While the performers are not from the Caribbean, this is another group paying homage to Bob Marley. The cornerstone of reggae music, being performed by a cornerstone of mandolin playing and progressive bluegrass, Sam Bush brings a whole new life to a classic Bob Marley tune. In paying tribute to Marley by shouting him out several times throughout this live performance, this bluegrass take on a reggae classic is something that is not new to bluegrass music. In fact, there are a large variety of reggae tunes being performed by American performers in this genre.
The instrumentation is different than that of a traditional reggae band, but there are many similarities and this performance is still true to that genre of music. The acoustic guitar in this case has some wah-pedal effects as well as flange that gives it an electric sound and almost keyboard/organ tone. Instead of the guitar filling in the middle, syncopated beats, Sam takes his mandolin style to fill in those rhythms and was heavily influenced by Marley’s guitar playing in crafting a new bluegrass mandolin style. The bass and drums are very much true to reggae and the original song from Marley in this cover. The harmony lines, while all male here, are also very effective in delivering honor to the original tune in a new interpretation. Even the banjo does not sound terribly out of place in this style. Unfortunately, they had to have the fiddle sit this tune out to still make it sound like the original Marley tune. I think that this interpretation is extremely impressive and true to what we know reggae to be and really does sound more like the original Marley song than a bluegrass song, or what bluegrass is considered by many to be.
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