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A conversation with Sam Bush BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER resh out of high school in 1970, Sam Bush was a teenager in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with aspirations of being a touring musician. With his mandolin and fiddle in hand, he took off for the bright stage lights of Louisville, teaming up with bluegrass guitar wizard Tony Rice as part of the iconic ensemble that was The Bluegrass Alliance. Just a year later, Bush would form New Grass Revival, a groundbreaking string act that would forever change the landscape of that “high, lonesome sound.”
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Smoky Mountain News
Want to go? The Grey Eagle drive-in concert series will kick off with legendary bluegrass group The Sam Bush Band at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. Tickets start at $100 per carload (allowing up to six people per vehicle), which includes a 20x20-foot space to park and to tailgate. Pre-packaged meals will be available for purchase. Beverages will also be served onsite. For more information on tickets and/or the social distancing guidelines for the series, visit www.thegreyeagle.com, click on the “Calendar” tab and scroll to the show date. retired. Well, I found [out] pretty early on that I’m not ready to retire. I just love playing music and I’ve never appreciated it more than perhaps in the last 10 years. I’ve learned a new appreciation over the years and I’ve always felt fortunate to get to do this for a living.
PLAY BY YOUR OWN RULES Incorporating influences from all aspects of their backgrounds, NGR would seamlessly blend the traditions of bluegrass with more contemporary and experimental styles. This year, the group was rightfully inducted into the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Fame. Now 68, Bush has been hitting the stage with The Sam Bush Band for several decades. Regarded as a pillar of bluegrass music, Bush remains a torchbearer for not only the past and its deep roots, but also the bright future and ultimate survival of string music in the 21st century. Smoky Mountain News: You’ve been on the road touring for decades. During the shutdown, what was it like to actually have to stand still? Sam Bush: That’s been its own challenge. I always wondered what it’d be like to maybe be
Michigan and played a festival. Michigan in October — it was spitting snow on Sunday afternoon when we played. And that’s where I [first] met Del McCoury that weekend. Matter of fact, Tony [Rice] borrowed Del’s guitar for that [Michigan] set. And look how you’ve made friends for life — that’s happened for us in playing music for the last 50 years.
SMN: That’s one of the things I love most about working not only in the music industry, but especially with bluegrass, is that when I do cross paths with those people, it is the most embracing and welcoming genre. SB: Well, it always has [been]. As I was learning to play bluegrass music, the audience for bluegrass was such a small club to get to be in — we all knew each other. And we’re all making friends out in the audience. Bluegrass style music is pretty unique, in that many people in the audience play an instrument and play the music — all the more reason that they’re an educated audience you’re playing for. And when we got to those festivals, we knew that the people in the audience are knowledgeable about what we’re doing. That was a real boost over playing a loud club where you can barely be heard over the roar of the drums.
SMN: What is it about that last decade that’s really circled back and brought it home to you? SB: I guess it’s just getting to a certain age, you know? I’m now 68 and as I was approachSMN: The majority of your life has been on ing [60] it was just like, “Wow. I’ve really been doing this a long time.” I started traveling for a the road and playing music, interacting with people from all walks of life. What has the culliving since I was at 18. [Right] out of high school, moved up to mination of those experiences taught you Louisville, Kentucky, from Bowling Green and about what it means to be a human being? just started playing music for a living. It’s hard to believe that you’ve “I always wondered what it’d be done something so long. But, on the other hand, I’ve always gotten to like to maybe be retired. Well, I make a living doing something that I truly love to do. found [out] pretty early on that
I’m not ready to retire. I just love SMN: When you think back to 50 years ago when you made that move playing music and I’ve never after high school, what sticks out appreciated it more than perhaps most? What you were thinking about with that first big leap? in the last 10 years. I’ve learned a SB: Well, what I was realistically thinking about at the time was the new appreciation over the years fact that I got to leave a job as a bus and I’ve always felt fortunate to boy at the Holiday Inn in Bowling Green and move up to the big city of get to do this for a living.” Louisville and play music. Back then, the normal job you’d — Sam Bush have would be to play four or five nights in a club. And so, that was the SB: Well, it’s taught tolerance for people. first thing I got to start doing when I moved to Louisville, playing bluegrass music for a living We don’t all think alike and that can’t be expected. It’s taught acceptance of new ideas, five nights a week. Festivals were in their early infancy then in ideas you haven’t thought of, that you didn’t 1970. As the festival scene grew, we would still know about at first. And forgiveness of things play all winter in these clubs. You get to play in you don’t understand. Overall, [it’s taught] a great sense of gratithe clubs and it was as if going to festivals was tude. Let’s face it, things don’t go like you want our reward. I remember when I was in The Bluegrass them to. This year is teaching the world more Alliance and we had been playing in the clubs patience. So, maybe we can all be more accepta little bit, a couple months. And it got to be ing of different ideas as we progress through all October. We drove up from Louisville to of this.
