Well, since you asked… and you did!

I personally don’t think the music in this video has any business being in an IBMA showcase – I don’t care how many banjos or fiddles are in the band. I don’t see how you could possibly call the current configuration of Mountain Heart to be a Bluegrass band. I feel the same way about C-Sky and The Steeldrivers.

Yes, I do have a musically narrow mind, but notwithstanding that fact, it’s still not Bluegrass.

I don’t really like their version of “Superstition,” but I think it’s fine for Mountain Heart to be playing this kind of music at IBMA. Traditional bluegrass is great, but we also need people to keep pushing the boundaries. I’d be disappointed if Mountain Heart went to IBMA and played “Little Cabin Home on the Hill.” That isn’t them.

Bill Monroe’s 1947 band was great and all, but it’d be pretty boring if all bluegrass bands did nothing more than faithfully recreate that sound. J.D. Crowe used drums in the 70s. Earl Scruggs still does. Sam Bush plays electric mandolin sometimes. Mountain Heart can have their keyboard.

well, around the 1 minute mark when the guys says “people have been hearing bluegrass at a festival for three or four days and now there’s a hammond b-3 and people are havin’ a ball”, I don’t really know which people he’s referring to. Speaking for myself, when i go to a bluegrass festival, I want to hear BLUEGRASS. I also like to hear old time or cape breton to break it up, but if I wanted to hear stevie wonder songs, I would go to a stevie wonder concert, or see a cover band somewhere. I understand the point about pushing boundaries, but this isn’t that. this is an acoustic band playing what sounds like the allman’s “whipping post”. If anything, it sounds like the stuff I hear when I turn on the mainstream country radio station, and it’s not something I’m interested in listening to at all.

and I say all this as someone who plays in, and enjoys, bluegrass, old time, speedmetal, garage rock, and punk rock.bands

[...] the video from Mountain Heart we shot during their special Tuesday night showcase at IBMA. It offers a [...]

Sam Bush & New Gras Revival opened the path in the 70’s and many followed ! Oh God, I just love those guys although I’m probably the most hard-core bluegrass lover in France ( Osborne Bros, Jimmy Martin, Big Mon, Larry Sparks, James King, Dan Paisley, etc …) but those guys are awesome. I can understand that people attending IBMA might be surprised and not very happy listening to Stevie Wonder but the way it’s played is just astounding ! Bravo Montain Heart, we love you !

I’ll repeat: “The presentation was powerful, and whether you agree with taking bluegrass in this direction…”

Whether you think that Mountain Heart should play that music at IBMA or somewhere else, if you don’t like that, you don’t like music regardless of being a bluegrass fan.