It’s quite an achievement for a bluegrass unit to remain productive and high profile in the modern musical landscape for twenty years. The Grascals have done it.
They’ve reached that milestone through the classic combination of talent and hard work. Both were abundant from the start. However, ultimately, it is a dedication to their craft paying off for The Grascals more than anything else. Their tireless yearning to see what’s over the next hill, to never stop improving, and to make the best possible artistic decisions have held them together when other bands would have fallen by the wayside.
We’re celebrating that when we listen to their new album 20. There are moments of looking back over the course of the album’s thirteen cuts, and that looking back manifests itself in myriad ways. However, they are always thoroughly in the moment, and you can tell they are far from finished as a musical entity and looking forward to the future.
“Tennessee Hound Dog” resurrects a bluegrass classic first made popular by bluegrass and country legends The Osborne Brothers. Those encountering this song for the first time may be taken aback by the rich detail co-writers Felice and Boudleaux Bryant lavish on a tongue-in-cheek track like this. It makes for a more attention-grabbing performance. Newcomers to The Grascals will immediately note the band’s effortless musical chemistry.
https://open.spotify.com/album/5LueE7fMbNPIDVMDOftBzC
The next big winner for me arrives with the song “I Need a Night Off”. The Grascals excel with the “my world is ending” love song and never allow such performances to descend into overwrought bathos. The vocals convey the feeling of a man on the brink without needless histrionics. Fiddler Jamie Harper supplies a memorable vocal-like counterpoint. The hard-edged “Pull the Trigger” will likely upend your expectations. Call this bluerock or rock ‘n’ grass, it doesn’t matter, The Grascals concoct a notable variation on the form that has a curt and uncompromising thrust.
Bluegrass elements continue playing a crucial ornamental role, but “Reflections” moves into more recognizable folk song terrain. It has a muscular sweep carrying the listener along, and the vocals perfectly complement the musical texture. The album’s second cover of the Bryants is “Georgia Pineywood”. The subject matter for these songs couldn’t be any more different, but they share a clear musical lineage. It builds around another arrangement that demands endurance as well as skill from The Grascals, and they respond accordingly.
The instrumental track “12th and Pine” isn’t a vainglorious self-indulgent exercise. It is brief and hinges on a melodic idea that opens into more. It provides a nice bridge to the album’s concluding trio of tracks. None are disposable, but the best is 20’s finale “Come Jesus Come”. The heartfelt yet deceptive simplicity of this performance manifests overtones of a prayer in The Grascals’ reverent hands. It is never bloodless. It ends the album on a much different note than it begins and, in that single example, encompasses one of 20’s primary virtues. It goes everywhere, The Grascals never limit themselves, and they invite us to follow.
Clay Burton
