Search - Sam Bush, David Grisman :: Hold on We're Strummin

Mandnificent vehicle that's full of spirit, energy & groove

J. Ross | Roseburg, OR USA | 10/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Playing Time - 70:22 -- David Grisman's music has been described as bluegrass-jazz-Gypsy-rock-Middle Eastern-Hebraic- folk-classical-Grisman." Sam Bush also has very eclectic tastes, and Grisman once said about Bush, "He's got everything: incredibly powerful rhythm, great solos, and he can play in any style. Everything he plays is just there - not just headed there, but fully realized." Then, there was the time that Sam called David one of his "musical heroes." Sure seems kind of surprising that these two outstanding all-purpose pickers and friends since 1965 haven't collaborated on a recording project sooner.

Of the sixteen tracks comprising over 70 musical minutes, there are eleven new joint Grisman/Bush originals that range from slide mandolin ("Swamp Thing") to a John Hartford tribute ("Hartford's Real"), straight-ahead Dawg ("Intimo" and "Sea Breeze") to graceful gospel ("The Old South"). Less easily categorized are the more improvisational and jazzy collaborations "Jamgrass 741," "Arachnid Stomp," and "Mando Space." A melodic "Weeping Mandolin Waltz" is a showpiece for the mandoduo to feature their simultaneous tremolos in harmony. A strange little half-minute "Rhythm Twins" seems like it could've been further developed to a full length piece. "Crusher and Hoss" was named for their legendary Gibson mandolins. I believe that David's is a 1927 Gibson F-5, while Sam's is a 1930s F-5 that he acquired from Tut Taylor about 1973. Jethro Burns' "'Cept Old Bill" is a tongue-in-cheek piece with vocals (and even a few grunts and groans) that pays respect to each other as well as the Father of Bluegrass. "Ralph's Banjo Special" is probably the closest piece to bluegrass, while there's even an old-timey offering, "Old Time Medley" with the boys sawing fiddle and frailing banjo. Besides fiddle, Sam plays mandolin, National mandolin, octave mandola, mandocello, banjo and bass guitar on various tracks. Besides mandolin, David picks mandocello, octave mandola, mandola, and banjo-mandolin. With their arsenal of strings, Sam and David cover all the instrumental bases on seven tracks, while nine also feature guest artists including Jack Lawrence (guitar), Enrique Coria (guitar), Jim Kerwin (bass), Hal Blaine (drums), Sam Grisman (bass), Dimitri Vandellos (guitar), and Jim Nunally (guitar). Back in the sixites, Sam and Dave (the Motown guys, remember?) sang, "when the day comes and you're down, in a river of trouble and about to drown, just hold on, I'm comin'." Now, the other Sam and David and letting their eight strings of fame do the vocalizing. They close this album with an absorbing and entertaining instrumental cover of the famous Motown song, and if you're down and about to drown, you can almost seem to hear those mandolins singing, "Hold on, We're Strummin'!" Grisman and Bush clearly feed off each other, and this project is one that is long overdue as a vehicle to musically illustrate their eclecticism, spirit, energy and groove. It's a mandnificent album. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)"

