Feb 2008 Guests: Liza Bluff

I have had the pleasure of listening to many bluegrass artists over the years, as the soundman for Lost River Bluegrass, the "house" band at The Star Theater in Willow Springs, Missouri. This month's guest band, Liza Bluff, gave one of my favorite performances ever! If you missed the show, you really missed an enjoyable evening with acoustic bluegrass / folk music.

Liza Bluff is not the name of the lead female vocalist, as some might speculate (I thought so too). Instead it is the name of a bluff somewhere near where this band calls "home" (near Lebanon, Missouri). Liza Bluff is comprised of four members: guitar, banjo, mandolin and bass. The banjo, mandolin and bass players all share lead and harmony vocal duties.

What made this show great is that the band was small, yet had a full sound - so there was not a lot of "competing" for positions in the sound mix. Also, they focused on playing songs and performing them, rather than focusing on who was going to be featured for what solo during each song. A lot of modern bluegrass artists like to "show off" when they play live, in an attempt to impress the crowd, but to me its a real turn off. Liza Bluff just played their songs, focused on doing that well and connecting with the crowd. They succeeded and I had an enjoyable evening of bluegrass music.

Of course, you can catch some of the songs I recorded straight off of the mixing board, since I've uploaded them to the Live Ozarks Bluegrass website I created on Soundclick.com. Please feel free to listen and comment on what you hear.