36. Ryan Shupe Discusses The Best of New Grass Revival

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Country rock and bluegrass musician Ryan Shupe introduces me to the world of progressive bluegrass by way of The Best of New Grass Revival on this episode. We discussed some of Ryan’s favorite songwriters, the influence that New Grass Revival has had on Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband and several of his favorite tracks on this 1994 greatest hits compilation.

Note: On this episode, we had discussed the timing of the covers of Angel Eyes by New Grass Revival and Jeff Healy Band but weren’t sure which came first. It was the Jeff Healy version that came out first, as a track on the See The Light album, which was released in September 1988. New Grass Revival’s version was on their Friday Night in America album, which came out in 1989.

You can find Ryan on Twitter at @ryanshupe and on Instagram at @theryanshupe. As he noted on this episode, you can also contact him by submitting a message on the contact form at https://ryanshupe.com/contact.

Al is on Twitter at @almelchiorBB, and he is also on both Twitter and Instagram at @youmealbum. Those latter accounts are where he announces upcoming guests and featured albums, so give those accounts a follow if you want to be in the know!

1:02 Ryan joins the show

1:33 Ryan talks about his son’s ordeal with COVID-19 and MIS-C

3:24 Ryan has been playing music since the age of 5

4:37 Ryan formed Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband in college

6:01 Ryan and Al could have talked about Bruce Springsteen instead

9:13 Some may think calling New Grass Revival a bluegrass band is blasphemous

12:46 Ryan’s goal with the Rubberband is to take the New Grass Revival concept a little further

13:40 Ryan admires New Grass Revival for their songwriting and arranging

16:56 Al asked Ryan about genres that are hard for him to warm up to, and his answer surprised him

19:05 It could be easy to miss some of the nuances of bluegrass

20:32 Finding unique musicians and bands in any genre requires some work

26:51 Ryan’s skater friends from Germany didn’t just stick to skater music

28:20 Ryan felt like picking a greatest hits compilation might have been a cop-out

Breakdown of selected tracks

29:42 Callin’ Baton Rouge

36:39 Revival

43:49 Hold to a Dream

45:11 In the Middle of the Night

50:07 Love Someone Like Me

52:50 Metric Lips

58:05 You Plant Your Fields

1:01:41 I’m Down

1:04:22 Angel Eyes

1:08:22 Ryan has kept his band’s tour close to home

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