Peter Rowan saw bluegrass born
In advance of his appearance this Saturday (1/10) at Don Quixote’s International Music Hall (Felton, CA), the Santa Cruz Good Time Weekly wrote about man-of-many-disciplines Peter Rowan.
In an article entitled Peter Rowan saw bluegrass born, the writer drew attention to Rowan’s website, where the former Blue Grass Boy comments on the present state of the music.
“To play bluegrass right”, Rowan claims on his website, “you’ve got to learn it from someone like Bill Monroe, who has it in his genes. Bill’s a very strong leader. He wouldn’t stand for any messing with his music. After he goes, very few people will be able to do anything but a fast or slow tune. Bluegrass isn’t a dance style anymore. All the old steps are being forgotten. I liked it because it had blues and ballads, and when Bill Monroe played the mandolin, fire came out.”
The main part of the story reminds readers of Rowan’s chequered career in the music business. You can readthe full article online.
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I’ve been seing Peter Rowan play music for about 15 years now and the performance of, “The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band” that I saw this last summer was the best yet! Jody Stecher, Keith Little, Peter Rowan and company put on a performance of true high lonesome bluegrass. The crowd was very appreciative with standing ovations and the band responding with multiple encores.
His quote above might come off as high headed to some – to think that someone can only learn bluegrass from playing with a legend, or learn it only the way he (Rowan) did. But I hear what he’s getting at. There aren’t a lot of folks doing what was happening on that stage for that show – and I’d like to think that I learned a little something more about bluegrass just by being there.
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