Nashville Bluegrass Band
The Nashville Bluegrass Band first played together in 1984 and went on to win two Grammys and tour some twenty countries.
- Formed
- 1984, Nashville, Tennessee
- Key members
- Alan O'Bryant (banjo), Pat Enright (guitar), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin)
- Labels
- Rounder, Sugar Hill
- Grammys
- Best Bluegrass Album, 1993 and 1995
History
The members first played together in 1984 as a backing band for Vernon Oxford and Minnie Pearl. Their debut album, My Native Home, came out on Rounder in 1985, produced by Béla Fleck, and they moved to Sugar Hill in the late 1980s. Over the years the band included bassists Mark Hembree and Gene Libbea and mandolinist Roland White.
Waitin' for the Hard Times to Go (1993) and Unleashed (1995) both won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, and the band had five more nominations. They toured some twenty countries and were the first bluegrass band ever to play in China. Founding guitarist Pat Enright sang as one of the Soggy Bottom Boys on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which revived the band's career, and the group backed many of the performers on the Down from the Mountain tour.
Selected albums
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1985 | My Native Home |
| 1987 | To Be His Child |
| 1988 | New Moon Rising, with Peter Rowan |
| 1993 | Waitin' for the Hard Times to Go |
| 1995 | Unleashed |
| 2004 | Twenty Year Blues |
More bluegrass: Alison Krauss · John Hartford · the bluegrass tradition