Groupe Bluegrass US formé en 1967 et composé de Lonnie Peerce, Dan Crary, Tony Rice, Curtis Burch, Courtney Johnson, Sam Bush et Ebo Walker. Bluegrass Alliance s'est dissous en 1978 pour se reformer en 1998.

Simply listing some of the players who have passed through the Bluegrass Alliance in its various incarnations provides ample evidence of how important this outfit was in the development of bluegrass. Top-flight pickers who have worked in the Bluegrass Alliance include multi-instrumentalist Chuck Nation, mandolinist Sam Bush, flatpicking whiz Dan Crary, rambunctious fiddler Hoot Hester, banjoists Buddy Spurlock and Courtney Johnson, progressive bluegrass guitarist and bandleader Tony Rice, and even Vince Gill, a bluegrass flatpicker and frontman who eventually went on to carve out a career in country & western music. The band was originally formed by fiddler Lonnie Peerce in the late '60s and within a few years was already busy with gigs at fairs, clubs, festivals, and colleges. The group appeared on the Grand Ole Opry at least a dozen times over the next decade and cut three albums. One of the first groups to be stuck with the gimmicky label of "new grass," the band went on hiatus in the late '70s that, unfortunately for lovers of grass new or blue lasted much longer than anyone intended it to. Peerce had to retire from performing for health reasons and many of the band's former members had too many projects going on their own to worry about a re-formation. For example, four former members, including mandolinist Bush, formed the New Grass Revival, indicating their own fondness for this genre label. Instead, reviving the band became the goal of a young a banjoist named Barry Palmer. Palmer was a fanatic of the original version and had befriended Peerce and his wife when the band was riding high in popularity. He was born in early 1960 in Cleveland, GA, and from an early age had two sets of musical activities going in both bluegrass and a much different style of music, jazz. His strong interest in old-time country and bluegrass music came from his family. Both his grandmother and father had played the vintage two-finger style of banjo. Palmer first started picking banjo at the age of 14, but also learned to play the bass trombone in the high school jazz band, as well as going on to play that instrument professionally with Stan Kenton's band. Already the genre barriers begin melting, as Kenton is one of few jazz artists to have experimented with country & western music, which can at least be considered a kissin' cousin of bluegrass. Palmer went on playing jazz for the next 18 years. During the last part of Peerce's life — in which he was building fiddles, judging fiddle contests, and coming up with innovative sets of guidelines and rules for these events — Palmer and he discussed the possibility of a new Bluegrass Alliance which would revive the band's musical repertoire. Because of the young man's obviously sincere dedication, it was decided by Peerce and his wife that Palmer would be allowed to create a new version of the band. It finally came together in October of 1998, almost exactly 30 years after the group was originally formed. The so-called "re-allied" group features Palmer, bassist La Rita Buchanan, frontman and guitarist Johnny Martin, mandolinist Tom Hicks, and one member of the original Bluegrass Alliance group: fiddler, mandolinist, and guitarist Chuck Nation. Another former member, Hoot Hester, also plays with the group on the new record, ironically the first time this player actually got to record with the Bluegrass Alliance, since his contributions in the first stage of the group were never documented on record. In the manner of many an efficient combo, the new version of the band also has a list of alternative players on tap in case of date or other conflicts over individual gigs. Musicians such as fiddlers Randall Collins or David Blackmon and guitarist Scott Morgan are all so-called substitute members of this alliance.

Talents : Lonnie Peerce : Fiddle - Dan Crary : Guitar - Tony Rice : Guitar - Curtis Burch : Guitar - Courtney Johnson : Banjo - Sam Bush : Mandolin, Fiddle - Ebo Walker : Mandolin

Style musical : Bluegrass

  http://youtu.be/FfPN1nDsyog

SWEET SUNNY SOUTH (1969)

FOX ON THE RUN (1972)

GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY (1974)

Years in activity :

