While many Nashvillians attended Titans playoff watch parties on Saturday night, January 11, music fans packed the house at Marathon Music Works to see the Sam Bush Band, along with the Travelin’ McCourys, who opened the evening.
Ronnie McCoury, son of the famed Del McCoury, took the stage and announced to cheers that the Titans were up 14-0 over the Baltimore Ravens before opening with “Passin’ Through.” The Travelin’ McCourys include Ronnie singing lead and playing a mean mandolin, along with his brother Rob on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle, Alan Bartram on bass, and Cody Kilby on guitar. They moved into “Heartbreak Town,” followed by “Standing Alone,” with Carter singing lead.
The set list varied between instrumentals, sometimes at breakneck speed, as well as originals, including “Hardest Heart,” written by Bartram. The crowd, younger than one might have expected for bluegrass stalwarts, revved up for the band’s rendition of the Grateful Dead’s “Cumberland Blues,” with Ronnie McCoury’s son joining them on guitar. Fans hoping to hear band favorites were treated to “Let Her Go.” The band moved seamlessly between songs, with Ronnie making little chitchat in between. No one complained—or even seemed to notice–when the McCoury’s set ran a little overtime.
Sam Bush took the stage wearing a Titans jersey. When he claimed to know “part of the score,” telling the crowd the Titans had 21 points, many in the crowd called back, “Twenty-eight!” Masters at multitasking, from the back of the venue, a few in the audience watched the game unfolding on small screens perched on high-top tables and in laps. The game, however, never took precedence over the music. The Sam Bush Band opened with a John Hartford song, “On the Road,” not the last for the night written by the late entertainer.
Next they played “Nashville Blues,” by the legendary Doc Watson, to whom Bush remained close for years, followed by “Up on the Hill Where They Do the Boogie,” another Hartford song that remains a favorite in the band’s repertoire.
Bush said it was “time to jam on an instrumental,” playing “Crooked Smile” before introducing his band. He said his bass player Todd Parks has “probably played ‘Rocky Top’ more than anyone else in the world, even the Osborne Brothers,” during his time as a member of the University of Tennessee’s marching band.
Bush introduced Scott Vestal on banjo and drummer Chris Brown, who played with the Charlie Daniels Band before joining Bush. He called Stephen “Mojo” Moujin, his guitarist a “wonderful singer and great mandolin player.” After band introduction, Bush made the old joke, “We play all kinds of music—CountryandWestern, then promised a little reggae..”
“Not all songs can be positive,” he told the crowd, “but this one is.” They launched into the reggae tune “Everything Is Possible.” Like the McCourys, the Sam Bush Band moved easily across musical lines, following “I Just Wanna Feel Something” with “My Shot” from Hamilton. Announcing it was “time for a banjo tune,” they featured Scott Vestal on “Up on the Blue Ridge.”
Moujin sang lead on “Only You and You Alone,” and the band came through with crowd pleasers including “Circles Around Me,” co-written with Jeff Black, and “Howling at the Moon,” perfect for a night when the full moon peeked through the clouds.
After announcing the Titans victory, the band plugged in for the finale of the set. With Vestal moving to the banjo synthesizer, Moujin to the electric guitar, and Bush on his electric mandolin (which he described as “Clapton’s guitar after taxes”), they launched into “Stop the Violence.”
Without the need for much urging from the audience, who had no plans to leave, Sam Bush called out the full Travelin’ McCourys for a full-stage jam, featuring pairs of most instruments, with Sam and Ronnie alternating their distinct styles on mandolin. They moved from original jam songs to a little Jerry Garcia (“Thank You for a Real Good Time”). When Ronnie McCoury picked up his electric mandolin for this song, he told Bush, “It’s your fault.”
They followed with some pure bluegrass to close out the night. The pairing of the Travelin’ McCourys with the Sam Bush Band seemed a natural fit. Either could have taken the headliner position, and both seemed completely unrestricted by genre, even with their roots planted firmly in bluegrass. While many groups play a predicable set list with few changes from city to city, both of these bands broke with the trend, and the audience was happy to be along for a good ride.