Ramblin' Through The Blues - From Bluegrass to Country

Welcome to the 9th episode of my 'Ramblin' Through The Blues' Series where we look at how Bluegrass music has evolved from the origins of Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys through the comedic cover versions played by Hayseed Dixie, the fiddle playing of Byron Berline right up to the country blues of Craig Stapleton. All music has been provided by Epidemic Sounds.  Theme music is 'Late Night Ramble' by River Run Dry.

Transcript

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Hello there and welcome to episode 9 of my Rambling Through the Blues series. The idea for this episode started as a result of a simple suggestion from a good friend of mine. We were out eating and drinking, talking about music in general and the podcast in particular, when they said, You know who'd make a great subject for your podcast? Chris Stapleton. I must admit I didn't know who Chris Stapleton was, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Not only has he been described as the bearded powerhouse of modern country, but he cut his teeth in the bluegrass world as the lead singer of the Steel Drivers, a band that proved bluegrass could be gritty, soulful and modern without losing its roots. That connection sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole. I found myself thinking about the bluegrass and country artists who've shaped my own listening over the years. I love covers and I found the AC Dixie tribute to ACDC album a wild, joyful reminder that bluegrass can be rebellious and downright cheeky when it wants to be. One of my favourite Stones albums is Beggar's Banquet, which is definitely country, and while they were never a bluegrass band, they had a deep love of American roots music. Songs such as Country Honk and Dead Flowers borrowed heavily from country traditions, and Country Honk itself even featured the celebrated bluegrass fiddler Byron Baleen. It's a reminder that the boundaries between country, bluegrass, folk, and blues have always been more fluid than many people imagine. Maybe it was fate, but not long after that conversation I found myself at an arts and crafts festival where a local bluegrass band was playing. There's something about hearing that music live, the banjo rolling, the fiddle cutting through the air, the harmonies rising that takes you straight back to where it all began. Which of course leads us to Bill Munro and his band, The Bluegrass Boys. The original Bluegrass Band. Munro didn't just influence the genre, he invented it. His mandolin, his sound, his vision, it set the foundation for everything that came after, from traditional pickers to modern innovators like Stapleton. So, in today's episode, we'll go from the roots of bluegrass with Bill Munro, through the playful energy of A. C. Dixie, the virtuosity of Byron Baleen, and into the soulful genre-bending world of Chris Stapleton, all connected by a tradition that started in the mountains and still echoes through every string, every harmony, every story. So let's start with Bill Munro and the Bluegrass Boys. If we're talking about bluegrass music, we have to mention Bill Munro, because he's the man who pretty much invented it. Bill Munro and his band, the Bluegrass Boys, weren't just another string band on the quartet. They were the blueprint, the starting point, the spark that lit the whole thing up. What I love about the story is that he didn't set out to create a genre, he was just playing the music he knew. The old fiddle tunes, the church harmonies, the mountain songs he grew up with in Kentucky. But when he put it all together with that fast mandolin chop of his, and when he brought in musicians who could really push the boundaries, something new happened, something sharper, quicker, more energetic, and people noticed. The Bluegrass Boys became this revolving door of incredible talent. Every time Munro hired someone new, the sound shifted just a little, but it always stayed unmistakably bluegrass. High lonesome vocals, lightning fast picking, and that drive that makes you feel like the music's pulling you forward, whether you're ready for it or not. The thing is, you can still hear Munro's influence everywhere. In the traditional bands keeping the old sound alive, in the modern groups who mix bluegrass with rock, blues or country, even in artists like Chris Stapleton, who started out in the bluegrass world before becoming a household name, it all traces back to Munro and that original band. So, what about AC Dixie? They were formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2000, making a name for themselves with the aforementioned debut album, A Hillbilly Tribute to ACDC, which set the tone for what they do best, turning hard rock songs into bluegrass style covers. Over time, they also started writing their own material, often funny, satirical, or deliberately over the top. They describe their style as rockgrass, and even their name is a playful twist on ACDC. The band performs rock and bluegrass using electrified acoustic bluegrass instruments, giving familiar songs a completely different feel. Since forming, they've released 16 studio albums and played more than 1,400 shows across 31 countries. That's not bad, is it? Over