Country Times: Modern bluegrass gets a warm welcome from legends of old

It’s difficult not to compare the growing pains of country music as it shifts from traditional into a form of country rock with the ongoing transformation of bluegrass. Watching banjoist Noam Pikelny and fiddler Stuart Duncan — two of modern bluegrass music’s brightest stars — perform last week at The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, underscored why bluegrass’ maturation is so heartily embraced while country music performers and fans are engaged in something akin to a civil war. “Del McCoury’s willingness to collaborate outside of the bluegrass world and his dedication to the Punch Brothers and DelFest, that definitely reads as a voucher,” said Mr. Pikelny, a member of the Punch Brothers, of the wide spectrum of performers Mr. McCoury invites to enjoy the annual music festival he hosts in Cumberland, Maryland. “The first time I got to meet him, he was so welcoming to me. I remember getting to play tunes backstage with Del and I taught him my song ‘For Pete’s Sake.’ Playing that song with him and the impact that had meant so much. I had assumed there would never be a way to break into that world.” The respect that flows between younger performers, such as Mr. Pikelny, 33, and veteran bluegrass icons, including the much honored and celebrated Mr. McCoury, 75, is palpable not just in words but music. Earlier this month Mr. Pikelny won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Banjo Player of the Year and Album of the Year for “Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe.” Although Mr. Pikelny and Mr. Stuart, 50, who played on the album, included some of those songs in their set, they clearly delighted in playing a host of classic bluegrass songs. “One of the things we have been playing is the ‘Kentucky Waltz,’ ” said Mr. Duncan, whose awards include a Grammy. “We had said ‘Let’s do something we have never done before,’ and we have been doing it ever since. It’s a good melody people recognize and it’s a good vocal range for me.” As were all the other songs in the set. The Wolf Trap audience’s exuberant cheers were punctuated with animated whispers of praise as they worked their way through a set that included renditions of ‘Lonesome Moonlight Waltz’ and ‘Wheel Hoss’ from Mr. Pikelny’s latest album, to Southern string band classic ‘Lee Highway Blues’ to Merle Haggard’s ‘Loneliness is Eating Me Alive,’ which Mr. Duncan rediscovered on a classic 45 record he bought at a flea market. Mr. Pikelny and Mr. Stuart wound stories about their admiration for Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, and other traditional performers throughout the set. Although Mr. Monroe was overtly critical of performers who moved away from traditional bluegrass arrangements and instrumentation, the duo was nothing short of reverent toward the masters...more