Sam Bush (born 1952) is a mandolin player, fiddler, and singer from Bowling Green, Kentucky. He co-founded New Grass Revival in 1971 and led it for 18 years, and Kentucky has named him the Father of Newgrass. He won the first three IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year awards, from 1990 to 1992, and a fourth in 2007. He has been inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame twice, with New Grass Revival in 2020 and on his own in 2023.
Why Bush matters
Bush gave the bluegrass mandolin a new groove. He heard Bob Marley and the Wailers and found that the reggae offbeat fit the mandolin chop like a glove. He played long, open jams like a rock band and brought rock, reggae, and funk songs to bluegrass stages. Almost every jam band, newgrass band, and progressive bluegrass band since owes something to the sound he built with New Grass Revival. He is also one of the few players admired by traditionalists and rebels alike.
Life and career
Bush was born on April 13, 1952, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and grew up on a cattle farm. His father, a fiddler, ran local jams and hoped his son would fiddle on the Grand Ole Opry. Then Sam saw a young Ricky Skaggs play mandolin on the Flatt and Scruggs TV show, and at 11 he bought his first mandolin. He also kept fiddling and won the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest three times. In 1965 he went to the first bluegrass festival, in Virginia. As a high school senior he recorded Poor Richard’s Almanac with Wayne Stewart and Alan Munde.
In 1970 he joined the Bluegrass Alliance in Louisville, first on guitar, then on mandolin after Tony Rice joined. In 1971 he and three bandmates left and formed New Grass Revival. Bassist John Cowan joined in 1974, and the band first played Telluride in 1975, the start of Bush’s long reign there. From 1979 they backed Leon Russell. In 1981 Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn joined, and the band signed with Capitol. They split at the end of 1989.
Bush spent the next five years in Emmylou Harris’s Nash Ramblers. In 1989 he joined Fleck, Mark O’Connor, Jerry Douglas, and Edgar Meyer in Strength in Numbers. He toured with Lyle Lovett and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones in 1995, then formed the Sam Bush Band. His solo albums include Late as Usual (1984), Glamour and Grits (1996), Howlin’ at the Moon (1998), and Laps in Seven (2006). He hosted the IBMA Awards in 2007 and 2011, and the 2015 film Revival: The Sam Bush Story told his life. He lives in Nashville.
Playing style
The Bush chop is the place to start. He plays the offbeat chop of bluegrass, but he pushes it like a reggae guitar or a rock snare drum. It turns a mandolin into a drum kit. In his solos he mixes Monroe’s blues licks, fiddle-tune runs, and rock bends, often building over many choruses the way a rock guitarist builds a jam.
He plays with fire. His right hand is aggressive and his tone is big. He switches between mandolin and fiddle on stage, and his fiddle background shows in how he phrases long, flowing lines on the mandolin.
Influences and legacy
Bush grew up on Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, the Osborne Brothers, and the Dillards, and he found his groove in Bob Marley. He played beside Tony Rice, John Cowan, Béla Fleck, Pat Flynn, Emmylou Harris, Mark O’Connor, Jerry Douglas, and Edgar Meyer.
His fiddle side has its own page: Sam Bush on fiddle. On mandolin, his influence runs through Chris Thile, Sierra Hull, and Jeff Austin. Bush and Hull have shared festival stages, including Grey Fox in 2018.
Signature tunes and songs
Brilliancy Turkey in the Straw Uncle Pen.
Essential recordings
Poor Richard’s Almanac, with Wayne Stewart and Alan Munde (1969) Late as Usual (1984) Telluride Sessions, with Strength in Numbers (1989) Glamour and Grits (1996) Laps in Seven (2006)
Awards and honors
IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year (1990) IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year (1991) IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year (1992) IBMA Album of the Year, True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe (1997) Kentucky Music Hall of Fame (2006) IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year (2007) Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement for Instrumentalist (2009) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, with New Grass Revival (2020) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2023) Three Grammy Awards from 14 nominations
Watch and listen
Bush plays his tune Brilliancy for the Gondola Sessions. Listen to the drive in his right hand.
Bush and Sierra Hull trade breaks on Turkey in the Straw at Grey Fox in 2018.
What to learn from Bush
Learn the Bush reggae chop. Play a simple song in G, but instead of chopping on two and four, chop on every offbeat, the “and” between the beats. Mute each chord the instant it sounds and lean into it a hair late. Then try it behind a bluegrass song for one verse. Once you feel that groove, you will hear it in half the newgrass records you know.
Sources
Sam Bush, Wikipedia Bio, Sam Bush official site Sam Bush, IBMA award recipients Mandolin Player of the Year, IBMA recipients by year
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Bush’s fiddle side is on his fiddle page. David Grisman pushed the mandolin past bluegrass in the same years. Chris Thile and Sierra Hull carry his ideas forward.