by Josh Downs, Senior cbbfestival.com Correspondent, dtrain692@yahoo.com

David Grisman is known as a pioneer of the newgrass movement in Folk music.  His unique musical style incorporates elements of traditional bluegrass, as well as jazz, folk, and stringband and has influenced countless numbers of musicians and collaborators during his storied career.

However, when he takes the stage at the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues and Festival this November, on display will be the influence of one of the most celebrated voices of American music upon Grisman.  The friendship between Grisman and Jerry Garcia has been well documented, it was Garcia who famously gave Grisman his nickname “Dawg,” but within that friendship blossomed a musical partnership that both fed off and contributed to the immense talents of both individuals.

The two met at a Bill Monroe concert in 1964 and began a camaraderie stemming from a common love of traditional American folk music that would ultimately become the bluegrass quintet Old and in the Way and lead to countless as of yet unreleased collaborations at Grisman’s house famously documented in “Grateful Dawg.”  The traditionally trained Grisman and the mercurial Garcia inspired and tempered one another as the two shaped their evolving personal styles.  While Garcia brought several traditional folk numbers into the repertoire of the Grateful Dead, Grisman began journeying into free-form, jazz-inspired movements that helped define his idiom.

Sadly, while Jerry’s passing has left the world lacking one of the more inspiring and inventive musicians ever, his influence forever lives on in the creativity of David Grisman.  Witness this firsthand at the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival at the Congress Theater, November 22.

Tickets are currently on sale at www.cbbfestival.com/tickets

About the Festival:

On November 22nd, 2008, the Congress Theater will host the inaugural Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival (cbbfestival.com). While rooted in the foot-stomping influences of bluegrass and blues, the festival will transport the concertgoer through the genre-defying evolution of music today.  The one-day event will serve as a tribute to two schools of music that continue to shape and inspire contemporary rock, jamband, funk, folk, roots, Americana, and indie cultures, while allowing festivalgoers to save a heart.  A portion of each $31 ticket will be donated to the Saving tiny Hearts Society (www.savingtinyhearts.org), an non-profit organization that raises money for America’s #1 birth defect, congenital heart defects (CHD).