Sam Bush and The Travelin' McCourys Lay a 'Bluegrass Smackdown' on Nashville's Marathon Music Works

Nashville's Marathon Music Works is best known for hosting many of Music City's rock, pop, and electronic offerings. But on Jan. 11, the venue (with the addition of some chairs) played host to a “Bluegrass Smackdown” between genre-shattering mandolin legend Sam Bush and jamgrass upstarts The Travelin' McCourys. Like any good contest, this one featured amazing feats of speed, jaw dropping prowess, and a final battle royal that left the fans happy.

Kicking off the show was The Travelin' McCourys. While the “young” act on the bill, The Travelin' McCourys are no rookies. The longtime backing band for bluegrass god Del McCoury features Del's sons Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo), as well as Jason Carter (fiddle), Alan Bartram (bass), and Cody Kilby (guitar). The band released their self-titled debut in 2018 and won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.

While the roots of The Travelin' McCourys' sound is based in the same kinds of traditional bluegrass they've been playing as The Del McCoury Band for years, they have found the freedom to stretch considerably as an independent entity, venturing heavily into the jamgrass community, as well as dabbling in rock, pop, and Americana. All of those genres and more were on display during their hour-long set.

One of the highlights of their show was a jam-style transition from Bruce Hornsby's “White Wheeled Limousine” into Johnny Cash's take on “Long Black Veil.” An early setlist song showed their rocker side, with a cover of Passenger's “Let Her Go” that was also included on their album. But the portion of their show that really got the multi-generational crowd into a frenzy was a pair of set-closing covers of The Grateful Dead, “Bird Song” and “Cumberland Blues.” For these songs, Ronnie's son Evan McCoury sat in on guitar, giving fans a glimpse of the third generation of the McCoury family musical dynasty.

After a short stage changeover, The Sam Bush Band hit the stage to thunderous ovation from the near capacity crowd. Kicking things off with a cover of John Hartford's “On the Road”, Sam Bush reminded everyone why he is the undisputed king of the mandolin. Bush and his band, consisting of Todd Parks (bass), Chris Brown (drums), Steven Mougin (guitar), and Scott Vestal (banjo), were a non-stop blur of movement and high speed instrumental gymnastics.

With occasional breaks to fill the audience in on the score of the NFL playoffs as the hometown Tennessee Titans took on the Baltimore Ravens, a tie-dye Titans shirt clad Bush mostly let the music do the talking and, oh boy, did it sing. Fan favorites like “Circles Around Me” and “Nashville Blues” were interspersed with lengthy instrumental jams, reggae breakdowns on “Everything is Possible”, and old time reels like “Up on Blue Ridge.”

But Bush and crew saved the highest energy moment for the closer of their solo set. Taking a moment for everyone to switch to electric instruments, the band proved my long held belief that bluegrass and metal have more in common than they do differences, with a heavy electric blast through “Raju” and Bush's 2018 rally cry for gun reform “Stop the Violence.” During the latter, Bush and his electric mandolin (or, as he described it, “Eric Clapton's guitar after taxes”) delivered a wailing solo that would have made Slash sit up and take notice.

For the encore, the Bluegrass Smackdown became a Bluegrass Tag Team as all of The Travelin' McCourys (including Evan) joined The Sam Bush Band on stage for a 12-man jam of three songs. To the audience's delight, things kicked off with “Vamp in the Middle” from Bush's pioneering first band Newgrass Revival, flowing into a cover of The Grateful Dead's “Loose Lucy” that allowed each member to have a solo moment in the sun, and closing out with a nod to the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe with “Bringin' in the Georgia Mail.” Prior to this song, there was some fun interplay between Ronnie McCoury and Bush, where Bush dubbed himself the “Mother” of Bluegrass, because every time Bill Monroe saw him walking backstage at a bluegrass festival, he'd say “there goes that mother Sam Bush...”

The best thing about a Sam Bush show isn't even the music, but the attitude of Bush himself. Most people who have been musicians for 50 years have a professional affability with their audience, charisma but still the undertone of having done this thousands of times. Bush, containing one of the most expressive faces in music, spent the entire show with a full-faced smile that couldn't be faked. He looks like a man who, half a century in, is still delighted to find that people want to pay to see him do what he would have been doing anyway, playing the mandolin. It's a smile that is impossible not to be infected by and the multi-generational audience, the all-ages show ranging from small children to college students to senior citizens, were all united in their love for Bush, The Travelin' McCourys, and roots music.

From here, Sam Bush will spend the next couple of months on a tour of theaters before gearing up for his usual Summer blitz of the festival scene. Meanwhile The Travelin' McCourys will connect with Yonder Mountain String Band for a series of shows in late January and February before embarking on their own headlining tour.

You can see a sampling of photos from Sam Bush & The Travelin' McCourys below, and find the full gallery over at the Concerthopper Facebook Page.