I thought Marcel did a great job with that video. I’m not a fan of Billy myself, but he’s definitely bringing a lot of new people into the genre who end up finding the other artists. I want to see bluegrass keep thriving and hopefully keep getting bigger and bigger, and Billy is helping in that department. Gotta appreciate him for that.
Jake Strings
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I thought he did a good job on the video. I’d never say I hate an artist but there are musicians I wouldn’t go see even if they were in my area. That pretty much sums up my feelings, although I don’t have any problem with the concept of bluegrass getting more popular in the mainstream.
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What does Ricky have to say about it?
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My favorite Billy Strings quote:
“Bluegrass taught me to play.
Rock taught me to perform.”
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I think he’d be better if he hadn’t let rock teach him how to perform, but oh well. 
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In the event a name artist is a member here, reminds me of, when I was a member of Gunsmoke Gang who I was the resident reviewer for, in addition to many fan fiction contributions. I made the mistake of saying I wasn’t a fan of the character Thad. Turned out, unbeknownst to me, Roger Ewing who played the character was a member of the board, and also a very nice and gracious man. A friend over there called it to my attention which caused me to PM the board admin to request my thread be deleted. He complied and just to make me feel better, more or less told me actors of that day had thick skin and didn’t think it was a big deal. So yeah, never know who is watching. Anyone could be using a pseudo name.
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Newgrass has been around quite a while now, Is just the natural progression for art forms to take different twists and turns. A lot of your bluegrass artists today sound progressive compared to artists of an earlier era. A guy who was ahead of his time as a bluegrass artist was Happy Traum, who could be a bluegrass purist, but also had an eclectic side.
I think if Billy was reading the comments would be happy what he is doing is being noticed because, eventually some of the non-fans could acquire a taste for what he is doing. I know that’s how it is with me. What I liked at one time, may have moved on from, and stuff I didn’t used to like, I now have taken an interest in. Is the reason I’m here nw. Didn’t always listen to bluegrass, it just started to grow on me.
People in their early 20s or younger will be surprised the changes you will go through, and not just talking music.
Here is an interesting bit of progressive playing by an artist I have heard mentioned in this board, with some here I believe even know him. The passage I am referring to starts just after the 2:24 mark. As soon as I heard that was thinking, sounds a lot like legendary guitarist Uli Von Roth. So in the second video listen to the phrase starting just before the 2:38 mark. Both sections run about 5 seconds. Jake’s phrase has Uli Von Roth written all over it
You can hear quite a few such similarities in deferent genres of music and like we were talking, pops up in Billy’s playing.
(1) Jake Workman - 2010 Texas Flatpicking Champion - Dixie Hoedown & Wheel Hoss - Bing video
(1) Catch Your Train - YouTube
Here’s another example. Now the reason I’m pointing these out is because you have guys reaching for stuff and stretching the boundaries. Now Billy may do it more than others by playing extended jams, but there are others borrowing form other genres which at times borders on fusion.
Here is Trey Hensley playing a lick similar to what Carlos Cavazo played back in the 80’s. Not very long but starts at the 1:19 mark. Video 1. Then listen to video 2, starts at the 1:43 mark. Both are only a few seconds.
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I have not listened to this artist very much, primarily because I am relatively new to the Bluegrass community, and have just started listening seriously to this genre this last five or six years or so. I am an R&B, blues, pop, rock bassist who is pretty much retired from all that stuff. In my senior years I am turning my attention to the acoustic guitar and Bluegrass. In my 45+ years of being a musician my primary interest has been in the composing arena, which has forced me to keep a pretty open mind about music as I am always looking for ideas and I’m always looking for musical gems that I can incorporate into my writing and composing. So I listen to this video and watch this video and I was fascinated by how he got in and out of that freeform section. I loved it.
I am part of a bluegrass/folk/country trio where I live in Dallas Georgia. And by and large the Bluegrass community here is an open minded group of folks. But there is a contingent of rigid old line Bluegrass players who will not step out of the boundaries of “pure bluegrass“ to try something different. As a result this trio I am part of does not get invited to many bluegrass events. Although we play bluegrass tunes primarily, we have in our Setlist many nontraditional tunes which we try to “grass up”. This is due in part to the fact that the majority influence in my life musically was the folk music of the 60s and 70s, and our other guitar player is a country musician who played in southern rock groups and country groups around Metro Atlanta back in his day, and our lead singer is a classically trained vocalist. we come from three very different directions musically. And as a result some of our decisions as to how we play a tune will not be strictly Bluegrass in its style.
All that being said, I hear someone like Billy strings and I am enthused as a musician, but I can certainly understand why that free-for-all solo section in the middle of the video we just watched can be unsettling for those in the Bluegrass community. As I analyzed that section of this video, the first thing that came to mind was the mandolin continually chopping. In my mind that was the one element that kept the song connected, however tenuously, to Bluegrass.
Wow can you tell that I woke up at 4:30 in the morning Eastern standard time bright eyed and bushy tailed? What do I do when I can’t go to sleep? I tune into Banjo Ben and find a heavy duty discussion and wax philosophical. Ha!
Mr g
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Phil O’Sophical is a great name for a surfboard! 
As an aside, I once heard someone describe the classic bluegrass band as a “four or five piece band of Southern Baptists who never smile, wearing suits that are too small, playing foot-tapping music for people who are forbidden to dance.”
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Hey, we’re neighbors! I’m a little over an hour from Dallas.
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</Sarcasm alert Sarcasm Alert/> How much value can you really give Ricky Skaggs opinion on music 
I think as traditional as Skaggs plays I’ve seen him with Bruce Hornsby, Ry Cooder, Jack White, Brian Setzer and probably lots of other musicians outside the country/bluegrass world (seems like he was part of an duet album Ray Charles). Boone Creek was considered pretty progressive back in the day as well.
In the end, you enjoy what you enjoy. Be open to hearing new things but if you don’t enjoy something, it’s OK. It’s does not make a a bad person if you don’t like something. Art (whether it’s music, movies, paintings, etc) is pretty much interpreted differently by every individual person which is makes each of us who we are. Sometimes it’s not even the music that turns us off (my wife will never go to a Chris Thile show simply because she can’t stand to see his facial expressions and the way he moves while playing 
)
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where do you live?
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Crandall
the people anxiously await for Libby’s reply
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I have no problem with musical progressiveness and taking any genre to new territories. It isn’t “how bluegrass this is” that would keep me from listening to a show. It’s more how clean is the music and what values does this artist stand for and portray… lyrically, and by lifestyle. That’s the decision breaker for me personally on which artists I’m a fan of. Some of the most impressive bluegrass shows I’ve ever seen haven’t sounded traditional at all!
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You were just expecting me to respond to this.
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Exactly
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Or this 
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Haha!