history. This line up of New Grass Revival is the most popular one. Fleck and Flynn absolutely bring a different sound to an already existing progressive approach. These four musicians are not just simply fusing the different styles with traditional bluegrass but they do this in their own original way, and this is what brings the success for them. All four of them are extremely talented instrumentalists (multi-instrumentalists to be more precise). And they play fast! They can rock you just like a stadium band does. If you have ever been to one of their concerts you know how it feels like. Or if you have ever been to any one of their solo concerts you will still see it. However, a nationwide reunion tour is desperately needed.

Hande BURDG