Bluegrass Unlimited Podcast
This week we are featuring fiddler Richard Greene. Richard grew up in Los Angeles and was part of the early bluegrass scene in Southern California. Most bluegrass fans are aware that he later went on to play with Bill Monroe, Seatrain, Muleskinner, Old and in the Way, The Grass is Greener and many more. He has had a very long and distinguished career in bluegrass and acoustic music.
Bluegrass Today on Muleskinner
On February 13, 1973, Muleskinner – the first super group of bluegrass music – made its debut on what was the first nationally televised bluegrass music concert.
The program was intended as a showcase for Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. However, a bus breakdown meant that they missed their scheduled appearance at the KCET-TV studio in Hollywood, California.
Former Blue Grass Boys Richard Greene (fiddle), Bill Keith (banjo), and Peter Rowan (vocals, guitar), joined by David Grisman (vocals, mandolin), Clarence White (vocals, guitar), and Stuart Schulman (bass) stepped into the breach, and thus the band Muleskinner was formed.
Interview with Jim Moss
A extended interview with Richard Greene
conducted by Jim Moss 3-21-98 to 10-13-99: Part 1
Over they years I have heard lots of stories of many musicians and I have to say
that my expectation before this interview or its preceding emails was that I
would be in for a tough time conducting an interview with Richard Greene. After all,
this was the guy who added the “modern alternative” concept to Bill Monroe’s
1940’s based music form. It is not uncommon to hear Bluegrass Boys of other
bands refer to the band with Greene in it as “Wild” as in “Now that was a pretty
wild bunch” or “Well, I guess Monroe was experimenting at that time”.
Interview with Laura Risk: ‘ The Chop’
I am currently enrolled in the PhD program in musicology at McGill University. My thesis research will be on the transformation of Scottish fiddle tunes in Québec, but I’ve had the pleasure of working on a number of other fascinating projects through my coursework
over the last few years. This summer I’m working on two projects, the first about the spread of “chopping” into various North Atlantic fiddling genres, and the second about Los Angeles jazz violinist Ginger Smock.
Here are some excerpts from a paper I’m currently writing about chopping. I start with answers to the three most frequent questions I have been asked and then move into a description of my research project.