Just last week, the IBMA Award nominations were announced and bluegrass supergroup, The Grascals, learned of their 5 award nominations. Their nominations include Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year (THE FAMOUS LEFTY FLYNN'S), Recorded Event of the Year ( "I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome" with Hank Williams, Jr.), Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year ("Blue Rock Slide") and reigning two-time Banjo Player of the Year, Kristin Scott Benson, is nominated again for the award. Here is our interview with banjo player, Kristin Scott Benson, and mandolin player, Danny Roberts.
The last time we saw you in Louisville was during the Rowdy Friends Tour with Hank Jr. in April. Now this fall you are going back on the road with Hank for the second half of the tour. How does it feel to be invited back for the tour?
Danny: We're very excited. We had a great time and we've had real good success opening for other country bands starting with Dolly Parton and everything. We didn't know how Hank's crew would be or how the crowd would be with us, but they accepted us really well. We had a great time and they were all were so great to us. Hank was good to us, so we're honored and excited both to come back. It's a great opportunity.
When you were here, the tour was just starting. Was there any other shows or special moments from this spring tour that you can remember?
Kristin: I don't remember the town so much, but we did go on stage with Hank and played a gospel song right after the tornadoes had hit the midwest. I forgot what town that was. Was that Atlanta?
Danny: I think it was because it was so close to Mississippi.
Kristin: And you had some friends there. I think "I Saw the Light" we got to play with him. That was probably a highlight because we got to play with Hank.
Danny: Also, when we were back in Kentucky, it was just us and Hank with no other openers. We played a full show in Pikeville, KY. It was fun there to be more involved in the show and get more time with the rowdy friends a little more. It was a lot of fun.
I must say congratulations on the 5 nominations for the IBMA awards. We were very excited when we got the news. Going up for your third consecutive Banjo Player of the Year, how does that feel? Do you feel that pressure?
Kristin: Thank you! It's not pressure so much, there's a lot of excitement. I think we're all excited to get 5 nominations. When you're not a new group and to have continued support from the fans and your peers, it's a relief when you're still in the dance so to speak. Even if you don't win, it's still such an honor to be nominated. I think we're all tickled to death.
Danny: We're very excited. We sat right here on the bus; me, Kristin, and Jeremy sat and wrote a tune together and it's up for the Instrumental Recording for "Blue Rock Slide." There's a lot of neat things we're excited about with the IBMA. Like she said, win or not, it's just great to be involved to be in the running for all of it.
As far as performing on the show, do you have any idea what song you might be performing? Or perhaps would their be a surprise duet with Hank Jr for "I'm Lonesome, I'm Blue?"
Kristin: That would be nice if he would surprise us and come do it. That would be awesome!
Danny: We really don't have any plans yet. Hank is something that could happen but Hank is hard to tie down. You never know about him. He's ready to fish and hunt than music anymore these days. That's why he doesn't tour a lot. He does what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. That would be fun. We have some ideas, but we are just kinda wait and see and hopefully have something special planned for the show.
Danny, playing in Louisville several times this year, it's somewhat in your backyard from where you are from. How does it feel to get to play here as compared to other venues?
Danny: I think venues are not that much different for me, but for here I usually have friends or family that will come up. I have an aunt that lives here in Louisville that usually shows up. Some of our friends from Nashville may come up to see the show. As far as playing, the crowds are all kinda the same. Kristin made the comment coming in that this makes the third time we've played in this same spot this year. The other two shows were awesome and hope tonight's is great.
The new video for "Last Train to Clarksville" has been released and is playing on CMT. Whose idea was it for the video?
Kristin: I think the video is something that the band wanted to come up with for a long time. The first video we've done was "Me, John, and Paul," which was from the first record. It's been a while and especially for bluegrass bands, any exposure on tv is a huge bonus. We just don't have the avenues that major country artists have. By having a video, it's a great way of doing that. I think we chose that song because it works really well with both audiences. Whether we're playing to a bluegrass crowd that might not known to them, it sounds just like a bluegrass song. But then when we play to crowds that aren't necessarily bluegrass audiences, they like the song because they remember it from the Monkees. It works well in both scenarios and that's why we picked that song.
How does it feel to see yourself in a video on tv?
Danny: I haven't seen it yet, but we did get to see "Me, John, and Paul," a lot. I feel honored that we have something that people will play, especially coming from the bluegrass genre. It's tough because they don't want to open the doors for bluegrass groups very much.
It does make it tough, because it seems like you only have you guys, Rhonda Vincent, Alison Krauss, and a couple others that you see as a standard on CMT.
Kristin: I think too for bluegrass bands that if you have even 10 seconds of exposure, it's just expondential. It helps because people are inundated with the country artists and because we don't have access to those people. Any tiny bit we can get, we're very appreciative to that.
Recently you returned from a trip to France. How was the fans over there as compared to here in the US?
Danny: They're great - it seems like when we go overseas, the fans are almost even more educated on the music than the ones here. When you playing and look out, people you can't even talk to are singing the words to your songs. Before you get there, they've gotten your music and actually listened to it. The crowds are huge. Every time we've done something overseas, there have been big crowds and the response is always good. I guess we were the only bluegrass act that day, but they loved bluegrass. In fact, it felt like they liked the bluegrass more than what the other country music people did. It's great and we had a great time when we went over there.
When we went to Japan, while watching the crowds, it seems like at those festivals that it is like what the US was during the 80s. They're all wearing their cowboy hats and cowboy boots. They've got western stores set up everywhere on the grounds of those places and they're all buying boots and hats. It was weird watching all those Japanese people line dancing. It's so funny but they had a ball.
So it really was a whole cultural experience.
Kristin: For them it's a whole experience. It's like you go to an NFL game, you put your hat on, paint your face, put on your football jersey, go tailgating; it's the whole thing. I think it's what it is for them because it is rare for them to ever see an authentic country or bluegrass music band.
Danny: Whereas it is everywhere here. Anytime you want to find music, you can find it anywhere and anytime. Over there, it's definitely a lot more special to them.
Do the Grascals have any plans of going back overseas anytime soon or next year?
Danny: I haven't heard if anything is on schedule yet, but we've been told we're going again. I'm not sure when or where just yet.
Being road warriors touring and being away from home, what is something that you bring along to remind you of home?
Danny: I bring my phone that has all my pictures of home. I think pictures are a big thing. Kristin is always showing pictures of her little boy. I have videos and stuff on it as well. I've got over 2000 pictures on my phone. When I'm on a plane, I sit there just flip through them. I've got pictures of my little girl from when she was a baby all the way up to now. I just sit there and wish I could be home sometimes.
Kristin: The technology is just so much easier. I can't imagine doing this and having a family and not have cell phones.
Danny: Plus, now too being overseas and being able to use Skype to see their face. That makes a huge difference.
Kristin: Right and it's got to be way easier than it use to be.
It really makes you wonder how folks like Bill Monroe and Del McCoury was able to be on the road without technology we have today.
Danny: It's amazing. They had to be totally disconnected from their family for weeks and then get to come back to see them. That would be tough.
What would be one thing from home that you miss while being out on the road.
Kristin: Really for me, it's no thing. It's my little boy and my husband. If I could have them with me, I really don't care where I am.
Danny: I'm like that way too.
Kristin: It's really funny because every time we're overseas, especially a European city, the thought crosses my mind that "hey I could live here if my son and husband were with me."
Danny: Yeah, that thought doesn't cross my mind. (laughing) Yeah I want to be out in the country if I can. Like she said, if I could be anywhere and have family, I'd be fine. I think when you do this kind of life, you love it or you wouldn't be doing it. Even when we're out on the road and ready to go home, I can't wait on that last day. Then when I do go home and I'm there for a few days, I'm ready to go back on the road. It gets in your blood and once it's there, it's there to stay.
After "Last Train to Clarksville," will there be another single released off of this album?
Danny: I doubt there will be anything else off this album. Probably the next will be the video we are doing for a song called, "I Am Strong." Jamie Johnson wrote that song. At the Musicians Against Childhood Cancers in Ohio, we played it and the proceeds from the cd they made goes to help St. Jude's in Memphis. We've went down a couple of years to present the check to them. The last time Jamie went down and was walking down the hall where the kids have written. Basically it surrounds a thing that says "I am Strong." The things they would write would be "I am sick. I miss mom and dad. I wish I was home." Then in the center it says, "I am strong." He came home and started writing this song. He and his wife finished writing it. The guy from Cracker Barrel heard the song and he loved it. We're doing a cd for Cracker Barrel right now. We're actually doing two things for Cracker Barrel; a cd and the Andy Griffith Mayberry's Finest box set. We did a tribute to the Darlings music and then a regular cd with a bunch of our friends. "I Am Strong" is going to be on there and we're doing a video for it. It will say that the proceeds from this video with Cracker Barrel will benefit St. Jude's Hospital. That will be our next project.
Do you plan on slowing down anytime soon?
Kristin: Bluegrass bands can't really afford to. The way we make a living is playing shows, so we have to stay at it. Last year I think we just had the weekend of Christmas off and that was it. It stays busy all the time.
With that many shows and playing on various stages such as the Grand Ole Opry House and the Ryman Auditorium, is there any stage you haven't played on?
Kristin: I'd really like to play the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It's the biggest event and I've never been there. I'd like to play there sometime.
Danny: I've played there with my other band, but I would love to play it with the Grascals. Maybe one of these days.
You have performed duets with many partners such as Dolly Parton and Dierks Bentley. Who would be your dream duet partner?
Kristin: With the Cracker Barrel project, we've got a lot of that coming. We've got Tom T. Hall, Oak Ridge Boys, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton, George Jones, Marty Stuart and many others. Miranda Lambert was going to help but is unavailable so hopefully we can use her for a future project.
Danny: The one that we didn't get on there that we were going to try to but time constraints stopped us was Merle Haggard. He's everyone of our favorites and we want to work with him. Maybe in the future we can.
It sounds like the ultimate bucket list of duets to have for one album.
Danny: We've been fortunate to get to do so many things like that. Charlie Daniels is another we're looking forward to. We've worked with Charlie before and he's just a great guy with a great band and people around him.
Be sure to check out the Grascals at the JD Crowe Festival Labor Day weekend, as well as on tour with Hank Williams Jr on the Rowdy Friends Tour. Their current album, "The Famous Lefty Flynn's" is available in stores.
Click here for our concert review from the Oak Ridge Boys and the Grascals a the KY State Fair. Be sure to check our song review for "Last Train to Clarksville" here.
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