Hello friends near
and far. Hope things are well for you. The end of January marks 6 months, a
whole half of a year, since I made the herculean haul of myself, my dog, and my
possessions to the Green Mountain State. And what better way to celebrate than
some Dead music via the high and lonesome sound of Bill Monroe. Grass is Dead,
Live at Nectar’s, Burlington, VT.
Every Tuesday
night at Nectar’s is Dead Set and this week they had Grass is Dead, hailing
from Florida. It was a four piece tonight. The dobro player, Jared Womack, was
really good. The sound of his instrument along with pedals and other effects
was very nice. Billy Gilmore was lead singer for most tunes and commanded the
stage with the Acoustic guitar, fiddle, and 3 different banjos. I wasn’t too
close to the stage, so I am going to say definitely a 4 string and 6 string. The
bass player, who is not the guy on the website, played an upright bass and sang
a few songs. The drummer was solid. And last but not least, Pappy Biondo, of
Gates Blancos fame, sitting in all night. Absolute bliss. Amazing to watch his
reactions to the other musicians but especially Billy.
I was having too
much fun to keep a proper setlist so I will just talk about the highlights,
which were plentiful. I loved their arrangement of I Know You Rider. I tend to
judge bands based on their treatment of this song. New Oxford PA’s own Strive
used to crush it back in the day. Anyway, the lyrics were at a slow pace but
them they kicked out the jams with some serious triple time jams. So freaking
good. Mam Tried, Midnight Moonlight, and Bertha were really good. They did a
long Dark Star to start the second set off. Brown Eyed Women had some serious jams and
space. Most of the songs were rather long for bluegrass based tunes, and not an
untz in sight. The encore of Ripple, performed in the crowd, was the icing on
the cake.
Up next on Thursday,
February 1st, the opening night of the Pappy and the Pards month
long residency at Nectar’s. The music scene up here is incredible and feel truly
blessed to be living in a place where music is so central.
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll
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