BCH
Chambergrass
Sugar Hill

by William Michael Smith

It's common knowledge that of all the American musical forms, the two that require the most skill and precision are jazz and bluegrass. I was watching a television show recently where a commentator asked the noted classically trained rock pianist Bruce Hornsby what music he liked to play in his spare time and Hornsby answered, "Bluegrass." When asked for an explanation, Hornsby noted bluegrass not only was great practice because it requires great chops, intense concentration, and absolute precision, it also was a lot of fun to play.

The recently released Sugar Hill Records compilation, Chambergrass, a ten-year retrospective of bluegrass supergroup BCH, features three of the premier instrumentalists in bluegrass playing some of the most complex melodies in the genre. Fiddle champion Byron Berline, acknowledged acoustic guitar guru supreme Dan Crary, and banjoist extraordinaire John Hickman set the world of traditional music on its ear ten years ago when they began performing as a trio. Traditionalists cried foul for the band not having a bass player. They were criticized for not having the mandatory high tenor voice, felt by traditionalists and many promoters to be an absolute requirement for any "bluegrass" band. They were criticized for playing on stools instead of standing, one critic going so far as to derisively describe their music as "chambergrass." The criticism hurt, but BCH really had no other choice but to keep on pickin' because they believed in their music and their abilities.

Chambergrass consists of 15 tracks from four BCH Sugar Hill albums: Berline, Crary, and Hickman; Night Run; BCH; and Now They Are Four. From widely known traditional, public domain pieces "Bonaparte's Retreat," "Turkey in the Straw," "The Dusty Miller," and "Fisher's Hornpipe" to highly intricate, smoking instrumental compositions of their own like Crary's "Night Run," Berline's "Pistol Pete" and "Early Times," and the Berline-Crary piece "Storm Over Oklahoma" (Berline and Hickman both live in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where Berline now runs a fiddle shop and trains young virtuosos in the making), the music is played on the level of our best classical symphonic musicians, justifying the description "chambergrass" without any of the sarcasm the original description was meant to imply. But don't get the impression that this is some kind of hoity-toity, for-intellectuals-and-highbrows-only musical experience. This music is as American and down-home as any music one would care to compare it with. It is simply played by three virtuoso instrumentalists who put as much feeling and spirit in the renditions as they do skill and technique. What emerges from the speakers is a sound of pure joy. There is little other way to describe these staggering performances.

Perhaps the highlights here are the live tracks like "The Dusty Miller," where Crary in particular just goes ballistic with his acoustic guitar, Berline's fiddle soars in the stratosphere, and Hickman keeps the whole thing together with his banjo work. As the solos are passed around, a small but appreciative and knowledgeable crowd in an intimate club setting can be heard clapping politely and urging the players on. Like Hornsby noted, the precision and chops are there, and there can be no doubt as to the intense level of concentration required to pull off these musical miracles.

If hot fiddling is your thing, one need only hear a stanza of Berline as he frantically saws at "Old Time Medley" to understand the skill level it takes to be considered a world champion fiddler. The scary thing is that Hickman and Crary match him lick for lick. Most of us can't even think this fast, much less think and move our fingers. "Cricket," on the other hand, demonstrates the staggering abilities of these wooden instrument giants to play in unison. And for a thing of subtlety and beauty, one would be hard put to find a finer example than BCH's version of "Bonaparte's Retreat" or the manic "Turkey in the Straw."

The fact that these melody masters aren't wealthy and better known speaks volumes about our popular culture and values. As a nation, we should be ashamed that we heap wealth on the likes of Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Michael Bolton, Toby Keith and countless other "white bread" musical acts while maestros of this caliber survive on the fringes if at all. Chambergrass is no crass "product" dumbed down to be palatable to millions of corporate radio programmed musical sheep. Chambergrass is a Hope diamond among a bucket of popular musical zirconium.

* The entire BCH catalog is available at www.sugarhillrecords.com


Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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