It takes a Rolodex of another order to bring together a group with the collective talent level of the David Grier All Stars.
Grier, a three-time International Bluegrass Music Association Guitarist of the Year, said when he began assembling players for a pair of shows built around a set list of traditional bluegrass, he focused on players with a combination of chops and personality.
“I play instrumental music all the time – that’s what I do – but I wanted something different,” he said. “I tried to find people I could get along with and whose music I appreciate. This is the group that came out of it.”
When Grier takes the stage at Barking Legs Theater tonight, he’ll be joined by a who’s who of instrumental and vocal talent, including fiddler Shad Cobb (John Cowan Band), mandolinist Stephen Mougin (Sam Bush Band), resonator guitarist Jimmy Stewart (Brooks & Dunn) and seven-time IBMA bassist of the year Missy Raines.
The All Stars are a loose group and not quite fully fledged. Their show tonight will be their third since their first performance about a month ago in Granville, Tenn.
Grier is the son of banjo player Lamar Grier, one of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, and was heavily inspired by family friends and bluegrass luminaries Clarence and Roland White.
Despite his heavy background in ‘grass, however, Grier is a progressive artist known for applying his flatpicking prowess to a number of genres. The set list tonight, however, will focus entirely on bluegrass standards, with nary an original piece included from the band’s collective catalog of originals.
Grier said tonight’s show will provide a chance to examine a part of himself that is sometimes neglected in the work he does with other artists and as the head of his label, Dreadnought.
“While I love (bluegrass) and that’s my roots, it’s not what I really get to do with the majority of my time,” he said. “We’re doing standards and songs that everybody will know. It’s going to be good — nice and easy.”
Q&A
IF YOU GO
* What: Flying Fingers Productions presents The David Grier All Stars.
* When: 8 p.m. today.
* Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.
* Admission: $15.
* Phone: 624-5347.
* Venue website: www.barkinglegs.org