Ricky Skaggs playing my favorite bluegrass song with the Boston Pops. Check this video out, it’s seriously ridiculous.
If there are two cliches in bluegrass music, the first is the image of an old man holding a banjo or mandolin, and the second is the legend of the musician who sells his soul to the devil to up his skillz. There’s a very good explanation for those cliches: In order to play crazy fast like that, you either have to have been practicing for 30 years (Bill Monroe) or have sold your soul (the only explanation I can think of for Chris Thile).
I put “Pig in a Pen” on sometimes to play along to on my mandolin, and it’s hard enough to try to strum on those crazy upbeats. Forget about the full solos–I’ll be 80 and arthritic before I can even touch them.
Oh heck, here’s another:
Nickel Creek and Chris Thile killing. Pay attention to the part where he sets his mandolin on fire between 1:30 and 3:00. If he did sell his soul, the devil got the short end of that bargain.
