By Kevin Murphy Wilson | Photos Provided
Sam Bush is a Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist best known for his mastery of the mandolin. Over the course of a lengthy career that began right here in Kentucky and expanded in every direction possible, Bush has developed a distinctive style of picking and singing that is evocative of many disparate musical forces, including Bill Monroe, Bob Marley, and the Allman Brothers Band. His own groups—such as Bluegrass Alliance, New Grass Revival, Strength in Numbers and the Sam Bush Band—are legendary. Remarkably, even after 50 years in the business, Bush continues to expand the boundaries of acoustic music and remains a perennial favorite among peers, critics, and fans alike. We recently chatted with Bush about his latest album—Radio John—which is a carefully-crafted tribute to his late friend and co-conspirator John Hartford, as well as Bush’s neverending tour that lands him back in the area for a March 7 performance at the Grand Theatre in Frankfort.
VT: Radio John is replete with songs by [musician, songwriter, steamboat pilot, author, artist, disc jockey, calligrapher, dancer, folklorist] John Hartford. What can you tell us about your relationship with him?
SB: “I had been a big fan of John’s music long before we ever crossed paths. Then, I finally got to meet him in the summer of 1971 at Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. The band John had with him included Tut Taylor, Norman Blake and Vassar Clements, and they just blew minds that night. Late in the evening I got to spend some time around the campfire with those guys and I had never before met anyone that liked to jam or play music more than John. He literally would rather pick than eat. Anyway, that initial encounter led to a working relationship and a friendship that lasted decades.”
VT: Speaking of Vassar Clements, at the beginning of the year you were invited to take part in an Old & In the Way celebration at the Ryman Auditorium. What, in your estimation, was so significant about that short-lived group?
SB: “If I’m correct, at one point it [Old & In the Way’s eponymous 1975 LP] was the largest selling bluegrass album ever.
Simply put, it brought bluegrass to a rock n’ roll audience because Jerry Garcia was the banjo player. And so, by introducing that project to his large Grateful Dead fanbase, a lot of people who might not have been exposed to that level of bluegrass musicianship before were hearing Peter Rowan in his prime singing and David Grisman kicking ass on the mandolin as well as the great Vassar Clements on fiddle. Just think, if your first impression of bluegrass fiddle was Vassar Clements, I mean wow. And, you know, to me, Jerry’s banjo playing was perfect for that band because it wasn’t built around the hard-driving banjo of J.D. Crowe or Earl Scruggs, it was truly an ensemble that kind of weaved their music together in and out.”
VT: Your classic Louisville-based band Bluegrass Alliance featured guitar great Tony Rice for a while. How did he end up in the mix?
SB: “I was functioning as their guitarist, having taken over for Dan Crary. Then one day I encountered what appeared to be the skinniest man on earth playing Clarence White-type phrases in the middle of this big field outside the Camp Springs Bluegrass Festival in North Carolina. It turned out to be Tony, and, after we got to talking, I proposed that he join our group so that I could switch my focus back to mandolin. I probably should have asked the other guys first, but they warmed up to the idea pretty quickly once they heard Tony play.”
VT: All these years later, what are your thoughts on the shape-shifting acts who are now at the forefront of today’s acoustic music scene, like Molly Tuttle, Greensky Bluegrass, and Billy Strings?
SB: “Well, I’m just appreciative of the fact that I even get invited to the party with all these younger musicians who are now my friends. I didn’t have a bigger hero on the mandolin than Jethro Burns when I was starting out. And one time when he was opening up for New Grass Revival, which totally should have been the other way around, he told me that if I lived long enough, I’d also see the day when I was the support act for the people I had influenced. He didn’t really phrase it so nicely or with words that were suitable for print, but it was a point well taken.”
VT: At this juncture, it must feel nice to spend your days roaming around the live music circuit with a superb band of your own behind you, right?
SB: “I feel extremely fortunate. Mainly because my whole musical life I have always played exactly what I wanted to, and at this point, the measure of success is really just having the opportunity and the ability to go out and play some more.”
For more information visit: sambush.com.
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