Greensky Bluegrass and Margo Price at Red Rocks
This summer, I realized that bluegrass is my get-right music. Specifically, I’d struggled writing a review of a highly anticipated, but ultimately disappointing, new album, and I remembered that I’d just received an advance of a new Greensky Bluegrass single. Just listening to it made the angst and frustration melt away. Likewise, their jammy melodies have helped during subsequent stressful days – it’s float-away music, but with incredibly gifted musicians providing it. So when I was given the chance to catch Greensky and Margo Price at Red Rocks, I left AmericanaFest a day early, happy to be home in Colorado and looking forward to hearing some great music at the world’s most beautiful venue.
Saturday afternoon in the Denver metro was intermittently stormy, but roughly 15 minutes before showtime, the rain stopped, and the sky above Morrison began to clear. Margo Price started the evening off with nearly an hour of country and rock, featuring tunes from her new album, Hard Headed Woman, including “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” (which, as of this writing, may end up being the last song ever performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!). Even with a record to promote, though, she threw in a number of notable covers: Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” Andrew Combs’ “Too Stoned to Cry” (which she recorded with Billy Strings) and Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm.” By the time she poured out one of the best country songs of the past decade, “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle),” the now booze-less Price showed she still knows how to throw a party.
Just after 8pm, the five members of Greensky Bluegrass took the stage – no props, no guests, just five guys and their instruments (and, OK, one hell of a light show). The band is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year (and their 20th Red Rocks show), so the set was truly career spanning, starting with 2010’s easygoing “All Four.” Mandolinist Paul Hoffman sings the majority of the band’s lead vocals, but guitarist Dave Bruzza took the mic for an emotional “Streetlight.” Another highlight of the first set was the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle with Care” – as someone who missed Tom Petty’s last appearance at Red Rocks, I could take a small bit of solace in their extra-long rendition of this classic from another five-man band. Bruza had the unenviable task of filling in for Roy Orbison. Truth be told, he kinda nailed it.
The second set continued the tour of the band’s history, beginning with 2006’s “The Radio Blues,” from Tuesday Letter. Instrumentally, the highlight may have been “Past My Prime,” during which the band proved to be anything but, particularly with the banjo/Dobro interplay between Michael Arlen Bont and Anders Beck. On a serious note, it turns out that the shooting at Evergreen High School, which had happened three days earlier just 12 miles up the hill from Red Rocks, was on the mind of both bands. Margo Price mentioned it during her set (dedicating “Don’t Wake Me Up” to the students), while Hoffman told the crowd his child attends school in the same district, and that the band strives to “be a positive influence in the community,” Heavy moments for a heavy week in Jefferson County. The set also featured “Can’t Stop Now,” an appropriately uptempo track reinvigorated for the upcoming album XXV (featuring Sam Bush on the newly recorded version), and included a deep dive into Pink Floyd, with “Time” and “Breathe (In the Air).” The night’s encore was a scalding, electrified take on the band’s “Kerosene,” from 2014’s If Sorrows Swim. After nearly three hours of bluegrass/newgrass/jamgrass on an early autumn evening, my faith in the ability of five folks who can play a little to raise the my spirits (and those of the people around me) was rewarded,
Greensky Bluegrass is Anders Beck (Dobro), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (upright bass) and Paul Hoffman (mandolin)
Go here to order XXV (out October 31): https://greenskybluegrass.redstarmerch.com/collections/xxv
Check out tour dates here: https://greenskybg.wpengine.com/tour/
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Greensky Bluegrass at the Civic in NOLA
