A legendary mandolinist and the Father of Newgrass

About the Artist

Sam Bush's love of music came early, encouraged by his parents' record collection and his fiddler father. He began playing both mandolin and fiddle at a young age, becoming a three-time national champion in the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest as a teenager. He recorded an instrumental album as a high school senior, and shortly after graduating, he joined the Bluegrass Alliance, which eventually became New Grass Revival. After touring as the backing band for Leon Russell, the Revival first played Telluride, Colorado, in 1975, forming an enduring connection with the region and its fans. As a newgrass commando, Bush incorporated a variety of genres into the repertoire, including elements of reggae. After 18 years with New Grass Revival, Bush became a member of Emmylou Harris's Nash Ramblers and later part of Lyle Lovett’s Large Band. In 1995, he reunited with Béla Fleck, a New Grass Revival bandmate, as a member of the Flecktones, before eventually going solo. He’s a four-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Mandolin Player of the Year award and a three-time Grammy winner (from fourteen nominations). In 2009, the Americana Music Association awarded Bush the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist. He is a two-time inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, first as a member of New Grass Revival in 2020 and then as a solo artist in 2023.