> It seems to be generally frowned upon when non-bluegrass musicians take
> bluegrass type tunes (for example, Old 97's covering "My Blue-Eyed Darlin"
> - they pretty much destroy the song) and turn them into something else...
Not by me. A song is a song; it's the arrangement that puts it into one
genre or another. When the Allen Brothers did "Daniel," it was a bluegrass
song, not a pop one; when the Kentucky Headhunters did "Walk Softly On This
Heart Of Mine," it was a country-rock song, not a bluegrass one. What
frosts me is when a rock band, for instance <g>, does a song that comes from
bluegrass and people say they're doing bluegrass, or when a band thoroughly
rearranges a song in a different style and then try to pass it off as
faithful to the original, or to its spirit, etc. You-all can think of
examples, I'm sure.
As far as the specific issue with regard to "White Freightliner" and the
guitar/bass part, I haven't ever heard the original, so I can't really
comment until I do so.
> In close, it's my understanding that bluegrass musicians are very
> particular about how "their" songs are played.
It depends, I guess. "If it helps you, why, I'm for it 100%" is what Monroe
said to Elvis when the latter apologized for reworking "Blue Moon Of
Kentucky." Of course, I don't know that he ever heard the Old 97's "My Blue
Eyed Darling" <g>.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
