July 28, 2023 — In what Bluegrass Today called “perhaps the most obvious personnel move in bluegrass history,” award-winning sextet, The Grascals,welcomed founding member Jamie Johnson back into their lineup at the end of 2022. Now, the Mountain Home Music Company recording artists are releasing the first fruits of that reunion, and appropriately enough, it’s a song Johnson wrote with labelmate Darren Nicholson that draws on their shared past experiences with addiction and depression.
“I sat down at the dinner table with one of my best friends, Darren Nicholson (I work at a recovery treatment center in Asheville, NC often, and I stay with Darren and his wife while in town), back in February of this year with the intention of writing our first song together and ‘I Go’ is the result of that writing session,” says Johnson.
“The song comes from a previous vantage point and paints a picture of a darker time in both of our lives. Since Darren and I are now both in recovery together, we bounced some ideas off of each other from our personal journeys…combined with a little fiction that was easy to create from our past intoxicated minds. I feel like the story we came up with is one of my favorite songs I’ve written to date, and I’m really glad that it was with Darren.”
From its moody, restless opening to the closing minor chord, “I Go”’s musical backing expertly conveys its narrator’s helpless desperation and heartfelt cry for relief, as each chorus ends not with a tidy musical resolution, but with a chord progression that rushes instead into the next passage. This unusual, open-ended structure echoes the story’s depiction of a man “leaning heavy on the throttle” in a union of lyric and music that reflects the mingled emotional depth and strong craft the two men brought to the table.
“‘I Go’ is a catchy melodic, up-tempo tune with an edgy, dark true-life subject that many choose to avoid,” Johnson notes. “However, we decided to face it head on and The Grascals took it and made it their own – OUR own. I am so excited to be back in this band and creating music with my friends again, and I’m thankful that we(The Grascals) are the ones telling this story.”
Listen to “I Go” HERE.
“I Go” is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, TIDAL and Amazon Music. Dolby Atmos is a sound experience you can feel all around you. Familiar from its “surround sound” application in thousands of movie theaters” Dolby Atmos reveals “depth, clarity and details like never before.”
About The Grascals
Great musicians will always find a way to make good music, but for great musicians to make great music, they must form a bond – one that, more often than not, goes beyond the purely musical to the personal. For The Grascals, that bond has been forged at the intersection of personal friendships, shared professional resumes and an appreciation for the innovative mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a hallmark of the Nashville scene for more than forty years.
Their cutting-edge modern bluegrass is delivered with a deep knowledge of, and admiration for, the work of the music’s founding fathers. Timely yet timeless, The Grascals make music that is entirely relevant to the here and now yet immersed in traditional values of soul and musicianship. It’s a unique sound that has earned three Grammy® nominations and two Entertainer of the Year awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association, as well as national media attention that seems to perpetually elude acts entrenched in niche genres. Such appearances include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Fox & Friends, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and CBS’ The Talk. Honors also include performing twice for President George W. Bush and at President Barack Obama’s inaugural ball at the Smithsonian.
The Grascals have over 200 guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry to their credit and have also performed on the revered stages of Radio City Music Hall, the Ryman Auditorium and the Kennedy Center as well as music festivals such as MerleFest, Stagecoach, and the CMA Music Festival. In addition to performing across the United States and Canada, the awarding-winning band has traveled the world to take bluegrass music to Japan, Greece, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Belgium.
The Grascals have also had the opportunity to record and share the stage with several country music legends including Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Hank Williams, Jr., George Jones, Kenny Rogers, Brooks & Dunn, Patty Loveless, The Oak Ridge Boys, Steve Wariner, Tom T. Hall, The Jordanaires, and more.
As their recordings prove, The Grascals’ rare musical empathy gives them an unerring ear for just the right touch to illuminate each offering’s deepest spirit – whether they’re digging into one of their original songs or reworking a bluegrass classic or a pop standard. Take for instance, fan favorite, “Last Train to Clarksville.” Non-bluegrass listeners enjoy a new take on a familiar song, while diehard bluegrass audiences who may have never heard the Monkees classic, respond in-kind, not even realizing that the song has been Grascalized.
As they look toward their 20th anniversary, The Grascals can truthfully say they have the best of both worlds — the steadiness of a veteran group that knows who they are and where they’re going, and the excitement and energy of an ensemble that knows it still has something to prove. With a renewed spirit and zeal to continue create and blazing new music trails, be on the lookout for much more to come from The Grascals!