YEARS IN THE MAKING: THE GRASCALS RETURN UNDERGROUND
YEARS IN THE MAKING: THE GRASCALS RETURN UNDERGROUND
April 27, 2012 at 1:42 PM
If you’re excited about The Grascals returning to Bluegrass Underground on May 5, then you’ve got nothing on Grascal Jamie Johnson.“We were the second band to ever play there, and we’re coming back for the first time. I loved it, and it’s been so long, but you never forget that place,” Jamie told me at the recent Harley Allen tribute at The Station Inn. The Grascals made their Volcano Room debut way back in 2008. Since then, they’ve racked up a bunch of IBMA Awards, released a pile of new CDs, the latest being Life Finds a Way, and landed such big-time non-traditional bluegrass sponsors as Mobil. They also flirted with mainstream country management, a bad experience that left Jamie, who handles much of the band’s business, at the breaking point. “It wasn’t the band, it was some of the scum that you deal with along the way. I was ready to quit, go back to the house, watch my little boy grow up and dig ditches if I had to.” Instead, they’ve reorganized their business from the top down and even have a new label, Mountain Home. Which is good news for Grascals fans. The good stuff hasn’t changed, and they’ve got the same lineup they’ve fielded for years, including Kristin Scott Benson, the four- time winning IBMA banjo picker who is as modest and unaffected a bluegrass master as you will ever meet. And they’ve got their tight vocal trio, a legacy of the band’s love of the Osborne Brothers, with whom “the Terrys”, bassist Terry Smith and singer-guitarist Terry Eldredge, spent years, playing in the last great version of that classic band. Filled out by Danny Roberts on mandolin and Jeremy Abshire on fiddle, it all adds up to state-of-the-art contemporary bluegrass – deeply traditional roots, but with youthful energy and strong songwriting. Jamie has increasingly taken on that role, writing four songs on the new disc. His love of songwriting is what drew him to the tribute to Harley, who wrote The Grascals breakthrough bluegrass hit, “Me and John and Paul,” which won Bluegrass Song of the Year in 1996 and helped them take that year’s Emerging Artist award. They’re since won the top award - Entertainer of the Year – twice.“Harley Allen, he’s the one that really separated The Grascals from a lot of the other bands, with the ‘Me and John and Paul’ song he did for us,” Jamie said. “He’s had as much influence, in my opinion, as what we learned from Flatt & Scruggs and The Osborne Brothers and all our forefathers that got us here.”The Grascals took that ball and ran with it. From working with Dolly Parton to touring arenas with Hank Jr. and the other Jamey Johnson to their all-star Grascals & Friends CD for Cracker Barrel, The Grascals, like their mentors the Osbornes, are taking bluegrass to mainstream country audiences, winning over new fans with great picking, great singing, and as much entertainment as bluegrass allows.So with spring in full bloom, The Grascals return to Cumberland Caverns. Jamie says it’s about time, and this time, his son can enjoy it too. A cave tour is definitely on the Johnson family’s itinerary.“Coltrane was like a week or two old the first time, and this time, he’s four,” Jamie says. “So we’re excited.”They’re not the only ones.-- Larry Nager
