Bluegrass Jamboree 2019 – a review

By Jürgen Stier

A big german newspaper once wrote, “Whoever misses Bluegrass is to blame”. For the 11th time, the Bluegrass Jamboree went on tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The Jamboree is an event that Bluegrass fans are looking forward to all year long. A big thank you to the organizer Rainer Zellner for the distribution of Bluegrass Music in Central Europe.

In meticulous work, he researches the most interesting and talented artists in the USA and Canada and brings three such formations to Europe every year. For about four weeks, the 12 musicians are on their way with the „Jamboree Tour Bus“. They did not know each other before, but being on tour together, they had a lot of fun, some long-lasting friendships were made and that was what you could see on stage as well.

This year, an interesting duo called “Hoot and Holler” made the start: Amy Alvey comes from Orange County, California and Mark Kilianski from New Jersey. They met at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where they studied Bluegrass music. Now they live and play together. With banjo, acoustic guitar and fiddle, sometimes also with two guitars, they play old traditional songs of American roots music, but also own songs with highly topical lyrics. Most of their time they are touring through the USA in a van. Mark built the banjo he plays with a friend. Hoot and Holler polish up the songs skilfully and present them with strong vocals and much joy. The audience was visibly enthusiastic.

The second act was “The Price Sisters” from Ohio. The fact that a traditional bluegrass band is led by two women is rare. Leanna plays the violin and her twin sister Lauren Mandoline. Together they master a two-part singing, as beautiful as only siblings who have sung together their whole lives can get. Traditional bluegrass pieces dominate here and yet this music doesn’t seem a bit conservative, but much more upbeat than the old masters’. The three male bandmates also contribute to this: Matthew Parsons (guitar) and Andrew Brown (a left-handed double bass player!) also prove to be great soloists on the instruments and strong solo singers. The big hit, of course, is Lincoln Hensley, only 21 years old, who looks like a confirmand. Never before have we experienced such a young banjo player who has already mastered this instrument so brilliantly. This natural talent has been practicing for seven years now and when he consistently continues to work like this, he might be with legends like Earl Scruggs or Douglas Dillard some day.

After an intermission in which the Artists in the foyer signed autographs friendly and patiently and were available for a chat, the third band came on stage. “Chicken Wire Empire” from Wisconsin started to modernize Bluegrass just like bands like Newgrass-Revival once did. Even optically they don’t seem like Bluegrass musicians at all. This style is also called “Jamgrass” and there are more jazzy notes, sometimes even some blues and rock elements. A relatively slow piece even seemed a bit mystical and sounded a bit like classical music. Besides, fog wafted across the stage in dark light and the ghost of “Grateful Dead” was noticeable. But not for long, then they made it clear that they had studied their Bill Monroe. Ryan Ogburn (mandolin), Jordan Kroeger (bass), Jon Peik (banjo), Greg Brundage (guitar) and Ernest Brusubardin IV. (Fiddle), all five are first-class soloists, celebrate virtuoso solos and develop their very own, unmistakable style, which even the traditionalists among the fans have to respect. Especially Jordan Kroeger proves to be a strong solo singer.

At the end of the evening came the familiar session of all participating musicians with Rainer Zellner himself joining in with his mandolin. They played some encores for the enthusiastic audience and everybody could sing to old classics like “Keep on The Sunny Side”. We are already looking forward to the tour in 2020!