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Swift Creek's "Bluegrass Hurricane" Video

This is Bluegrass Hurricane, written by Kevin Brown of the band Swift Creek

The song was inspired by events at World of Bluegrass 2015 when a hurricane and torrential rains threatened to shut down the festivities. 


The song appears on the album MAGNOLIA, set for release 4/8/16. It is Swift Creek’s second album. The band is based in the Raleigh, NC area.

2015's International Bluegrass Association's World of Bluegrass began with the threat of Hurricane Joaquin off the coast of NC, and lots of consternation about whether it would make landfall and wash out the entire WOB weekend. That potential outcome inspired a plethora of #bluegrasshurricane tweets. Fortunately, Joaquin stayed well offshore, but torrential rains came to the Carolinas, and that deluge moved all of the scheduled outdoor events into the Raleigh Convention Center. Despite these obstacles, World of Bluegrass 2015 was still a rousing success.

The song itself (from the "Magnolia" album) is an uptempo three minute walk through the history of bluegrass, touching on founding fathers Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs, and seminal events in bluegrass history (The Bristol Sessions, the 1970's "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" project, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou"), all using meteorological phenomena as metaphor for the growth of the music. The instrumental highlight is stunning triple fiddles by Swift Creek's Stephen Fraleigh.  

1 comment:

Randy M said...

Just heard Swift Creek perform this song. OMG! This shoukd become a bluegrass staple. Best new Bluegrass song I have heard in years...and years. Bravo Swift Creek and Kevin Brown!