Track Listing

1. Pastor Mustard: Introduction
2. Girl of the North Country
3. Big Mon
4. Same Ol' River
5. Angel to Be
6. Speak of the Devil
7. Memphis in the Meantime
8. Spooky Lane
9. The Ice Caps Are Melting
10. Lee Highway Blues
11. Pastor Mustard: Heen
12. Hungry for Your Love
13. Sailin' Shoes
14. I Put a Spell on You
15. Celebrate
16. Stingray

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62913 in Music
• Released on: 2000-07-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Amazon.com
Opening with a chant summoning the faithful to worship their idol, Sam Bush's fourth solo recording documents the joy, musicianship, and weirdness that is the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Held every June in the mountains of Colorado, Telluride has become the premier hippie-grass event, and you can chalk up its success in large part to Bush and his old New Grass Revival cohorts. If these 1990s concert recordings are not the best music Bush has made, they're among the most fun. The set moves from a zippy "Girl of the North Country" to blistering jams such as "Big Mon"--featuring the mind-boggling banjo of Béla Fleck--and the seven-minute, electric noodle-off "Speak of the Devil." He also duets with John Cowan on a gorgeous version of Van Morrison's "Hungry for Your Love" and a joyous cover of Little Feat's "Sailin' Shoes." Along the way, Bush offers electric guitar licks in addition to his usual fiddle and mandolin breaks, all fascinating as fractals, as well as some underrated lead singing. Beside comrades-in-jam such as Cowan, Jon Randall Stewart, Jerry Douglas, and Larry Atamanuik, Bush couldn't be more in his element or more entertaining. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews

Sam Bush live is fabulous
If you have never seen Sam in person, do so. Preferably find a place like the Birchmere in Northern Virginia, which is small enough that you get the flavor of the man. He is high energy, to say the least, and it would be easy to overlook his remarkable musicianship in the excitement of the performance. His old group, New Grass Revival, has provided me with about four out of the five top live musical experiences of my life (with more recent Sam Bush performances following close behind), and the spirit and intensity of those occasions is here on many of the cuts on this disk. Being in the presence (even on disk) of someone who is so gifted and so celebratory of this gift is a pleasure.

Sam does love an audience, and that's why this CD is better, in my opinion, than his studio products. Other reviewers have commented on the assemblage of musicians on this disk, and they are right. It is wonderful music. I would single out "Same Ol' River" as my favorite after only a few listenings -- joy overflows, with Sam on mandolin, and Jerry Douglas on pedal steel. A really fine album.

New Grass fans, rejoice
Back in the mid-70s, mandolin player/violinist Sam Bush was the founding father of THE alltime progressive bluegrass band, New Grass Revival. The group evolved over the years, picking up bass player/vocalist John Cowan early, and, some years later, guitarist Pat Flynn and banjo player extraordinaire Bela Fleck. Along with the likes of David Grisman and his cadre of talented sidemen, as well as others such as Jerry Douglas, Bush developed a whole new genre known as New Grass music. And Telluride, tucked in the SW corner of Colorado, became the mecca of that music, with its annual "bluegrass" concert that, over the years, featured artists far afield from anything Bill Monroe would recognize. This disk celebrates Sam's 25 years of appearing @ Telluride. Long time fans of Bush will recognize many tunes, although they have not been "done to death" in his formidible recorded works. All the usual suspects are on hand, including Cowan, Fleck, Douglas, Randal & Scott. There's a loving tribute to Monroe, "Big Mon;" rocking w John Magnie of the Subdudes on "Angel to be." Bush picks up the electric guitar and plugs in the mando on a couple of tracks like "speak of the Devil" & "I put a spell on you". Highlights for real afficienados are a killer version of the instrumental "Stingray" and his sparse duets with Douglas on "Girl from North Country" and with Cowan on "Sailin Shoes." The interludes from "pastor Mustard" fail to produce the comic relief intended; I found them just annoying. And one can question some of the song selection: in his quest to give us some new recorded tunes, Sam overlooked some awfully good stuff, like "Funk 42," & "Howlin' at the Moon," to name just a couple. But these are quibbles. Any fan of NGR will want to add this to his/her collection. YOu probably wouldn't be reading this far if you weren't a fan. So buy it, & enjoy

Fantastic!!!
This CD is one of the best that I have purchased in years. If you want to hear folk, rock, progressive bluegrass, jazz, and music which exceeds categorization...then this is the CD for you. There is a new sound/tempo/drive with every track. Sam Bush is incredible!! He is the musician's artist and will continue to impress you no matter how much you listen. Judging this CD on the 20 second poor sound quality samples is a crime, especially considering some songs are almost 9 minutes. To think that this was recorded live just makes you appreciate his this work even more. BUY YOU WANT ME SORRY!!