By THIRSTY
Andy Statman is a NEA
National Heritage Fellow and a Grammy Award nominee who has become a legendary
figure in modern bluegrass. He has recorded and/or toured
with Ricky Skagges, Béla Fleck, Itzhak Perlman, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, to
name just a few, and he received a
Grammy nomination for “Rawhide!” from the album East Flatbush Blues.
His latest CD, Monroe Bus, was
released in March 2019, and features Grammy-nominated fiddler Michael
Cleveland, veteran trio members Jim Whitney (bass) and Larry Eagle (drums), Glenn
Patscha (keyboards) and Michael Daves (acoustic guitar).
To truly understand the
meaning of Statman’s Monroe Bus
album, Stay Thirsty Magazine thought
it most appropriate to let Andy recount the background and the meaning of the project
in his own words:
“As I headed home after
my second consecutive fourteen-hour day in the studio, I realized that I needed
a medium-tempo, ‘Brown County Breakdown’ type of melody on the CD. When I
arrived, I spent the next two or three hours writing one, and then went to
sleep.
That night I dreamt I was
on the Texas prairie, by a campfire. Bill Monroe appeared out of the shadows.
He looked as he did in his late 30s or early 40s, fit and trim, but dressed
like one of the old Texas Rangers (minus the badge and six-gun). He looked a
little upset.
I asked, ‘Bill, what's
wrong?’
He replied, ‘Nobody
respects me!’
I told him, ‘I respect
you, Bill.’
He seemed appeased, and
nodding his head, said, ‘I appreciate that.’
 |
| Bill Monroe with Andy Statman in background (1966) |
The next morning, as I
headed back to the studio, I saw a bus on the highway displaying its
destination, ‘To Monroe,’ which happens to be a town in upstate New York. As a
teenager, the Bill Monroe tour bus-nicknamed ‘Bluegrass Breakdown,’ due to its
old and battered condition, captured my imagination. With this sighting, my new
tune – and this recording project – now had a name.
This CD was originally
conceived as a collection of interpretations of and improvisations on the
instrumentals of Bill Monroe. Bill's music had a tremendous influence on me
when I started out as a mandolin player and has continued to do so ever since.
As the project
progressed, I found myself writing my own tunes, inspired by some of Monroe's
musical ideas. Some melodies more closely reflect the master's influence;
others go to other places entirely, but still bear that influence.
 |
| Andy Statman in the studio |
During the mixing, it
once again became clear to me how the music one plays, and writes, is a
reflection of the life a person lives. A musician's thoughts, ideas, feelings,
experiences and memories are expressed through the prism of the music he plays.
Bill Monroe's music was
an ongoing conscious synthesis of the music he heard and his life experience.
These tunes were written and played in the same spirit, reflecting my
influences and experiences, and those of my fellow musicians on these sessions.”
Stay
Thirsty Magazine is proud to present a brief sample of the
bluegrass-mandolin legend Andy Statman playing “Romp” from Monroe Bus.
(Bill Monroe with Andy Statman photo credit: Fred Robbins; Andy Statman studio photo credit: Bradley Klein)
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