Hi Kids, Larry here. I play guitar with the Nevah Band. Some of you may have noticed the word “prograssabilly” on our blog site. We at Nevah, Inc. are always making up silly words and this is our latest. It came about one day when we were sitting around discussing the merits of the term progressive newgrass (see my former blog about said topic) and what that means, if anything. (You might think we have a lot of time on our hands, but we really don’t!) I guess you could say that prograssabilly is a play on that made-up word, with something that sounds like rockabilly (an older made-up word!).
Now whether the band Nevah has specific elements of progressive music, bluegrass, newgrass or rockabilly may be open to dispute – all I can say is that we are all influenced by these and other types of music that we heard and liked growing up (especially), and all of these influences come out in our sound. Me, I loved rock n’ roll as a kid, but caught the folk bug early, and gravitated towards music that now is called “roots” music or (shudder!) Americana. But what I used to think of as “real” music of the people has changed over the years. Are Elvis (Presley or Costello) and the Stones/Beatles and the Clash any less the music of the people? You know the old Stones vs. Beatles question (those of you are old enough that is!). Well when I was a kid my town (a factory town in Massachusetts) had a heavy biker culture – me I favored a Schwinn 3-speed, but there were a lot of tricked out Harleys around town ridden by big hairy guys – and the “Stones” ruled – they actually played there in 1966, which caused a huge riot (it didn’t take much in those days!). What does any of this have to do with prograssabilly? Well, I guess the music we grew up with has a strong influence on us. Hillbilly turned into rockabilly with a new generation which morphed into rock n’ roll which then developed into “rock” before splintering into numerous sub-genres. But the hillbilly back beat is in all of those musical styles – as well as in some of its country cousins, like bluegrass. And all of these things turn back on themselves - heck, the Stones had a bunch of country tunes, like "Country Honk"! Now the progressive part – we most certainly don’t play any avant-garde jazz – but we like to think we take a “progressive” approach to music – trying new things with old material. And we don’t hew strictly to the I/IV/V – 4 beats to a measure structure of songs. I mean have you LISTENED to Nevah play the tune "Steve and Betty?" Does any of this make sense? I don’t know any more. What were we talking about?
Now whether the band Nevah has specific elements of progressive music, bluegrass, newgrass or rockabilly may be open to dispute – all I can say is that we are all influenced by these and other types of music that we heard and liked growing up (especially), and all of these influences come out in our sound. Me, I loved rock n’ roll as a kid, but caught the folk bug early, and gravitated towards music that now is called “roots” music or (shudder!) Americana. But what I used to think of as “real” music of the people has changed over the years. Are Elvis (Presley or Costello) and the Stones/Beatles and the Clash any less the music of the people? You know the old Stones vs. Beatles question (those of you are old enough that is!). Well when I was a kid my town (a factory town in Massachusetts) had a heavy biker culture – me I favored a Schwinn 3-speed, but there were a lot of tricked out Harleys around town ridden by big hairy guys – and the “Stones” ruled – they actually played there in 1966, which caused a huge riot (it didn’t take much in those days!). What does any of this have to do with prograssabilly? Well, I guess the music we grew up with has a strong influence on us. Hillbilly turned into rockabilly with a new generation which morphed into rock n’ roll which then developed into “rock” before splintering into numerous sub-genres. But the hillbilly back beat is in all of those musical styles – as well as in some of its country cousins, like bluegrass. And all of these things turn back on themselves - heck, the Stones had a bunch of country tunes, like "Country Honk"! Now the progressive part – we most certainly don’t play any avant-garde jazz – but we like to think we take a “progressive” approach to music – trying new things with old material. And we don’t hew strictly to the I/IV/V – 4 beats to a measure structure of songs. I mean have you LISTENED to Nevah play the tune "Steve and Betty?" Does any of this make sense? I don’t know any more. What were we talking about?
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