Bluegrass is alive and well in Australia!
I recently blogged about my visit to the Tri-State Bluegrass Festival in Kendallville, Indiana, over the 2009 Labor Day weekend holiday, where I had a good time as always. I walked the campground snapping pictures and listening to the parking lot picking when I got there on Saturday, and I happened on this little trio of pickers that were obviously warming up for a stage show. (You can always tell when it’s just a “jam session” versus warming up for a stage show.) Turns out I was listening to a band called The Davidson Brothers warming up with their fill-in bass player. And what a great warm-up it was. Being a banjo player myself, I was immediately drawn the Davidson’s banjo player, Hamish Davidson. I love his style of picking and it was fun listening to this little warm-up. And THEN…I heard him speak between songs, and I thought: “well, alrighty then, we have something unique here!”
I made sure to wander down to their stage show later, and boy was I glad I did, because there’s a new group on my radar now. I think you’ll enjoy them too. Turns out, I’m a little bit late in arriving to the party because the Davidson’s have been “on the radar” and making themselves known for awhile now.
The Davidson Brothers are Hamish Davidson, 26 years old, and Lachlan Davidson, age 25. These boys hail from Australia, where they’ve been making big waves in country and bluegrass music for several years now. I thoroughly enjoyed their show in Kendallville, and was pleasantly amazed by their music. It’s fun to hear their accents when they speak, but when they sing, you’d never know they weren’t “yanks”. They sound much like any very good, contemporary American bluegrass group. (In fact, they sound better than some groups I’ve heard for sure.) I didn’t have a notepad with me so wasn’t able to take notes on individual songs that they performed, but I sure was drawn to their edgy, contemporary sound, tinged with blues and jazz touches. These boys are great on their instruments, and great singers to boot. It’s really interesting to see how the world embraces this truly American art form. There are many European, Australian, Japanese, etc. musicians doing it just as good as us Americans.
They’ve got the credentials!
The Davidson Brothers won the “Golden Guitar” award (an Australian country music award) in 2009 for best new instrumental.
Hamish began fiddle lessons when he was 8 years old, but didn’t discover bluegrass until he was 12 years old. He entered and won a few fiddle contests, pooling his money to buy a new banjo. He did “fair dinkum” on the banjo as well, winning the Australian Bluegrass Banjo Championship in 2009. He is a graduate of the CMAA College of Country Music, winning “best overall musician” in the National University Band Competition (2002). Hamish plays banjo and fiddle and guitar for The Davidson Brothers.
Lachlan began fiddling at age 6, and over the upcoming years took up mandolin and guitar. When he plays guitar on the road, he uses a guitar that he built as a school project. He also attended the CMAA College Of Country Music, and has been a prominently touring fiddler around Australia with several big Australian names in entertainment. Lachlan won the Australian Bluegrass Mandolin Championship in 2009. He goes by the nickname “Lachie”, which I mistook for “Lucky” when they were speaking on the mics in Kendallville. Lachie plays mandolin, fiddle, and guitar for The Davidson Brothers. In 2008, the I.B.MA. awarded Lachie a grant to come to America as an ambassador for Australia during the two day internation summit at World Of Bluegrass.
They’ve got the “chops”
As a 26+ year picker myself, I feel fairly qualified to be able to spot when someone’s “got it”. The Davidson’s definitely “got it”. Hamish has an incredible ability on his banjo; I only wish I had about a week to hang out with him and absorb his style and roll patterns. His playing is electric and exciting. It’s clean and tasteful, with just enough twists and uniqueness to his right hand as to raise your eyebrows and make you jealous of his abilities. I’m not as qualified to judge fiddle and mandolin, other than to say I know good mandolin and fiddle when I hear it; I can tell when someone has that “touch” and that professional ability, as compared to a non-professional jammer. Lachie has the “touch”, and it’s no wonder he won the 2009 mandolin championship. Since I don’t play fiddle or mandolin I can’t comment much about Lachie’s technique, but I can say very confidently that if you are a mandolin player, you’ll be impressed with his picking.
In their few trips they’ve made to the states, they’ve managed to befriend many top country and bluegrass stars of the states. Whenever they come to America, they try to spend time in the recording studio, capitalizing on our studio players and stars of the country and bluegrass genre. They’ve just released a new album called “Born to Play”, and the list of “who’s who” in the pickers on the album is pretty incredible. I have the album playing as I write this, and I am really enjoying it. Before I looked at the liner notes, I heard the dobro kick in and I immediately thought “hey, did they get Randy Kohrs to guest on the album?!” Well…a quick look at the liner notes tells me I was right, they did! If you like Randy’s playing, you’ll love this recording, and as soon as you hear the dobro kick in, there’ll be no doubts that it’s him. Randy is joined by many other names that you’ll recognize, making it a great album. I’ll be reviewing this album in my soon-to-be launched “music review” section of this blog, so stay tuned for that.
If you’d like to hear a short recording of one of their songs that I made with my new Tascam DR-1 portable recorder, you can click on my link to play it with your media player. Bear in mind it was my first attempt at using my new “toy”, and I didn’t have the recording volume set right. The track starts out loud, then drops down pretty quiet. Once it drops down, just crank up your volume; you should still be able to hear it alright:
Click here to listen to the recording
Try ‘em, you’ll like ‘em!
The Davidson’s are great pickers, great singers, and truly nice guys. I approached Hamish back stage after his show in Kendallville to converse a little bit and have him pose for a picture, and he was more than happy to oblige. His winning smile and easy going personality makes him very approachable, and he was nice enough to be willing to be included in my upcoming gallery of photographs of banjo pickers imitating my Banjos Rule! logo. (Watch for this soon at www.banjosrule.com).
The Davidson's with their guitar player for the gig
I visited the band table once the guys caught their breath, and I chatted with the guys for a few minutes. I found both of the brothers to be warm, friendly and gracious to their fans and myself. They autographed my copy of Born To Play, and posed for this group shot. I let them know that they definitely have a new fan in me, which they seemed to appreciate.
Visit the website of the band at www.davidsonbrothersband.com and read all about the guys and what they are up to. Be sure and check their schedule, and if they are coming to a town near you, go see them. If you like any of today’s contemporary acoustic or bluegrass artists, then you are sure to love this group. If you do go see them, tell them that Banjo Paul said hi, and tell Hamish I said “Banjos Rule dude!“