the years, they've continued releasing themed albums built around their rockgrass concept, mixing bluegrass versions of classic rock songs with original comedic material. They've also become a regular feature at major European festivals, including a memorable opening slot on the main stage at Gloucesterbury in 2005. The band's also experimented with languages and styles. In 2011 they released an album almost entirely in Norwegian, and around the same time they had a Finnish language single called, excuse me if I get this pronunciation wrong, Jordan Vinjar, meaning let's drink booze. They've also recorded songs in German and Spanish. With the exception of a 2006 Halloween EP recorded in Scotland, most of their music has been recorded in Nashville in an analogue studio setting. A big supporter of the band is the UK broadcaster Jeremy Vine, who helped champion them on national radio and even use music from the band for his show. They've also appeared on Top of the Pops and later on Jules Holland's Hooten Anne, which helped introduce them to a wider UK audience. Over the years the lineup's changed a bit. Longtime members Dale Reno and Don Wayne Reno left in 2013 to form their own traditional bluegrass group, Reno and Herel, with Mitch Herrell. New members joined soon after, including Banjo player Johnny Button and mandolin player Hippie Joe Himas. The band has kept releasing music consistently, including Hare Down to My Grass in 2015, which reached number one on the UK country chart, Free Your Mind and Your Grass Will Follow in 2017, Blast from the Grass in 2020, and Shattered Grass in 2021, which lean more towards original outlaw country style songs. Their latest album, Rock Grass Outlaws, was released on 8th of February this year. It features 12 classic outlaw country songs done in their own inimitable style, and it was recorded completely live in the studio. The band are supporting the release of the album as well as their 25th anniversary, with extensive live touring and festivals throughout the UK, Ireland and Western Europe, beginning at Chepstow Castle in August of this year and ending in Dusseldorf in April of next. The current lineup is as follows, with the descriptions taken from their website, the band AC Dixie. John Wheeler, also known as Barley Scotch. Frontman John is split right down the middle, 6040, between Hillbilly Philosopher, Savon and Trailer Trash Champagne Socialiser. Born in a trailer park on Dickerson Road in Nashville, John grew up on the prog rock and the good book until the punk rock and German existential philosophers led him astray. When not beating the ungodly Tito or Highway to Hell out of a guitar or trying to soar a fiddle plum in half, he likes drinking wine and beer and arguing everyone in the room under the table about politics and religion. Hippie Joe Himas. Born in the back seat of a national express bus rolling down the A666, Hippie Joe grew up picking the music of his Scottish and English forefathers. He looked like the mandolin player of AC Dixie for years before he did become the mandolin player of AC Dixie. Hippy Joe is a vegan for all the right reasons, preferring charity shops for both their value and ecological soundness. He's not purchased a brand new article of clothing in over twenty years. He considers any whiskey that can be drunk unmixed with cola to be too posh and pretentious. Jake Bakesnake Buyers, born and raised in the swamps of deepest darkest Florida, the bagesnake got his name s the bagesnake got his start in herbal foot. Born and raised in the swamps of deepest darkest Florida, the bag snake got his start in herbal cultivation and hillbilly music, in between surfing the tiki bars. He likes his women sweet and his whiskey sour. He's six foot five getting out of the shower. His golden hair betrays his Viking power. He's the only man we've ever known to go fifteen rounds with Willie Nelson and come out standing. Jake is one inch taller than Snoop Dogg. Richard Collins, born on the banks of the River Thames where the rock grass currents run deep. Richard Collins started picking banjo while watching the Roy Clark TV show back in the seventies. Despite intervention from his parents and social workers, they were unable to dissuade him from going down the rabbit hole into the deepest depths of banjo depravity. Richard is a multi-instrumentalist and self-confessed musical prostitute who is equally at home in a classical quintess on a West End stage or spreading the Ros or spreading the gospel of rock grass with hayseed while consuming enough white wine to float a battleship to Singapore and back. Tim Carter, on extended hiatus, coming from a deep Appalachian musical line of North Carolina, Bishop Tim has the spiritual calm of a mountain lake, until he puts on his banjo, picks up his pics and reaches down into the flaming bowels of a holy hell to conjure up his mind bending rolls and riffs. As he sings with the voice of an angel flying just that little bit too close to the ground, when he's not spreading the gospel with hayseed, Bishop Tim puts out his own excellent progressive blueglass records. Right, I think this is a good point for our I think this is a good point for our first piece of music. I've gone I think this is a good point for our first piece of music. I've gone down the bluegrass road and have chosen a track called Still Water by the band North Side. He picked up the fiddle at just five years old and quickly became an accomplished player. In 1965, he recorded the album Picking and Fiddling with the Dillards, and that same year met Bluegrass legend Bill Munro at the Newport Folk Festival. Munro offered him a place in his famous Bluegrass Boys Band, but Baleen chose to complete his education first and turned Munro down. