Hot Buttered Rum at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach, CANormally when someone says “Bluegrass” the picture of guys on a porch with a variety of instruments crafted from household items like a washtub bass, a cigar box guitar, spoons and the like comes to mind. Mountain music that kicks up your heels and gets you slappin’ your knee. But the world of jambands has taken bluegrass to the next level with a progressive jam inspired journey of new grass. Wednesday night, 11-09-11, in Hermosa Beach, CA, two bands that define two rather different parts of the jam grass spectrum came together at Saint Rocke on PCH and got the beach crowd kickin’ up their heels.
Hot Buttered Rum is the more traditional end of the bluegrass spectrum save one clearly non-bluegrass member…the drummer. Reviving and rockin’ the old knee slapping, foot stompin’ bluegrass style interwoven with some long extended rock grass jams, Hot Buttered Rum hooked the audience early and kept them all through their set which included a bluegrass version of U2’s “Streets Have No Name.” They primed the pump for what would come later and send the crowd and the music to the complete opposite end of the bluegrass musical spectrum, Greensky Bluegrass.
Greensky Bluegrass at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach, CAThis was my first time seeing the fast rising stars of the jam-grass scene, Greensky Bluegrass. I was informed that it’s pronounced Green Sky Blue Grass…I get the joke now. Nice play on words, guys! Greensky takes the bluegrass roots and feeds it a strong hit of psychedelic jamminess. Busting the barriers of the genre clear out off the musical page and pushing their music and audience into a whirling dervish of string heavy psychedelic jams. In addition to a great selection of original faire, Greensky busted out a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “West LA Fade Away.” Perfect for the LA Southbay crowd.
Greensky and Hot Buttered All Jam
Later in the night, both bands took to the stage for a collective all hands on deck jam session that got the smoke rolling off the strings and the dust off the dance floor.
Both Greensky Bluegrass and Hot Buttered Rum are on tour with Hot Buttered Rum through November 19th.
http://greenskybluegrass.com
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