Surely a highlight of IBMA week for me so far was the showcase performance last night from Chris Thile & How To Grow A Band. (more photos here)

Regular readers of The Bluegrass Blog will have noted that I have expressed great enthusiasm for the new Thile CD, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, and for Thile’s and banjo player Noam Pikelny’s musicianship demonstrated therein.

The showcase featured the same group of players who recorded the new project: Chris Eldridge on guitar, Noam Pikelny on banjo, Gabe Witcher on fiddle, Greg Garrison on bass, and Thile on mandolin and lead vocals. Their short set was wholly drawn from the CD as well, and the material came across as even more polished and authoritatively performed than on the recording. That shouldn’t be - and wasn’t - a surpise, since they spent only a few days preparing to record, and have been out on a mini-tour in support of the CD of late.

They opened with the bluesy, a capella If The Sea Was Whiskey, and then right into the instrumental tour de force, Watch ‘at Breakdown.

I watched the show with Barry Crabtree, banjo player with Wildfire, and we marveled together at the sheer joy of seeing these talented musicians on stage. We both were already familiar with the material from the CD, and had in common a tremendous admiration for the players.

He and I shared a humorous exchange that captured well the degree to which Thile and his crew stand above their peers. (more…)

Episode #41 features an interview with banjo player Barry Crabtree of the band Wildfire. John sat down with Barry recently at the Roanoke Fiddle Fest. They talk about Wildfire, Barry’s history in the music including his time with Larry Sparks, learning to play with a band, and more.

This GrassCast is 18 minutes in length, with a download size of 21 MB (for the MP3 file).

Below is an mp3 file which you can hear now, or download to your computer. The GrassCast is also available in the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

Listen now:
Direct Download: ep41_barry_crabtree.mp3
Subscribe with:
Free Download: The GrassCast iPodder software

To subscribe with your own podcatching software, copy and past this url into the appropriate entry box in your software: http://www.thegrasscast.com/rss