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1967 with a degree in physical education, Baleen took up Munro's offer and joined the Bluegrass Boys, replacing Richard Green. During his time with the band, he recorded several instrumental tracks, including Gold Rush, a tune he co-write with Munro, that went on to become a Bluegrass jam session favourite. His time with the group was cut short when he was drafted into the US Army later that year. Following his discharge from the Army in 1969, Baleen joined Dillard and Clark for the album Through the Morning, Through the Night, and moved to Southern California, where his career continued to flourish. One of the most memorable moments came when he recorded with the Rolling Stones on Country Honk from the album Let It Bleed. Mick Jagger famously asked him to play his fiddle part outside on the street to capture a more authentic atmosphere. A passing car horn was accidentally recorded and left in the final mix because Jagger felt it perfectly matched the spirit of the song. Having only recently left the army, Baleen suddenly found himself working with one of the world's biggest rock bands, giving his career a major boost. Baleen's skill as a fiddler earned him national recognition. He won the prestigious National Old Time Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, Idaho, three times in 1965, 1967, and 1970. In 1971, he joined the Flying Burrito Brothers and recorded two live albums with the band. After their breakup, he briefly worked with Steven Steele's band, Manassas, before forming Country Gazette in 1972, alongside Alan Munda, Kenny Wirtz, and Roger Bush. The band became one of the most respected actors in progressive bluegrass. Never want to stand still creatively, Baleen went on to form Byron Baleen and Sundance with guitarist Dan Cray, banjo player John Hickman, and others. Their debut album was released in 1976, and future country star Vince Gill later joined the group on mandolin. In 1981, Baleen reunited with Carey and Hickman to recreate a BCH, Baleen, Cray and Hickman, a group that later evolved into California. The band enjoyed great success winning the International Bluegrass Music Association's Instrumental Group of the Year Award three years in a row from 1992 to 1994. Beyond music, Baleen also made occasional appearances on screen. He had a small role as a country musician in the 1979 film The Rose and appeared briefly as a violinist in an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation. In 1995, Boleyn returned to Oklahoma and opened the Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Guthrie. More than just a music store, it became a gathering place for musicians from around the world. The upstairs jam sessions eventually led to the formation of the Byron Boleyn Band, which became a regular fixture in the local music scene. The shop gained a reputation as one of the most beloved fiddle destinations in the country. A year later, Boleen co-founded the annual Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival with Oklahoma State Representative Joe Hutchinson. Over the years, the festival has welcomed bluegrass legends such as Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, and John Hartford, as well as acclaimed international acts from Europe and Asia. Throughout his career, Baleen recorded several solo albums. One of his most celebrated releases, Fiddlin' a Song, featured guest appearances from Earl Scruggs, Bill Munro, Vince Gill, and Mason Williams. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album, while its track, Sally Gooden, earned a nomination for Best Country and Western Instrumental Performance. Tragedy struck in February 2019 when the double stop fiddle shop was destroyed by fire while Berlin was in Mexico. Dozens of irreplaceable instruments were lost, although one of his treasured mandolins survived because it had been stored in a safe. Determined not to let the loss define him, Berlin reopened across the street as the Double Stop Fiddle Shop and Music Hall, with strong support from the local community. The final lineup of the Byron Balloon band included Thomas Trapp, Richard Sharp, Greg Burgess, and Bill Perry. Together they performed regularly across the United States and Europe and held twice-monthly concerts for the people of Guthrie. Byron Balloon passed away on July 10, 2021, at the age of 77, following complications from a stroke. He left behind an extraordinary musical legacy that stretched across bluegrass country folk and rock music. Over the course of his career, he recorded and performed with an impressive list of artists, including The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Band, Elton John, The Birds, Willie Nelson, Bill Monroe, The Flying Burrito Brothers, John