here is a high, lonesome, gravelly sound in
the air. The sound is simple but by no means
easy to play — and even harder to categorize.
Traditional and alternative genres are merging,
multiplying and mating. The acoustic strumming
and picking of hybrid Americana roots music
sloughes the edges of other genres adopting bits
of punk, blues and country as the music fl ows
from the instruments of younger musicians
willing to experiment with it. The resurgence is
national, and we have a Eugenean abundance.
Nationally touring groups such as Yonder Mountain
String Band, Head for the Hills and The Avett Brothers have
helped trend-set this renewal, blending bluegrass, rock, coun-
try and other traditional styles into an excitedly unrecogniz-
able form. Scour the calendars of local entertainment rags
like this one and you will fi nd an overwhelming number of
bands that fall into this moving target of a genre — some
venues, such as Sam Bond’s, and Axe & Fiddle, devote entire
nights to open-ended jams, at which hungry and beardy boot-
wearing musicians show up to showcase their own slice of
what isn’t necessarily traditional bluegrass, country, blues or
folk, but rather something that is evolving into its own genre
— alterna-grass.
“The outdoorsy woodsy crowd that has settled in the
Northwest has created this new younger appreciation of blue-
grass-ish music,” says local promoter and musician Cindy
Ingram of The Whiskey Chasers. “There is a fast, hard blue-
grass style with an old country vibe to it that is bubbling up.”
Though the initial foundation of traditional bluegrass
and folk — moving from French-infl ected Cajun music
up through the Carter Family — is a strong contributor
to the wave of younger musicians, it is an amalgamation
of unplugged, speedy acoustic music now permeating the
stages of Oregon and Washington.
“I didn’t play acoustic stuff until I came to the Pacifi c
Northwest,” says Aaron Nelson of the Alder Street Allstars, a
fi ve-piece acoustic group that thrives on the type of bluegrass-
infl uenced music prevalent in this area. “It’s what’s around.”
Similar to jazz, and not unlike hip hop, the alterna-grass
phenomenon is a free-form mixed-bag aesthetic. The music
incorporates everything from foot stomping to washboards
as instruments, and consists primarily of acoustic string
instruments. The vocals tend toward high and harmonized,
with simple rhythms offset by complicated melodies.
But dissimilar to newer forms of conglomerate music
such as hip hop, glitch hop or American dubstep, the
alterna-grass explosion is not bolstered by a newly acquired
abundance of technology. Quite the contrary. Musicians say
that it is the lack of technical sophistication that brings this
infl ux of telltale acoustic music to the foreground here.
“The Pacifi c Northwest is full of travelers,” Nelson says.
“People who travel tend to carry their instruments on their
backs — which means the instruments will be acoustic by
default.”
“It’s not like rock music where you need an electric
guitar, or anything to plug in. This is outdoor party music,
which is why people here are into it,” Ingram says.
Left Coast Country, a Portland-based alterna-grass
band that often fi nds itself gigging up and down the I-5
Bluegrass
Jug Band Music
Considered by some to be a subgenre of
country, traditional bluegrass music incorporates
guitar, stand-up bass, fi ve-string banjo, fi ddle and
mandolin. The banjo is often played with a three-
fi nger picking technique; the bass is played slap-
style and pizzicato; the guitar is usually played in a
fashion known as fl at-picking, and the fi ddler tends
to play in thirds and fi fths (scale degrees).
Among other non-traditional forms of bluegrass
is a sub-genre known as newgrass, in which
musicians use electric instruments.
Most bluegrass musicians attribute traditional
instrumentation and style to Bill Monroe and his
band the Blue Grass Boys. Documentary fi lmmaker
John Cohen fi rst described bluegrass as having a
“high and lonesome sound.”
This style of American music is characterized by
musicians who play homemade or adapted instru-
ments. Instruments can include, but are not limited to
washboards, kazoos made from stovepipes, combs
and tissue paper, jaw harps, and glass or stone jugs.
Typical jug bands also include banjos, some-
times constructed from surplus guitar necks and
metal pie plates.
Jug band music has it origins in the urban por-
tions of the South, where it is rooted in African-
American culture and thought to be a key contribu-
tor to ragtime, jazz and what would eventually be
called Memphis blues.
Jug band music was brought more into the
popular culture by bands such as The Orange
Blossom Jug Five and the Even Dozen Jug Band.
The music is currently enjoying its own hybridization
and revival on the West Coast in the anarcho-
acoustic punk scene. Bands like Blackbird Raum are
a good example of this.
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corridor of Oregon and Washington, takes its inspiration
from bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, creating a sound that
piggybacks on traditional bluegrass and folk. The band’s
music is testament to the versatility of an aesthetic as it
morphs via the experimentalism of younger musicians.
“Our sound is very bluegrass infl uenced, but we’ve
covered songs from Danzig, to Pharcyde, to Steve Earle,”
says guitarist Shaun Kalis.
“The music is relatively simple to start playing but
hard to get good at,” he continues, “which makes it easy
to translate and allows people with different musical
backgrounds to jump in on it.”
“Bluegrass is, at its roots, a hybrid music,” says Yoko
Silk, cellist of the Eugene-born, Portland-based Bad Mitten
Orchestre. “So I think it is only natural that it is again
inspiring hybridization. The music invites participation.”
Drummer Ian Haight of Bad Mitten has a different theory as
to why this music is so abundant and popular in the Northwest:
“There are a lot of beard-clad, axe-wielding, whiskey-drinking
people who seem to be plucked out of an earlier time living in
the Northwest. Because of that I think it is easier for them to
identify with the sentiments in this music.”
Be it the simplicity and camaraderie of acoustic jamming
or the cultural entrapments of outdoorsy low-tech mountain
folk who populate Cascadia, the alterna-grass phenomena
has found itself a home in Eugene and beyond. Like grunge
in the early ‘90s, this crossbreed of music will take time
to establish itself as more than simply a subgenre, but the
foundation has been laid, and the table seems set for more
and more to come.
ew
Alternative
Country
Putting a diff erent spin on the music of artists
such as Hank Williams or Steve Earle, alt-country
is country music’s younger, more cynical and
very socially conscious cousin. Bands like the no-
longer-together Uncle Tupelo, Drive-By Truckers
and musicians like Hayes Carll have mixed a punk
rock aesthetic into music that is less polished and
manages to avoid classic or contemporary country
themes.
Folk-rock and country-rock are also strong
contributors to the alternative country genre, which
continues to grow popular in both rural and urban
markets. Regional subgenres of alt-country exist
as well, as is the case with Red Dirt music, an alt-
country relative named after the soil in Oklahoma
where it was born.
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EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 12, 2012 15