Double Bass Do you guys do pop covers bluegrass style?

[Reiska]

You have to love the music and treat it with great responsibility, even when raping it completely. It doesn`t matter if you were doing a Beethowen melody, or a Rihanna tune. You have to find some new meaning for the lyrics, or underline it totally, and / or turn it all upside down with your approach to the song. Don`t just play your bluegrass versions, make some music and try to say something while at it. IMHO

 

[jthisdell]

...however the more "pop" a band becomes the less you will need the banjo.

It is all in how you learn the songs and use your creativity. We have worked up cover of Jackson Five's I Want You Back. My bandmates do a wonderful break where first one guy does the melody of the verse on banjo and then the other guy does a harmonica solo over the melody of the chorus.

 

[james condino]

No matter what you play or how tasteful you put it out there, soon enough the crusty crusty Bluegrass Police will complain and Monroe you with, "That's a whole lotta' nuthin...." while refusing to admit how many Chuck Berry riffs he played in his old F5 and flipping out when you try to show them how many of Coletrane's flat seven mixolydian runs Tony Rice plays.

From an outsider's perspective, the number one issue I see is the singer is your wife. 'Boxed yourself into a corner so there is no way you can make her happy and get and respect from the rest of the band.....good luck with that!

 

[G On Bass]

I've recently taken up the banjo and play it on some of our regular tunes (Country Band). We do a few Classic Rock covers and are working on Grassin' them up a little. Often, it's songs with really routine bass lines like You Wreck Me, Can't You See, etc.. Guitarist goes more acoustic, Keys cover bass and our fiddle player fits right in. They go over well and it's a nice change for audiences who get to hear familiar songs, but presented differently than they might hear from most of the 90,000 classic rock cover bands in the area. No offense to any of the 90,000...

 

[martinc]

"Last Train to Clarksville" is a great banjo tune, open to harmonies, and fun for the audience.

Jim and Jesse did that song many years ago. I loved Jim and Jesse's stuff but not this one. Boring as hell.Tim Ellis was a great banjo picker and he did his best with it but it could not change the fact this song just did not translate well. I think a bluegrass band needs to be very selective in their choice of material when they draw from way outside the genre. Not everything works. Young audiences may be more forgiving though.

 

[Holdsg]

amongst 50 or so songs in a nite, we will occasionally slip in a few (2-3) covers of pop/rock/country songs.
they are always tasteful, and we try to make them ours.
including:

Wagon Wheel (natch)
White Freightliner Blues
8 More Miles to Louisville
Tulsa Time
Peaceful Easy Feelin
Hit Me Baby One More Time (i'm serious, people go nuts when we play that song)
Fat Bottom Girls (they make the bluegrass world go round)

 

[Feral Feline]

"Please no" ... Can't be much of a pop hit, I've never heard "Please no" — What band? What era of pop music? Stone age?

**********

As someone already mentioned, check out Hayseed Dixie, that band based its entire career on knocking out "mainstream" covers in a bluegrass vein.

The bluegrass band I was in did "Ace of Spades" (very popular for Hayseed Dixie and so too with our audiences). "Wagon Wheel" was another and is even covered in my blues trio. Bluegrass band also did a few other RnR numbers as well as a few pop hits, but it's been a while, can't remember them all.

Check out Max Raabe & Palast Orchester ('20's flapper style) and steal from Raabe's set list, ex. check out his cover of Prince's "Kiss", great banjo solo in that. Also steal from the Senor Coconut set list (*SC covers a lot of Kraftwerk).

Steal from other genre-crossing bands' setlists and bluegrassify them!






If it's a good song, it's a good song no matter how you dress it.

 

[Steven Ayres]

Not everything works.

It worked for my band, but that was back when the entire genre was more forgiving.

 

[martinc]

feral wrote:" If it's a good song, it's a good song no matter how you dress it."

