It's Friday night and the Cary Street Cafe is packed, and I have to say, I love this place for its character. The place has more Grateful Dead posters than southern California, and there's the front end of a VW bus leaned against one wall. Whiskey Rebellion piles onto a small stage at one end of the cafe, and the show gets started.

I immediately notice the fiddler, Mary Simpson. She's short, she has something to prove, and she plays like she means it. I learn that she's classically trained, has a sister who's a professional violinist, and a father who's a serious bluegrass banjo player. This girl has bluegrass in her blood,  and the fiddle strokes to prove it. I ask her after the show if there's any tension between her classical training and her bluegrass performance. "No," she tells me that her classical background gives her a wider variety of tones and better control of her sound than she would have had she only studied bluegrass.

Mary and the mandolin player, Jared Pool, go way back. They met at a bluegrass festival when they were both about 12. She tells me that she remembers Jared beating her older brother in a guitar contest at the festival. They have occasionally crossed paths ever since, and are now delighted to be playing together. Though he's playing mandolin now, Jared also has a degree in guitar performance.

The versatility of Whiskey Rebellion is one of their major assets. They are so familiar with each other, their music, and their instruments that they can play anything. They take requests from the crowd, and do a fine job turning whatever anyone shouts out into a great bluegrass jam. They played the Talking Heads in perfect bluegrass, which I had not thought possible. The crowd loves it, and a fair number of people are dancing.

In between sets, I get the chance to talk to the band. I enjoy our conversations a great deal. The thing that sticks out in my mind is that these guys are really in it for the love of the music. "What made you choose Bluegrass?" I ask Ryan Phillips, the band's guitarist and primary songwriter, "It's more about the players," he says. He goes on to tell me that the big draw to Bluegrass, for him at least, is that the genre really allows musicians to explore their skills and to grow.

Ryan goes on to tell me about the festivals. Apparently, there is an entire subculture of Bluegrass festivals all around the country. For Bluegrass, the festivals really work, since everyone has a common body of songs, progressions, and forms to draw from, so it's easy to create an impromptu jam session. Everyone in Whiskey Rebellion grew up in this Bluegrass festival scene, improvising around campfires and getting to know the music and the scene. It's this broad familiarity with Bluegrass that gives Whiskey Rebellion their flexibility; they're on the frontier of Bluegrass, pushing traditional limits and making some great music.

Links:

Whiskey Rebellion on MySpace

WhiskeyRebellion.net - You can buy their cd, Whiskey Rebellion, here

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