For three decades Buddy Merriam & Back Roads have been bringing hard driving bluegrass music to Long Island, the northeast and beyond. After being struck by lightning in 1976- and living to tell- at his first bluegrass festival in upstate New York, Buddy Merriam made a special connection with the mandolin and the man who is called “the father of bluegrass”, Bill Monroe. He mentored Buddy for many years until his passing in 1996. Out of his love for the music, Buddy formed his band Back Roads in 1980 & performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville & Lincoln Center; featured in CMT’s “Bluegrass Sound” and the “Bluegrass Journey” documentary, performed at numerous colleges, concert venues, fairs & festivals and have made two tours of Ireland, England and Scotland-just to name a few. Buddy Merriam and Back Roads will be performing in concert his brand of hard core, traditional high energy bluegrass entertainment with lots of original mandolin music from his new CD, "Back Roads Mandolin", hard driving banjo and some of the finest bluegrass singing you’ll ever hear. You can find out more by going to their website: www.BuddyMerriam.com
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Buddy Merriam: "Back Roads Mandolin"
Written by Andy Bing Tuesday, 08 September 2009 12:48
The greatest challenge facing contemporary Blue Grass composers and performers is keeping the music true to itself without endlessly repeating itself. "Back Roads Mandolin," Long Island mandolinist Buddy Merriam's new collection of fourteen instrumentals, shows one artist's approach. This is music that honors its roots but is not bound to them. Buddy had a close personal and musical relationship with Bill Monroe and Bill's influence is evident here, in Buddy's beautiful mandolin tone and in his adventurer's spirit and fertile musical imagination. And Bill makes an appearance here, as his spoken words open and close "Spirit of Rosine," Buddy's twin fiddle tribute to Bill's birthplace.
So not surprisingly, a lot of these tunes are straight off the true vine. The CD opens with "Extra Special," which made me want to reach for the mandolin and play along. Buddy nails the sliding Monroe drones, an important element of the Blue Grass mandolin sound. In "Batchin' It," a reference to Bill and his Uncle Pen and their musical life together after Bill's parents died, Gary Oleyar takes the lead with the fiddle on a tune reminiscent of Bill's "Right Right On." And one can be sure that Bill would have approved of Gary's twin fiddles on "Spirit of Rosine." On "Grassy Bud," Buddy captures a ragtimey sound, again echoing Bill, with a little Vernon Derrick thrown in on a very bluesy second break. "Putnam Valley Flash" is Buddy's birthday present to the Flash's alter ego, banjo virtuoso Jerry Oland, and Jerry returns the compliment on the banjo in fine style.
Other tunes show Buddy successfully branching out. A trio of tunes were inspired by and written for members of his family. Perhaps most familiar to regulars at the Pirate Canoe Club is Buddy's banjo piece, "My Dear Mother's Waltz," which Jerry Oland has been featuring at the HVBA jam sessions. The chord progression is appealing and unusual, and on the recording, Jerry masterfully draws all the emotion out of this slow waltz. Gary Oleyar also turns in a sweet fiddle break. And on "DeVine Time" and "Harmony's Waltz," Buddy is joined by Mike Sassano, another mandolin vituoso familiar to HVBA audiences, on harmony mandolin. The twin mandolins convey the depth of Buddy's feelings for the women for whom he named these tunes.
There is a more modern flavor to "Circle of Chiefs" and "Baldassari," Buddy's tribute to the late Nashville mandolinist Butch Baldassari. On "Circle," Jerry takes a lovely melodic banjo break and then twins with the mandolin, and then Buddy plays an inventive cross-picking solo as a buildup to one last time through the tune. On "Baldassari," Mike Sassano joins Buddy on harmony mandolin, mandola, and mandocello for a lush orchestral sound, and Jerry turns in another creative melodic break. On "Gypsy Tears of Joy," Buddy imagines what a collaboration between Django and Bill might sound like. Here too, the mandolin harmonies abound, as Buddy is joined by Mike on mandola and mandocello and Jeff Schmich on tenor mandolin. Gary's fiddle playing here is both hot and sweet, perfectly capturing the Paris swing sound that Stephane Grappelli perfected with Django in the 1930s. And if Bill Monroe were Irish, he might have written "Glenshane Pass," which Buddy wrote on a tour of Ireland and which also features Mike's mandolin harmony and yet another flowing melodic banjo break by Jerry.
Buddy showcases the phenomenally gifted flatpicker Bob Harris on "Riverhead Polka," a toe-tapping old timey flavored dance tune. And Bob has a very appealing turn on "Friar Tuch," Buddy's tribute to the late New York City Blue Grass impresario Doug Tuchman. Finally, bassist Ernie Sykes graces every tune on this recording with his flawless timing and his beautiful tone and intonation.
This music demonstrates Buddy Merriam's commitment to the Blue Grass sounds of Bill Monroe and also the breadth of his love of music. Although they cover a lot of musical ground, these instrumentals all are heartfelt, and that feeling is fully captured by Buddy and the other fine musicians on this recording. That, as much as anything else, shows the lineage to Bill. "Back Roads Mandolin" is a very satisfying recording that bears repeated listening.
Buddy Merriam: Press
Press Release (Aug 11, 2009)
Buddy Merriam – Back Roads Mandolin – Lily Pad Records No. 534, 52:25 *****:
Bluegrass mandolinist Buddy Merriam has lived most of his life far from the Blue Hills of Kentucky. He grew up in the Northeast and has lived and worked on Long Island for much of that time. Starting in the early 1980s and continuing until Monroe’s death in 1996, Merriam met with and studied with Monroe every time the Big Mon came through the area. Merriam learned both the familiar tunes and the rare songs straight from the master himself. He acknowledged that, “I was pretty much a Monroe guy from the beginning.” And that clearly shows with every pick of his mandolin and in every song he writes and plays.“Back Roads Mandolin” is a collection of Merriam’s original instrumental songs performed with the standard Bluegrass ensemble: Buddy Merriam on mandolin, Ernie Sykes on upright bass, Jerry Oland on 5-string banjo, Bob Harris on guitar, and Gary Oleyar on fiddle. Also included are Jeff Schmich on harmony mandolin and Mike Sassano, who fills in with the other members of the mandolin family: mandolin, mandola, and mandocello.
While for the most part, “Back Roads Mandolin” is a bluegrass record, Merriam does include a few other genres. “Gypsy Tears of Joy” is a gypsy jazz number and “Baldassari” is more of a contemporary acoustic tune. Other tracks, like “Circle of Chiefs,” sounds almost like a close cousin to the Monroe tune, “Cheyenne.” When Merriam and his crew are playing in hard-core Monroe mode, it’s almost like listening to Bill himself. As a matter of fact, the closest recording I can think of to “Back Roads Mandolin” is the 1976 recording, “Kenny Baker Plays Monroe,” where Monroe played back-up mandolin to his longtime fiddler Kenny Baker. This CD captures that level of performance. Everyone’s playing, especially Merriam on mandolin, is accomplished and confident, but more importantly, their energy and passion shines through in every track. These are musicians doing what they love, and it shows in every note. For people who love traditional bluegrass music, this is the real deal. Highly recommended.
TrackList:
1. Extra Special
2. Batchin’ It
3. DeVine Time
4. Harmony’s Waltz
5. Circle of Chiefs
6. Riverhead Polka
7. Gypsy Tears of Joy
8. Glenshane Pass
9. Putnam Valley Flash
10. Spirit of Rosine
11. Grassy Bud
12. Friar Tuch
13. My Dear Mother’s Waltz
14. Baldassari