June 28, 2002
BY BRIAN MCCOLLUM
FREE PRESS POP MUSIC CRITIC
Rodney Crowell put it succinctly -- and best -- midway through Wednesday night's Down From the Mountain show.
"I don't want to be bitter," said Crowell, the night's emcee. "But who needs a radio?"
Wednesday's concert in front of about 10,000 fans at DTE Energy Music Theatre near Clarkston, the second stop on the tour's summer leg, was a bluegrass bonanza, an evening of inspired acoustic collaborations featuring some of the top names in roots music, including Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs and the venerable Ralph Stanley.
The show also showcased a sound that has moved out of its longtime niche corner into a multitude of minivan speakers, thanks to the 5.5-million selling "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack. The music has exploded with little help from country radio or other established outlets; like "O Brother," Down From the Mountain has largely been a word-of-mouth phenomenon.
The Nashville Bluegrass Band, a versatile ensemble that went on to play backup on many sets throughout the Opry-styled show, started the evening with a stirring rendition of "Po Lazarus" before inviting veteran guitarist Norman Blake onstage for an exhilarating "Big Rock Candy Mountain."
Many fans got an early dose of what they came for. Alison Krauss & Union Station were up next, as Krauss and Dan Tyminski tucked lovely harmony into "Weeping Willow" and "Too Late to Cry."
The highlights came one after the other: Tyminski's down-home reading of "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," Harris making the melancholy sound angelic on "If I Could Only Win Your Love," the Del McCoury band finding a way to tap lightning on Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."
Steel guitarist Jerry Douglas deftly explored hillbilly's Celtic roots, and Chris Thomas King, who played a bluesman in "O Brother," left the mountain entirely to rustle up some Mississippi Delta sounds. Patty Loveless provided a revved-up "Pretty Little Miss," and Stanley -- dapper in his 74th year -- did a haunting "O, Death."
Crowell kept the proceedings loose and comfortable, and earned a chuckle from the crowd when he noted, "This IS Motown -- you guys clap on the 2 and 4."
Rap-rocker Kid Rock, in a red baseball cap and sitting down front, managed to go largely unnoticed -- or unmolested, at any rate -- by the audience.
The mainstream appeal for bluegrass makes sense in a cultural era that devotes entire magazines to simplifying your life: This music is warm, easy, modest. There was a time when that description would have turned off a lot of modern Americans -- including, in all likelihood, many in the DTE crowd. But Wednesday evening, the ageless music went down just right. The future looks good for the old stuff.
Contact BRIAN McCOLLUM at 313-223-4450 or mccollum@freepress.com.
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