I guess that all depends on your definition of a "good" song. To me music is like pizza...everyone has a different idea of what they want on it.
I was wondering about that Coconut song you posted...and your reference to a bluegrass version of Prince's "Kiss". Can you tell me what type of audiences like bluegrass versions of these songs? Young? Old? Non-bluegrass? Also, other than these songs, where is the bulk of the band's playlist drawn from? Does the band play the same venue on a regular basis? Do they play festivals...and get invited back?
Just curious and wondering if this approach is part of a trend or whether it is just band-specific.
Thanks.

 

[Murdoc_420]

String Cheese has some cover songs up on Spotify. I think some Talking Heads.

Why not, Bluegrass is supposed to be fun right?

 

[jthisdell]

Why not, Bluegrass is supposed to be fun right?

Bluegrass is supposed to be fun IMHO. And covering pop songs makes it fun for the audience IME. But this thread is what is wrong with the entire Bluegrass Forum, eventually every thread turns into a traditional v. newgrass fight.

 

[Murdoc_420]

Yonder Mountain is OK with it Heavy Metal Bluegrass \M/






I'd say they are pretty 'traditional' (usually), they certainly are FUN.

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Agree this thread shouldn't be traditional vers new.

It's about whether or not his band should do SOME covers. People always like hearing familiar stuff and I think if the lyrics fit why not.
Of course you could pick plenty of songs that might be offensive or gimmicky (just to be funny).

 

[turf3]

Couple more:

One group I am in, we have just started learning Leonard Cohen's "I Can't Forget"... great song for a bunch of middle-aged people... "I can't forget...I can't forget...I can't forget...but I can't remember what."

One that I want to try but haven't quite got the lyrics memorized and the timing down yet, is "Little Ghost" from the White Stripes.

 

[martinc]

Yonder Mountain is OK with it Heavy Metal Bluegrass \M/






I'd say they are pretty 'traditional' (usually), they certainly are FUN.

-------
Agree this thread shouldn't be traditional vers new.

It's about whether or not his band should do SOME covers. People always like hearing familiar stuff and I think if the lyrics fit why not.
Of course you could pick plenty of songs that might be offensive or gimmicky (just to be funny).

Murdoc: The bluegrass tent has become quite large in recent years....plenty of room for Yonder Mountain. Their version of Crazy Train sounds like Newgrass Revival in their glory days.

 

[Feral Feline]

feral wrote:" If it's a good song, it's a good song no matter how you dress it."

I guess that all depends on your definition of a "good" song. To me music is like pizza...everyone has a different idea of what they want on it.
...

Precisely! Everyone's tastes vary and you may never win over the traditionalist curmudgeon, but you might; or you might get somebody that's never listened to bluegrass before to give it a fair shake of the ear buds.

...I was wondering about that Coconut song you posted...and your reference to a bluegrass version of Prince's "Kiss".
Can you tell me what type of audiences like bluegrass versions of these songs? Young? Old? Non-bluegrass?
Also, other than these songs, where is the bulk of the band's playlist drawn from?
Does the band play the same venue on a regular basis?
Do they play festivals...and get invited back?
Just curious and wondering if this approach is part of a trend or whether it is just band-specific.
Thanks.

Those songs were suggested as potential covers since they were successfully covered by other genre-bender bands; I've never heard Kraftwerk reModeled as bluegrass, nor Prince's Kiss, though I vaguely recall "When Doves Cry" being done *(not by my band).
Yes.
Old timey traditional bluegrass.
Yes, many times, several venues.
Yes, festivals, yes and yes.
I don't know if it's a trend or not.
You're welcome.

*****************

My band-mates are from far flung places and most have returned to those far flung places or have ventured even further afield — only myself and the mandolin player remain here. That's the nature of Hong Kong, it's a very transient place for most expats so the downside is it's tough to maintain a stable band line-up; the up-side is I've got friends spread across the globe I get to jam with when I travel abroad.