Beatlegras fuses bluegrass with Fab Four tunes
Thursday, July 23, 2009
By Megan Sullivan
BEATLES and bluegrass. Longtime Dallas musician Dave Walser couldn't
ignore the two musical forces that had inspired him since childhood.
Once he decided to mesh the best of both worlds by forming a
bluegrass Beatles band, the result made Mr. Walser feel like a kid
all over again.
Enter Beatlegras, a trio that stays true to original Beatles
melodies, but infuses the acoustic stylings of American bluegrass and
adds a dash of jazz, country and classical influences. The group will
open the third annual Summer Beatles Bash, starring and created by
Glen Burtnik and Friends, at the State Theatre in New Brunswick July
25. Mr. Burtnik's group will re-create Abbey Road in its entirety in
celebration of the album's 40th anniversary.
"I totally respect what Glen Burtnik and his friends are doing
the whole note-for-note thing is hard to beat," Mr. Walser says.
But for those who don't mind their Beatles served with a twist,
Beatlegras has just the recipe. The trio features Mr. Walser on
guitar and two of his longtime friends, upright bassist George
Anderson and Milo Deering playing everything from mandolin and fiddle
to guitar and dobro. The group often opens shows with a medley of
"Hello Goodbye," "Back in the USSR" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band." Audiences will likely hear one of Beatlegras' favorite
reinterpretations, "Magical Mystery Tour," and a more
classical-sounding version of "And I Love Her."
The collaboration between three musicians with very different
styles and influences yields a sound hard to classify. "We just try
to make it good and don't worry if it's country or bluegrass or jazz
or classical," says Mr. Walser, who owns and operates Downing Road
Music Studio in Texas. "It's all music."
Beatlegras started out with "Back in the USSR" about five years ago
and now has about 50 tunes in its repertoire. "The weird thing is,
there are probably 200 we haven't even touched," Mr. Walser says.
"The Beatles have so many songs."
The group hopes to release a fifth CD some time next year to
follow up Beatlegras, Beatlegras 2, In a Perfect World and a live CD
sold at shows. In a Perfect World includes six original tracks that
have a Beatles influence. Beatlegras' original music also can be
heard in the family film Tommy and the Cool Mule, released in May
(Ice-T voices the mule).
Mr. Walser grew up in the Texas countryside and has adored
bluegrass ever since hearing the strum of the banjo in the Beverly
Hillbillies theme song when he was 7 years old. "I remember hearing
that and going, 'Oh my God, that's a whole new level of music!'" A
week later, thanks to his dad for buying him a cheap banjo, Dave
mastered the tune.
Once he saw the Beatles first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show
in 1964, however, the 9-year-old had a second epiphany. "I said,
'Dad, you gotta get me an electric guitar!' and he said, 'This is
getting kind of expensive for a farmboy.'" Dave promised to learn how
to play all of the songs and his mom went out and bought the Beatles
first album. "Within a month or two, I had the whole album worked up,
the best a 9- or 10-year-old can come up with," Mr. Walser recalls.
Mr. Walser and Mr. Deering have similar backgrounds two white
guys of a certain age who love Beatles and bluegrass. But while Dave
and Milo had a case of Beatlemania growing up, Mr. Anderson, an
African-American, relished the sounds of musicians like James Brown
and Stevie Wonder. Mr. Anderson's unfamiliarity with the music of the
Beatles adds a fresh perspective when the trio crafts new arrangements.
When Mr. Walser first pitched the concept of Beatlegras, Mr.
Anderson thought it sounded like a great idea until he realized he
was the sought after bass player. "He said, 'I don't know if I'm the
right guy,'" Mr. Walser recounts. "The fun part, after all of that,
is every time we do a new Beatles song first of all, he's probably
never heard of it two days later, he calls me and says, 'Dave, this
is an awesome song!'"
Mr. Anderson, an in-demand studio session bassist, has played
with such notables as Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and Woody Herman.
His jazz album, Faces, was in the running for a Grammy award in the
Best Contemporary Jazz Album category in 2003. (For those who like to
wax nostalgic about the '90s, he worked as a writer, producer and
bassist on Vanilla Ice's Jive Record debut, To The Extreme.)
A virtuoso player of stringed instruments, Mr. Deering also is in
constant demand as a session player (and composer). Fans of Lee Ann
Rimes might recognize Mr. Deering from touring with the country
starlet as a member of her band for several years.
Based in Dallas, Beatlegras mainly performs within the 200-mile
radius of north Texas but hopes to expand its reach to the northeast
after playing New Brunswick. Last year, the trio performed at the
Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where
they shared the bill with Sinéad O'Connor. One might assume that a
gig in the Garden State would pale in comparison with one in the
Emerald Isle, but the trio is equally enthused.
"Honestly, I can't believe we're going to New Jersey," Mr. Walser
says. "It's not Los Angeles or Nashville, but to us it is. We're
going to New Jersey! We're just these three guys who still have a lot
of kid in us."
--
Beatlegras will open the third annual Jersey Summer Beatles Bash,
starring Glen Burtnik and Friends at the State Theatre, 15 Livingston
Ave., New Brunswick, July 25, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $27-$47. A special
happy hour and a Beatles Rock Art Show by Scott Segelbaum (for
Beatles Bash ticket holders only) will begin at 6:30 p.m.
732-246-7469; www.statetheatrenj.org; www.beatlegras.com
.
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