1910 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2000 10 20

DISCOGRAPHY

Singles

1969 SP RONDO 108 (US) Naugahyde / Reuben James
1970 SP AMERICAN HERITAGE 7-285 (US) You Ain't Going Nowhere / One Tin Soldier
1972 SP BRIDGES 45-2202 (US) City Of New Orleans / Sugar Daddy
1972 SP PLANTATION PL-82 (US) Whisper My Name / The Night They
1972 SP PLANTATION PL-90 (US) Fox On The Run / Morning Comin'
1974 SP MOUTAIN MUSIC MMP-1001 (US) Ghost Riders In The Sky / High Mountain Road

Albums

1969 LP 12" AMERICAN HERITAGE AH-021 (US) BLUEGRASS ALLIANCE -  East Virginia Blues / Naugahyde / Love Come Home / Proud Mary / Beaumont Rag / Little Sadie / Orange Blossom Special / Reuben James / Red Haired Boy / Sweet Sunny South / Joanie Hill / Hills Of Roan Country / Cold wind A' blowin'
1970 LP 12" AMERICAN HERITAGE AH-10-30S (US) NEW GRASS - Where Were You / West Montana Hannah / Gentle On My Mind / Freeborn Man / One Tin Soldier / But You Know I Love You / Stagolee / Early Morning Rain / You Ain't Goin' Nowhere / Randy Buck / Likes Of Me
07/1973 LP 12" BRIDGES BG-2701-498 (US) TALL GRASS - Fox On The Run / Faded Love / What Am I Doing Hanging Around / Dueling Banjos / Sugar Daddy / Sounds Of Silence / City Of New Orleanes / Rambler / Look Away Beyond The Sun / I'll Never Find Another You / I've Counted My Blessings
1974 LP 12" OLD HOMESTEAD OHS 90038 (US) GARLAND SHUPING ON BANJO WITH THE BLUEGRASS ALLIANCE - Reuben Had A Train / Eternal Love / Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves / Foxfire / Foggy Mountain Breakdown / Dueling Banjos / Scarborough Fair / Pea Soup Reel / Heartbreak Mountain / Sounds Of Silence
1975 LP 12" AMERICAN HERITAGE AH-401-522 (US) KENTUCKY BLUE - Lonesome Feeling / Tennessee Blues / Riverboat Reel / Why Don't You Tell Me So / It Doesn't Matter Anymore / Louise / Frodo's Journey / Not Seeing You Again / Lonesome River
1982 LP 12" OLD HOMESTEAD OHS-90115 (US) THE BLUEGRASS ALLIANCE - Don't Cry Blue / Ghost Riders / High Mountain Road / Morning Coming Around / No Way Of Knowing / On Your Mind / Paradise / Pea Soup Reel / Ramblin' Man / Swing Low / Take It Easy / You'll Find Her Name Written There
1982 LP 12" OLD HOMESTEAD OHS-90118 (US) LOVE OF THE MOUNTAINS - Black Mountain Rag / Blue Lonely River / Blue Ridge Mountains Turning Green / Bus Fare To Kentucky / Diamonds And Rust / East Bound And Down / Love Of The Mountains / Rolling Midnight Train / Shenandoah Breakdown / Song Of The Wildwood
1995 CD OLD HOMESTEAD OHCD 4007 (US) GARLAND SHUPING & THE BLUEGRASS ALLIANCE - BLUEGRASS FAVORITES THROUGH THE YEARS - Love Of The Mountains / Blue Lonely River / Shenandoah Breakdown / Blue Ridge Mountain Turning Green / Bus Fare To Kentucky / East Bound And Down / Rolling Midnight Train / Diamond And Rust / Song Of The Wildwood / Black Mountain Rag / Reuben Had A Train / Eternal Love / Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves / Foxfire / Foggy Mountain Breakdown / Pea Soup Reel / Scarborough Fair / Heartbreak Mountain / Sounds Of Silence
07/2001 CD COOPER CREEK CCCD 0187 (US) RE-ALLIANCE - Friend Of The Devil  / Ready For The Times / Sea Of Heartbreak / Panhandle Rag / Satan's Jeweled Crown / I Still Miss Someone / Black Still Waters / The Lonesome River / Sugar Daddy / Wayfaring Stranger / The Seeker / If You're Ever In Oaklahoma

© Rocky Productions 16/06/2011