Mandolin New Grass Artist Sam Bush will mesmerize West Michigan on October 6 at 7:30 p.m. when he kicks off SCMC’s 2021-2022 Season and the Acoustic Café Folk Series. The October concert with the Sam Bush Band marks St. Cecilia Music Center’s restart of live concerts with a live audience after 19-months of closure during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sam Bush has released seven albums and a live DVD over the past two decades. In 2009, the Americana Music Association awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist. Punch Brothers, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Greensky Bluegrass are just a few present-day bluegrass vanguards among so many musicians he’s influenced. Bush says, “With this band I have now, I am free to try anything. Looking back at the last 50 years of playing “newgrass”, with the elements of jazz improvisation and rock-&-roll, jamming, playing with New Grass Revival, Leon, and Emmylou; it’s a culmination of all of that.”
Tickets for Sam Bush are available at www.scmc-online.org or by calling 616-459-2224.
St. Cecilia Music Center’s Executive & Artistic Director Cathy Holbrook says, “We are thrilled to bring “New Grass” veteran Sam Bush to the Royce Auditorium stage to begin our new season. During this coming season we will be featuring most of the artists who were scheduled to appear last season and had to be sidelined due to COVID-19. These great artists are looking forward to getting back out on tour to perform in front of live audiences and to bring music back to concert stages in the U.S. and worldwide. We so missed seeing our loyal supporters and music lovers in person and we’re looking forward to hosting a year of celebration with live music again at SCMC!”
The 2021 - 2022 Season will host a world-Class lineup of folk and jazz musicians, as well as celebrate the 10th anniversary of partnership with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Artists. The new Winterfest Music Festival in February will also be an exciting highlight of the new season. Throughout the year, St. Cecilia Music Center will feature 17+ evenings of outstanding performances by world-renowned jazz, folk, and chamber music artists in what will be their 138th season of music.
NOTE: SCMC will require proof of fully vaccinated status, or a negative COVID test taken within 48 hours, to attend a concert at the SCMC venue. Attendees need to bring photo ID and proof of vaccination, or a negative test, the night of a concert.
In areas with substantial and high transmission, the CDC recommends that everyone (including fully vaccinated individuals) wear a mask in public indoor settings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, especially the Delta variant, and to protect others. To that end, SCMC is also highly recommending that all attendees wear a mask while in the building. We will continue to monitor the COVID environment and may change policies at any time if necessary. Please note that individual artists may issue mandated mask requirements and we will honor their request. All ticket holders will be notified if mandatory mask requirements are in effect for a particular show by an artist.
If you a have tickets to an upcoming performance and are unwilling or unable to abide by this policy, please contact the SCMC box office for a refund at [email protected] a minimum of 48 hours prior to the concert date.
Sam Bush Bio
As a teen fiddler Bush was a three-time national champion in the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Contest. He recorded an instrumental album, Poor Richard’s Almanac as a high school senior and in the spring of 1970 attended the Fiddlers Convention in Union Grove, NC. There he heard the New Deal String Band, taking notice of their rock-inspired brand of progressive bluegrass.
During the 1970’s Bush signed up with the Bluegrass Alliance group to play guitar in the group. He soon after began playing mandolin after recruiting guitarist Tony Rice to the fold. Soon after, Bush and his Alliance mates formed the New Grass Revival, issuing the band’s debut, New Grass Revival. Bush explains, “Our kind of music tended to come from the idea of long jams and rock-& -roll songs.” Shunned by some traditionalists, New Grass Revival played bluegrass fests slotted in late-night sets for the “long-hairs and hippies.” Quickly becoming a favorite of rock audiences, they garnered the attention of Leon Russell, one of the era’s most popular artists. Russell hired New Grass as his supporting act on a massive tour in 1973 that put the band nightly in front of tens of thousands.
Then, in 1975 the Revival began playing in Telluride, Colorado, forming a connection with the region and its fans that has prospered for 45 years. Bush was the newgrass commando, incorporating a variety of genres into the repertoire. He discovered a sibling similarity with the reggae rhythms of Marley and The Wailers, and, accordingly, developed an ear-turning original style of mandolin playing. The group issued five albums in their first seven years, and in 1979 became Russell’s backing band. By 1981, two members left the group and were replaced by banjoist Bela Fleck and guitarist Pat Flynn.
A three-record contract with Capitol Records and a conscious turn to the country market took the Revival to new commercial heights. Bush survived a life-threatening bout with cancer and returned to the group that had become more popular than ever. They released chart-climbing singles, made videos, earned Grammy nominations, and, at their zenith, called it quits. “We were on the verge of getting bigger,” recalls Bush. “Or maybe we’d gone as far as we could. I’d spent 18 years in a four-piece partnership. I needed a break. But, I appreciated the 18 years we had.”
Bush worked the next five years with Emmylou Harris’ Nash Ramblers, then a stint with Lyle Lovett. He took home three-straight IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year awards, 1990-92, (and a fourth in 2007). In 1995 he reunited with Fleck, now a burgeoning superstar, and toured with the Flecktones, reigniting his penchant for improvisation. Then, finally, after a quarter-century of making music with New Grass Revival and collaborating with other bands, Sam Bush went solo.
He has released seven albums and a live DVD over the past two decades. In 2009, the Americana Music Association awarded Bush the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist. Punch Brothers, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Greensky Bluegrass are just a few present-day bluegrass vanguards among so many musicians he’s influenced. His performances are annual highlights of the festival circuit, with Bush’s joyous perennial appearances at the town’s famed bluegrass fest earning him the title, “King of Telluride.” “With this band I have now I am free to try anything. Looking back at the last 50 years of playing newgrass, with the elements of jazz improvisation and rock-& -roll, jamming, playing with New Grass Revival, Leon, and Emmylou; it’s a culmination of all of that,” says Bush. “I can unapologetically stand onstage and feel I’m representing those songs well.”
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