Superb musicianship

J. Ross | Roseburg, OR USA | 02/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From my perceptive friend, Bill Jolliff:
So what's left to say about HOLD ON, WE'RE STRUMMIN'? When two of the mandolin virtuosi of generation get together to do a mandolin CD-featuring mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, and a plethora of other vintage woodwork-where do we begin? The musicianship is superb, but we knew it would be. The production-arrangements, selections of instruments, the mix, the feel--is understated and precisely appropriate to the project, but we knew it would be. Even the physical package itself is colorful and entertaining and attractive, but then, we knew that, too-and Grisman does run Acoustic Disc.About the only question is the material. When players at the level of Grisman and Bush decide to make art together, the material chosen, it seems to me, becomes one of the few real variables. I've picked up more than one CD with equal promise, listened to it once or twice, then put it on the shelf-just because the material doesn't cut it for me. I'm glad to say that's not the case here.I always listen once before I read the notes, and as I did so, what struck me was the fact that I was not recognizing the tunes-or precious few of them. Of course I recognized the tunes in the old-time medley, and I had heard Grisman play "Daniel Boone" with Jake Henry last fall in Portland, but the others were new to me. Fact is, they were new to everybody: Twelve of the tunes on this 70-plus-minute CD are brand new, and 11 of those were co-authored by Bush and Grisman. It boggles the imagination to think of how the two must have got together and explored on another's creativity for-days, weeks, longer?-to develop this superb set. And, in spite of the fact that the album was a "sure thing," I was still surprised by the quality. Maybe I was expecting something more overtly hot, something more along the lines of a "Can You Do This?" style of superpicker collage. If so, I underestimated these two and their sense of ensemble playing. The feel of the album reminded me a little of the material that John Hartford was doing with his studio productions in the `80s. This is not hot-jam music: it's tastefully textured string band music, much of it with carefully worked out harmonies, performed at moderate tempos. Oddly enough, I mentioned the Hartford comparison to Jake Henry, who had already bought his own copy before my review copy came, and he told me that the name of the first tune is "Hartford's Real." So maybe we're talking about influence as well as a common musical heritage.That said, let me add right away that, yes, the Latin and world music influences that color so much of Grisman's recent DGQ work is here, and these players are clearly accustomed to playing for audiences that expect six- or eight- or ten-minute jam-outs instead of our three-minute bluegrass vehicles. Also, a bluegrass afficionado like myself was stretched a little by the jazz and pop chord structures. But,overall the music is not far out in any negative sense, and none of it is hot for the sake of heat. It's not bluegrass, but it is beautiful string band music that demonstrates both traditional and contemporary influences. If you can imagine the material that Norman Blake was putting together with the many versions of the Rising Fawn
String Ensemble (before he went the "singer of old songs" route), then make the harmonizations more complex and use a little more rhythmic variation, you have some of the vibe that this CD creates.Here's an example of one of my favorite touches. "Sea Breeze" a tune I would call light jazz, ends with the musicians quoting "Sally Goodin'" variations. They run this cut almost seamlessly-completely without spin-up time-into. the next number, which begins with Dawg frailing the banjo and continues with a medley of old-time banjo and fiddle duets. This manner of taking an old-time musical heritage and pushing it further along a different line of development is typical of the sort of innovations these artists create.So maybe it's a little late for a review of this album. But for those of you who didn't buy it on faith last fall, let this be your reminder to put it on your list. If you like mandolin music and string band music and don't mind the fact that it doesn't sound like southern Ohio bluegrass in 1969 (that's the tough one for me), it's time to hit the road to Cartwright's and spend your allowance. (Bill Jolliff, reviewer, Nwbluegrass Yahoogroup)"

The magic of tone and melody

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 09/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I originally wrote and sent this review on the official day-of-release because the Acoustic Disc label released it on 9/9/03, even though it wasn't mainstreamly released until 9/23/03. My review was up for a day or two and then it disappeared. I'll try again.I really like this disc! Of the two most recent Acoustic Disc releases, this and Life Of Sorrow, this one is vastly superior. There are a couple tunes on this disc that I don't like very much... Hartfords Real, Sea Breeze, etc... but for the most part this is a great album. I was hoping (and expecting) it would be great but it's even better than I thought it would be.The Latin track, Intimo, put me so much in the mood for more music by Enrique Coria that Guitar Artistry Of Enrique Coria and Intimo (the cd) hoppped right onto my cd's-to-buy list after hearing this track. In the big picture I'm not even much of a fan of Latin music but in these past couple years Enrique's style and tone have really sucked me in. He is a beautiful player.I usually mention this when it comes to new Acoustic Disc releases of the past few years, but I will do it again. The sonic quality of the recording. YES! We've all heard Sam and David a thousand times over the years, in all sorts of configurations, but we've never before been able to hear them together in this sort of quality. To have these two masters side-by-side with the pristine Acoustic Disc recording quality revealing every nuance of the depth of their tones... it's just a beautiful thing.Sam has some fantastic mandola playing here, and David has some almost equally fantastic mandocello moments. Both men are of course fantastic mandolinists, but we also get to hear them on banjo, fiddle, National mandolin, etc... at various points throughout this disc. The most frequent guest is Jack Lawrence on guitar, but we also get David's son Sam on bass, Jim Kerwin on bass, Hal Blaine on drums (only 1 track, if that scares you), Enrique Coria on guitar, and a couple others throughout. Yet at its heart, this is a Dawg Duo cd for Sam and David. Almost all of the tunes were written specifically for this album. That in itself is a treat. Grisman continues to be one of the best composers the mandolin has ever known.I hope that David continues to explore this duo-and-guests format with more of his friends. There is a wealth of potential within more cd's along these lines with duos such as Grisman & Anger, Grisman & Brozman, Grisman & Coria, Grisman & Seeger, Grisman & Bowers, Grisman & Auldridge, Grisman & Marshall, etc...In my opinion, 2003 had been the weakest year for Acoustic Disc releases in years but when a disc such as this one comes along it does alot to help me forgive and forget any recent missteps. Hopefully Carlo Aonzo's (the brilliant mandolinist on the Traversata disc, ACD-47) solo disc will also be released this year. These two would make 2003 a great Acoustic Disc year after all!"