Sam Bush Turned 63 Yesterday

On April 13th of every year since 1952 the Birthday of a bluegrass legend is celebrated. Sam Bush, born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, was exposed to bluegrass music at an early age through his dad's records and the Flatt & Scruggs television show. He bought and began to play his first mandolin at the age of 11 and hit the ground running. By the age of thirteen he had attended his first big bluegrass festival in Roanoke, VA in 1965; where his interest in the began music burn like fire. I his teen years he was a three time junior champion of the National Oldtime Fiddler's Contest in Weiser, Idaho.

Fast forward to the year 1970, when Bush was a young eighteen years old when he decided to move to Louisville, Kentucky to join the Bluegrass Alliance to play guitar at first then back to the mandolin. The original group that was the most well known during Bush's time there was the group from 1970-1971. This group consisted of Buddy Spurlock on banjo, Lonnie Peerce on fiddle, Ebo Walker on bass, Sam Bush on Mandolin and Tony Rice on Guitar. This group only lasted a year with Rice moving to J.D Crowe and the New South and Bush forming the New Grass Revival.

In the New Grass Revival, Bush was made famous for his way to go outside of the traditional bluegrass box and branch out. Though the group had many changes over the years, the notoriety of the group still stands to this day. With being a group that transcended bluegrass music into a new style, more people listened to it and more people began to follow them and other bluegrass bands. Bush and the New Grass Revival made a change in bluegrass music, some argue for the worst and others the better; but at the end of the day the man made a difference.

So here is the Sam Bush, one of the best all time and one of the pioneers of some of the music we hear today. Thank You Sam Bush and Happy Late Birthday!