Denver, Rod Stewart, The Eagles, Vince Gill, Graham Parsons, Emmy Lou Harris, Tammy Winnett, Alabama, The Zoobie Brothers, Lucinda Williams, and many, many more. The music also found its way into numerous film and television productions, including Star Trek, Blue Collar, Hardcore, Basic Instinct, Blaze, Back to the Future Part 3, Northern Exposure, Stay Hungry and Run, Simon, Run. Ensuring that his distinctive fiddle playing continues to reach new audiences long after his passing. For our second piece of music, I've chosen another track by Northside. This is Blurred Vision! In modern American music. He was born on April 15, 1978, in Lexington, Kentucky, and has an older brother, Herbert Joseph III, and a younger sister, Melanie Brooke. His father, Herbert Stauputon Jr., was an engineer working in the local coal mines, and his mother, Carol J. Neeme Staputon, worked at the local health department. He grew up in a small town of Staffordsville, east of Lexington, in the state of Kentucky. Stauputon graduated from Johnson Central High School in Paintsville as class valedictorian, the graduating student with the highest academic standing in their class and was successful in the school's football team, playing opposite the future NFL draft number one pick, Tim Coach, on three occasions. Before most people even knew his name, Stauputon was already behind the scenes shaping the sound of country music. He was also out there performing, first with the bluegrass group the Steel Drivers, and then with the rock-leaning Johnson brothers before stepping into the spotlight as a solo artist. And that's when everything changed. In 1996, Staputon moved to Nashville to study biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University before switching to business school. It was here that he discovered it was possible to make more money as a songwriter than an engineer. It's not documented who the meeting was with, but Stayputon dropped out of business school and signed with the publishing house Seagale Music, founded by Chris Dubois, Brad Paisley and Frank Rogers. Stayputon often frames his shift as something he discovered after being around Nashville's songwriting community, not as advice from one identifiable person, but it's highly likely that Dubois, Paisley and Rogers were his earliest influences. He quickly earned a reputation as a versatile and prolific songwriter, and over the next 10 years he wrote more than a thousand songs. He also co-wrote a string of number one hits, songs like Kenny Chesney's Never Wanting Nothing More, Josh Turner's Your Man, George Strait's Love's Gonna Make It Alright, and Luke Bryan's Drink of Beer. His writing credits stretch far beyond Country 2. You'll find his name on albums by Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Brad Paisley, Dirk Spentley, Taylor Swift, even collaborations with Vince Gill, Peter Frampton, Cheryl Crow and Ed Sheeran. He wasn't just a songwriter either, he was a performer, and in 2007 he formed a bluegrass group, The Steel Drivers, along with Mike Henderson on Mandolin, Tammy Rogers on Fiddle and Vocals, Richard Bailey on banjo and Mike Fleming on bass. They had two hit records: Blue Side of the Mountain, which has had over 28 million streams on YouTube music, and If it hadn't been for Love, which has had over 17 million views, and was later covered by Adele. Both records peaked at number two on the bluegrass chart before Stapleton left in 2010 to form a southern rock band called the Johnson Brothers, consisting of Stapleton on vocals, Greg McKee on guitar, JT Q on bass and Bard McNamanie on drums. They toured regionally until 2013 and at one point opened for the Zack Brown band. In November of that year, the band independently released a self-titled album with notable tracks Ride My Rocket, Secret Weapon and Skeleton Key. In 2013, Stapleton signed to Mercury Nashville, a division of Universal Music Group Nashville, as a solo artist. His first single, What Are You Listening to, was released in October 2013 but didn't perform as expected. The single was part of an album that was recorded but never released. Stapleton also co-wrote the theme All Nighter Coming to the WSM AM show The WSM All Nighter with Marcia Campbell, an American radio show with a large trucker following. He co-wrote the song with Vince Gill and Al Anderson and Gill featured on vocals on the track. His debut album as a solo artist, Traveller, was released in 2015 and absolutely exploded. It hit number one on the Billboard 200 and went on to earn Septual Platinum Status. His soulful cover of Tennessee Whiskey became a cultural moment of its own, eventually going diamond. From there, the momentum never really stopped. From a Room Volume 1 and Volume 2 both followed in 2017, earning him major awards and top chart positions. Then came starting over in 2020, which brought home yet another Grammy, and his latest recording is higher from 2023. Across his career, Stayputon has collected an impressive list of honours. 