BlueRidge

BlueRidge: Side by Side

by C. Michael Bailey
February 4, 2004

The sacred and profane interface seamlessly in bluegrass music as they do in the blues. It could be argued that the only qualitative differences between bluegrass and the blues are cultural ones, African-American versus Western European. But the thematic common denominators are the same: love, loss, God, Saturday night, and Sunday morning.

BlueRidge is a South Carolina-based standard bluegrass quintet lead by master mandolinist Alan Bibey. The band is a heady mixture of old and new. Equally inspired ...