IF YOU GO* What: beatlegras at Evening Shade.* When: 6:30 tonight.* Where: Johnston Park at Inman, Ocoee and Broad streets, Cleveland, Tenn. (In case of inclement weather, the concert will move to Arnold Memorial Elementary School, 473 Eighth St., NW.)* Admission: Free.* Phone: 423-472-6587.* Website: www.beatlegras.com.
By Paul Leach
Correspondent
For the closing event of Evening Shade, a Texas trio will put a bluegrass spin on classic Beatles tunes, mixed with a little jazzy bass.
That combination of Beatles and bluegrass equals beatlegras.
“To me, the fit was obvious when I first heard The Beatles,” said Dave Walser, beatlegras’ guitarist and vocalist. “We love these great songs. We love The Beatles and play them in a new way.”
Walser said he had always enjoyed bluegrass and saw a connection to The Beatles’ three-part harmonies and unique chord progressions. He soon envisioned a bluegrass twist to the Fab Four’s songs.
Walser found the right partners for his idea 40 years after seeing The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show”: Milo Deering and George Anderson. Deering plays mandolin, fiddle, Dobro and several other stringed instruments. Anderson plays upright bass. Both contribute vocals.
Deering, like Walser, has long played bluegrass. Anderson, who was not that familiar with The Beatles to begin with, brought an improvisational jazz background to the project — just what Walser was looking for.
“The traditional mind-set for bluegrass is that the bass provides percussion, and all the solos go to the banjo and mandolin,” Walser explained. “But George does as many solos as we do. He steals the show.”
Typically, beatlegras will do about 50 arrangements and play 25 to 30 songs at a show, according to Walser.
“If the audience leaves a show singing Beatles songs, we feel like we’ve done our job,” he said.
The band has released three CDs since 2006: “beatlegras,” “beatlegras2” and “in a perfect world.” Their recordings offer a few original tunes that complement their bluegrass-flavored renditions of Beatles songs.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. E-mail him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.