2006年VOA标准英语-Sam Bush Continues to Blaze New Trails in Blueg

By Katherine Cole
Washington
16 December 2006

Multi-instrumentalist Sam Bush has been taking his music beyond the boundaries of traditional bluegrass for almost 35 years.  As a founding member of the New Grass Revival¹, Sam pioneered a whole new direction for bluegrass.  Since setting off on a solo career, he's broadened his approach to music by incorporating elements of jazz, folk, country and rock into his songs.  VOA's Katherine Cole reports on Laps In Seven, a recording² that continues down that genre-bending path.

Sam Bush is known for making eclectic records. So you shouldn't be shocked to hear him singing both the bluegrass classic "Bringing In The Georgia Mail" and the old hit, "White Bird" by It's A Beautiful Day (an early-1970s progressive rock group), on the same recording.

Sam Bush was a musical child prodigy³, taking up mandolin and fiddle⁴ at age 11.  By the time he graduated from high school, Sam had already won national music competitions. In 1969, he made his debut⁵ on The Grand Ole Opry, and recorded his first album that same year.  A year later, Sam joined a group called The Bluegrass Alliance, which evolved into the New Grass Revival.  This band added electric instruments and drums to the traditional sound, and set the standard for modern bluegrass.  Today, Sam Bush considers his band to be a kind of acoustic⁶ rock, reggae and bluegrass band.  Over the years, that kind of eclectic fusion⁷ has angered fans of traditional bluegrass, some of whom don't enjoy hearing more than one kind of music at a concert.

But that hasn't stopped Sam Bush, for whom unpredictability has become a character trait.  His new CD, Laps In Seven, continues down this same course, mixing bluegrass, rock, and jazz with songs by writers including Jeff Black, Robbie Fulks and Darrell Scott.  Sam says wanted to record Scott's powerful "River Take Me" ever since he first learned it originally learned it to play in a recording session for another artist.

Laps In Seven is a must for any Sam Bush fans.  Newcomers will find it a good introduction to one of acoustic music's true innovators.  Sam says the album's title track was inspired by the sound of his dog Ozzie lapping water in a 7/4 time signature, something only a musician would recognize!  At the end of the tune⁸, you actually hear Ozzie drinking his "Laps In Seven."

1 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

4 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

5 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

6 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

7 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

8 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。