by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
WHAT: The Lions Seafood and Music Festival
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, March 10th and 11th
WHERE: Francis Field, St. Augustine
In 2002, mandolin avatar Bryan Simpson formed a modern bluegrass band called Cadillac Sky that paid homage to the roots bluegrass of Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe, but included a more modern sound that crossed over into rock with plenty of room for improvisation. Bryan’s idea was to build a solid foundation of traditional bluegrass and then add the other elements, like spices in a gumbo. The band would play all original music expressing Bryan’s creative lyrical and musical ideas.
Along with banjo wizard, Matt Menefee, Bryan was beginning to have success as a mainstream country songwriter. However, he had other personal material that he felt deserved a new forum. So Matt and Bryan became the core of Cadillac Sky. Soon Simpson added Mike Jump on guitar from Southern Union, Ross Homes on fiddle, and Andy Moritz on bass. Cadillac Sky was born with a new sound and vision. The old and new had melded in a new sound.
To probe deeper into the Cadillac Sky project, I called Brian to chat about the evolution and present state of Cadillac Sky.
“My vision for this band was to combine traditional bluegrass with modern songs and new rhythmic ideas and craft a new sound. Matt Menefee and I put the band together in 2002 and we were very fortunate to find top-tier players who gelled together musically and personally, which is important out on the road.”
“Everyone in the band comes from such different musical backgrounds, but we all bring our own concepts to the group. You can hear a lot of classical and jazz influences that I have cultivated. Mike grew up with 1970s rock. A lot of his harmony singing and rhythm playing reflect that. Above all, we aim to play more progressive grass and span the gap between old and new. By having such diversity of musical backgrounds, the blend of players does that through ESP on stage. We work on unusual ways of presenting the material to make it different. In other words, we endeavor to keep it fresh.”
“We finally released our new record titled Blind Man Walking and we are touring to support it. Lately we have been inviting guest artists to our shows to keep it interesting for us and the audience. We had Ricky Skaggs perform at our CD release party on Jan. 23, 2007. And, at another gig, we invited a local gospel choir to perform with us. The wildest guest artist was an 8 member clogging troupe who danced to our faster material.”
“In a nutshell, we just want to progress and keep moving our music forward, expanding on the traditional bluegrass sound with new songs. Yes, it’s difficult to write new material on the road, but I do it for the future of the band. We already have enough material for two new albums and when we take a break from touring, we’ll be back in the studio to record. I know of bands that toured and never wrote new material. They didn’t last long. You can’t keep playing gigs with the same old material. People expect new material. And that is what we intend to give them.”
“We definitely have progressive leanings, but we are trying to find our own voice and not be flimsy retreads of the New Grass Revival or Nickel Creek, even though we love their stuff. I like acoustic music for its honest energy. We have the talented musicians and the will to establish our band’s sound in the national arena. And so we are making it happen,” Bryan said.
At that point, we ended our conversation. The mighty Cadillac Sky will be performing at the Lions Seafood and Music Festival in St. Augustine Mar. 10 & 11, 2007 . The band will be featured on a Sirrius Bluegrass Satellite Radio show titled, Getting to Know Cadillac Sky Feb. 23rd.
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