Musician Spotlight: New Grass Revival

New Grass Revival is a progressive bluegrass band from America that was founded back in 1971. The members of the band over the years are as follows: Pat Flynn, Bela Fleck, John Cowan, Butch Robins, Curtis Burch, Ebo Walker, Courtney Johnson, and Sam Bush. Initially, the band consisted of Butch Robins on bass guitar, Ebo Walker on vocals and acoustic bass, Courtney Johnson on vocals, guitar, and banjo, Curtis Burch on vocals, Dobro, and guitar, and Sam Bush who was on vocals, guitar, fiddle, and mandolin.

The band were active for 18 years, from the period of 1971 until 1989. They were certainly busy during this time, as they released over 20 albums and also six singles! So, if you have never heard of the band before, you will have plenty of songs to listen to!

We would recommend starting with Callin’ Baton Rogue, as this is the band’s highest-charting single. The single reached number 37 on the country charts in the United States in 1898. Five years later, it also became a top five country hit for Garth Brooks, so you may have heard it before.

The line-up has changed over the years. Burch and Johnson left the band in 1981. The reason for this is because they were tired of touring. However, Cowan and Bush kept the group going, and that is when Pat Flynn and Bela Fleck came in. The final line-up when the band ended consisted of these four! So, Cowan was on vocals and bass guitar, Sam Bush on vocals, guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, Bela Fleck on vocals, guitar, and banjo, and finally, Pat Flynn was on vocals and guitar.

Here is them performing their hit “Can’t Stop Now”:

One of the reasons why this band had such success was because they moved away from mainstream bluegrass. At the time, progressive bluegrass was being played by a lot of groups, such as the Country Gentlemen, Eddie Adcock’s II Generation, and The Dillards. However, very few did it with the flair that New Grass Revival did! For those who are unaware, bluegrass as a very traditional type of music, which was tied into convention, and bands were expected to dress in matching outfits and have short hair. New Grass Revival decided that they would be different, and they decided that these traditions were not for them! They had informal clothing and long hair, and they performed songs from different genres, ranging from Bob Marley songs to tunes from the Beatles.

The group also came back for a reunion in 1996. This consisted of Bela Fleck, John Cowan, and Sam Bush, yet Pat Flynn did not come back for the reunion. Instead, Curtis Burch filled the gap, and he not only played the guitar and contributed to vocals, but he also played the Dobro as well. Unfortunately they did not make much use of the ukulele in their music.