Nashville Bluegrass Band

The Nashville Bluegrass Band is an American bluegrass music ensemble founded in 1984.

Nashville Bluegrass Band
OriginNashville, Tennessee, United States
GenresBluegrass
Years active1984 (1984)–present
Websitenashvillebluegrassband.net
Members
Past members

The group's members first played together in 1984 as a backing band for Vernon Oxford and Minnie Pearl; each of the members was an established musician from the Nashville bluegrass community.[1] They signed to Rounder Records and recorded their Béla Fleck-produced debut, My Native Home, in 1985. Incorporating elements of black gospel and spirituals, then a rarity in bluegrass, they became critical and popular successes both in America and abroad. The group toured in some 20 countries and were the first bluegrass band to ever play in China.[2]

The group continued to record for Rounder and Sugar Hill into the 1990s; two of the albums, 1993's Waitin' for the Hard Times to Go and 1995's Unleashed, won Grammy Awards for Best Bluegrass Album.[3] Other albums were nominated for Grammys in the same category in 1988, 1990, 1991, 1998, and 2004.[2] After the departure of bassist Gene Libbea and mandolinist Roland White in 1998, the group went on a brief hiatus, but after vocalist Pat Enright sang as one of the Soggy Bottom Boys from O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the group's career had a revival. They played as the backing group for many performers on the Down from the Mountain tour and album, and toured again on their own in the 2000s.

Members

Current members

Past members

  • Mark Hembree - bass
  • Gene Libbea - bass
  • Roland White - mandolin
  • Dennis Crouch - bass

Discography

Released Title Label Number Notes
1985My Native HomeRounder0212LP
1986Idle TimeRounder0232LP
1987To Be His ChildRounder0242gospel LP, reissued on CD
1988New Moon RisingSugar HillCD 3762Grammy nominee, with Peter Rowan
1990The Boys Are Back in TownSugar HillCD 3778Grammy nominee
1991The Nashville Bluegrass BandRounderCD 0232CD compiled from My Native Home and Idle Time LPs
1991Home of the BluesSugar HillCD 3793Grammy nominee
1993Waitin' for the Hard Times to GoSugar HillCD 3809Grammy winner
1995UnleashedSugar HillCD 3843Grammy winner. Some sources list the pre-release title as Still Unplugged
1998American BeautySugar HillCD 3882Grammy nominee
2004Twenty Year BluesSugar HillCD 3959Grammy nominee
2007Best of the Sugar Hill YearsSugar HillCD 4036compilation, 1990–2004

References

  1. "Nashville Bluegrass Band Biography". Keith Case & Associates. Archived from the original on August 6, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  2. Nashville Bluegrass Band at Allmusic
  3. Grammy Awards, Allmusic.com
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