11 Grammys, 11 ACM Awards, 15 CMA Awards, and in 2019 the ACM named him Artist Songwriter of the Decade. Even Rolling Stone stepped in, ranking him amongst the 200 greatest singers of all time. Not bad for a guy who once thought he was going to be an engineer. Songs written by Stauputon have been included in the soundtracks of several feature films, including Valentine's Day, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Road Chip and Hell or High Water. The Grand Ole Hoppery is basically the beating heart of country music, a weekly Nashville show that's been running since 1925 and still feels like a living piece of history. It started as a simple radio barn dance and grew into the longest running broadcast in the world. The place where legends like Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash first made their mark. Today it's part concert, part tradition, part family reunion with artists old and new stepping on stage for just a couple of songs each, keeping that classic mix of country, bluegrass, gospel and Americana alive. Being invited to join the Opry is one of the biggest honours in the genre, almost like being welcomed into a music hall of fame that never stops performing. Shows usually happen at the Grand Arleis Opry House, although they still return to the historic Ryman Auditorium in the winter, which adds to the whole sense of continuity and heritage. It's one of those places where you can feel the past and present of country music happening at the same time. On September 24th, 2013, Stapleton and his wife Morgan sang the Wylon Jennings song Amanda live at the Grand Ole Opera. If you haven't been lucky enough to see Chris perform, there is a video on YouTube of Chris and Morgan performing a selection of tracks from his traveller album in an NPR music tiny death concert that's well worth a watch. It's a combination of beautiful songs coupled with private moments of admiration and affection. When you talk about Chris Dowbutton's music, you're really talking about a crossroads of American sound. His influences stretch from outlaw country and bluegrass to rock and roll and deep gut level blues. Outlets like NPR and Paste magazine have tried to pin it down, calling his style a blend of country, classic rock and southern soul. Back in 2015, Los Angeles Times writer Randy Lewis described his voice as a mix of Merle Haggard and Lefty Frizzal's notebending country style, blended with the emotional punch of Ray Charles's blues and RB. His guitar work, meanwhile, can bring to mind the fire and grit of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Stapleton himself points to Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and blues legend Freddie King as major influences. But he also talks about the artists who shaped him growing up in Kentucky. People like Keith Whitley, Dwight Yokum and Patty Loveless. As he puts it, those names are just part of life in Kentucky. You can't help but be aware of them and be influenced by them. When it comes to Chris Stapleton's personal life, there's a real sense of grounding behind the music. He's been married to fellow singer-songwriter Morgan Hayes since 2007. The two actually met the way a lot of Nashville stories begin, working at neighbouring publishing houses, trading songs and ideas across the hallway until something more started to take shape. Today, Chris and Morgan live in Nashville where they're raising a big, lively family. They have five children, a son born in 2009, a daughter in 2010, twin boys who arrived in 2018, and another son born in 2019. It's a full house and Stapleton has often talked about how much that family life keeps him steady, even as his career continues to soar. Taken together, Hay C. Dixie, Byron Baleen and Chris Stapleton represent three very different but deeply connected threads within American Roots music. Byron Baleen stands as a bridge to the traditional heart of bluegrass, helping shape and preserve the sound through his virtuoso fiddle playing and collaborations with some of the genre's most important figures. His work carried classic bluegrass into new settings, from festivals and studio sessions to unexpected crossover moments in rock and pop music. Hay C. Dixie, on the other hand, take a far more playful and unconventional approach. By reimagining hard rock songs through a bluegrass lens, they highlight just how flexible and wide-reaching acoustic traditions can be. Their rock grass style doesn't replace tradition so much as bend it, showing that bluegrass instruments and sensibilities can thrive far outside their original contest. Chris Dowputten brings yet another perspective, blending blues, country, rock and soul into a modern sound that still feels rooted in American tradition. While more contemporary in style, his music shares the same foundation of storytelling, musicianship and emotional honesty that runs through both Berlin's traditional work and Hay C Dixie's genre crossing experiments. In different ways, all three artists demonstrate how American roots music continues to evolve, whether through preservation, reinvention or fusion, from the fiddle-driven traditions of Berlin to the irreverent genre mashups of Hay C Dixie to Stay Putin's modern, soulful country sound. They each reflect how living musical traditions stay alive by constantly changing while still carrying echoes of where they came from. I hope you've enjoyed my rumble about bluegrass and country blues. I'm off to play my fiddle now. So until the next time on Rod's Ramblings, cheers and take care.