The best part about American bluegrass music is its ability to truly showcase the performer’s talent. Be it on stage or in studio, there will come a time when the musician will need to step it up and execute a jaw dropping solo.
In traditional bluegrass music these moments are called “breaks” and are a core part of the type of music.
It’s these aspects that draw singer-songwriter, Andrew Jed, to the genre. A seasoned musician, the award winning multi-instrumentalist has been writing music, producing in studio and performing on the stage for decades.
Andrew has just released his new single ‘Panama City’, off his album Silver Star. The song is an up-tempo bluegrass tune with a modern edge to it.
Andrew says, “Some might call it ‘newgrass’ or ‘mountaingrass’ as it adds instrumental elements that are not part of traditional bluegrass. Of course you have guitar, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle, but you also have drums, electric bass, and a B3 organ added to the production. All this fresh instrumentation makes a song like Panama City a new classic.” When asked what he loves most about bluegrass music, he explains, “The best bluegrass songs usually play with themes of love, death and really bad decisions. ‘Panama City’ brings all of those stories together into one rather unfortunate situation for a man whose poor choices have finally caught up with him.”
All songwriters, musicians and recording artists want their music to resonate with others. With bluegrass music, Andrew’s aim is to get people up and moving and singing along to their songs – simply having a good time. Moreover, an artist wants people to discover the song on your album that makes them play it over and over again.
‘Panama City’ is that song! It’s an absolute barnburner. It’s a ripping tune that has a great hook, a well written chorus, a fun imaginative story, and tons of opportunity for great musicians to let it rip and show off their skills.
The song was originally written in 2021 and forms part of Andrew’s latest album, Silver Star, released last year. Since then the song has been modified. Andrew brought in South African musician Dan Patlansky to rework some of the guitar parts.
Andrew adds, “I recently met and got to know Dan Patlansky, who, in my opinion, is one of the best guitar players in the world right now – and I don’t say that lightly. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to bring Dan in on one of my songs. ‘Panama City’ was the perfect song to showcase Dan’s world renowned guitar skills and to create some fantastic interplay with my mandolin and banjo.”
Other phenomenal artists who played on the album include Conrad Rudolph and Siobhan Lloyd-Jones.
