I am a big, big fan of live music. When I was in college my best friend had a large collection of Grateful Dead bootleg tapes. By the end of college I had become accustomed listening to live shows only. Today, it is quite rare for me to listen to an album. While I appreciate the album as a completed work of art, it just doesn’t seem to have the soul and excitement that a live show has.
One of the great things about bluegrass is that it has a very strong taper tradition. In fact Jerry Garcia himself used to tape bluegrass bands around the bay area in the early 60’s.
Now days, I am a very experienced bootleg listener. There are certain microphones I prefer, and certain tapers I look for. For example, any show taped by Bill Kouky is going to be excellent quality.
I just think that it is so, so cool to be able to listen to a David Bromberg show that took place in Italy last week!
The most convenient place to find live and legal bootlegs is at bt.etree.org. You will find a lot of jam band music on here, but a lot of other stuff comes through as well….and a lot of bluegrass. Just lately some new shows have been put up and I have had the great pleasure of listening to, and I recommend them to anyone. Here are some of the really good ones:
Tony Rice Unit 2004-03-23 ~ Smilefest, Union Grove, NC ~ SBD DAT Master ~ uncirculated
Sam Bush 2009-05-23 Delfest 2009 Cumberland, MD
David & Nancy Bromberg – May 24th, 2009 – Vicenza, Italy
Del McCoury Band 2009-05-22 Delfest 2009 Cumberland, MD BSC1-K2
Junior Brown, Summer Camp Festival, Chillicothe, IL, 2009-05-22
CharlieHunterTrio2009-05-24-Hopmunk Tavern-Sebastopol,CA.MK22
Steep Canyon Rangers 2009-05-22 Delfest BSC1-K2
the Greencards April 18, 2009 Brooksville, FL; sbd
Infamous Stringdusters 2009-05-22 Delfest 2009 Cumberland, MD BSC1 K2
Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal
