The foursome came to Hope as the lone feature act this time and the show, which lasted over two hours brought to mind Robert Schumann’s praise of Schubert’s Ninth for its “heavenly length.” The two lead vocalists, James Kee, also a guitarist and Maddie Denton, also a fiddle-player, were both in terrific voice and carried most of the songs, but Harry Clark, mandolinist; Cory Walker, banjoist (both of whom took turns at lead singing) and Jeff Partin, bassist all contributed heartily while still playing witty accompaniment.
One standout for me was the rollicking, trickily rhythmic workout of “All God’s Children” in whose instrumental section Harry Clark sprayed rapidly arpeggiated sixteenth notes all over the audience in a way that brought out shouts. It was one of the first songs they played and it was as if the band had read my preview piece praising the way they blend all those busy instruments. It was a warm greeting but also an immediate immersion into the East Nash Grass welling flood of sound, with its unique and unforgettable colliding whirlpools of pretty textures.
I am very taken with young Maddie Denton’s voice. When she was at the merch table after the concert, meeting buyers including me approaching her for her signature on her 2021 solo outing Playin’ in This Town, I introduced myself and handed the album over. I asked how she started playing music.
“Well, my mom plays fiddle, and her dad also plays so I'm third generation. I started when I was five. My folks just kept good music on around the house. They never pressured me to play. They just bought a little fiddle and showed me where they put it. They're like, if you ever want to play this, sure.”
I then asked when she added singing to her musical talents. “Fairly recently. I got a job playing fiddle for Dan Timinsky. He said he needed a tenor singer, and said that that was part of the game. I was going to play fiddle. I was also going to sing tenor. So he kind of shaped me into a tenor singer. And James Kee here has always been really encouraging of my voice, and he's such a great singer.” Kee told her “You need to be singing.”
At the concert she sang about ten tunes, with my favorite being her rendition of “Following You,” a song of devotion that allowed Denton enormous leisure to unfold that skyblue voice of hers in a most winsome way. Her singing strikes me as the group’s secret weapon. In her voice, there’s a luminous purity. The characters in the songs she takes are experiencing their first romantic joys and their first disappointments with love and the world’s ways. "When You Come Home," was another one of my favorite of her disappointed love tunes.
The folks I sat near often seemed astonished at the mastery and the heart they saw onstage. Some seemed incredulous to see such a great group in Hope. But everyone who thought so should know that the rest of the world is coming to same conclusion. The International Bluegrass Music Association has already awarded East Nash Grass with 2024’s New Artist of the Year while Denton is now up for fiddle player of the year at the IBMA’s ceremony happening next month in Chattanooga.
I have the feeling the world is ready for East Nash Grass’ authenticity of sound and delivery and the more realistic and humbled grit of its lyrics. Their moment has come just in time to save us from all those I–V–vi–IV tunes seemingly sung from the driver's seats of Silverados, and I am grateful.
