What Bluegrass Can Be

Last December, bassist/writer/generally accepted authority on bluegrass Jon Weisberger was the subject of a fairly lengthy interview on NPR titled “A Bigger Tent: A Frank Conversation about Diversity and the Future of Bluegrass.” Weisberger discussed diversity of race, age, gender, and sexual orientation in the bluegrass genre, including in awards and marquee performances at the annual gathering of the International Bluegrass Music Association, whose board Weisberger formerly chaired. Awards in particular have generally tended to skew toward white, male traditionalists, the discussion noted, but Weisberger pointed out a slow change and a path forward to correct that.

While discussing the inclusion of LGBTQ events at IBMA happenings, Weisberger said the following:

I wore my little Bluegrass Pride button around IBMA all week and I made sure I went up and hugged Jerry Salley’s neck and shook hands with Doyle Lawson and all those guys just as a reminder, because I know all of them don’t agree with that. But it’s important to humanize and keep the relationships that are real, that are necessary for the music to grow and prosper. You’ve really got to bring everybody in there.

On Watch it Burn, Weisberger puts the values he preaches into practice musically by teaming up with Justin Hiltner, a youthful voice who’s made his mission expanding the diversity of bluegrass by encouraging the perspectives and talents of fellow LGBTQ artists through both journalism and songwriting.

The resultant album is a seamless merging of the talents and personalities of two individuals coming into bluegrass from two different eras and perspectives. Listening to it, you wouldn’t know that this is Hiltner’s debut album. You wouldn’t know Weisberger is coming into it with 40-plus years of experience.

There’s a sense of ease to the collaboration, leaving you feeling like the two have written and recorded together for years. It’s also auditory proof of Weisberger’s message that there’s ample room in bluegrass to develop new relationships in order to help the genre not only continue the current traditions, but to develop and expand beyond the concepts of jam-bluegrass and traditionalism. That sensibility is expanded even further on the roster of guest artists: among them up-and-comers Molly Tuttle, Tristan Scroggins, and Kimber Ludiker as well as veteran Tim O’Brien.

The title track and album opener immediately sets the tone for this pairing. “Watch it Burn” is a hot little uptempo number that showcases Hiltner’s deft banjo picking and the texture Weisberger adds to it on the upright bass. It’s a tune that fits in to the familiar bluegrass sonic palette, but the combination of Hiltner’s lyrics and delivery give it enough of a modern sensibility to pull in casual listeners.

“Winnsboro Blue” is a classic-style fire-and-brimstone cut guided by some torrid fiddle work and ominous banjo melody. “What I Miss the Most” is the most recent single off Watch it Burn. Hiltner said it arose out of realizing his “predictable post-tour funk was largely thanks to not feeling like I was coming home to anyone who had missed me.” The Hiltner-Weisberger tune is a classic country take on loneliness and weariness, but the lush, bluegrass-tinged accompaniment puts a different spin on it.

“Half of the Rest of my Life” and “I’m Not in Love With You” are of a similar construct. They take familiar melodies and genre characteristics, but put just enough of a spin on them to make something that can please traditionalists while still making something that sounds fresh.

And that’s what Watch it Burn does best. By combining a younger, ascendant talent with someone who has decades of experience and goodwill in music circle, it opens up new possibilities for a more vibrant, inclusive bluegrass community.

In that aforementioned interview with NPR, Weisberger noted that, when it comes to acknowledging new and different voices, “Bluegrass is slow to move.” Through Watch it Burn, Weisberger and Hiltner have done their part to move that change along a little bit faster.