Sam Bush was glad to be back on stage in a familiar town.
His Feb. 11 date on Augusta’s Imperial Theatre stage was the first performance he and his band have had in 2022, and his fans were glad to have him back as well.
“We could do this all night,” one fan yelled from the balcony to the performer on stage.
Bush didn’t miss a beat.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he replied.
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Known as the “father of newgrass,” a hybrid form of bluegrass with influences from other styles of music, Bush played an array of songs including more traditional songs such as “Nashville Blues” and the “Columbus Stockade Blues.”
Before he sang the “Columbus Stockade Blues,” a song originally written in 1927, he shared about touring with Doc and Merle Watson in 1974.
“Doc would take old songs and make them his,” Bush said.
He’d change the key or alter them just enough to make them something new.
Bush knows about making things his own and making them sound new. The band played on the night was “The Letter,” a 1967 hit for the Box Tops. He added that “my baby wrote me a letter” not Instagram, not a text, not a Facebook message, not TikTok, but a letter.
He also played on of the New Grass Revival’s songs with a reggae influence called “Let Me Be Your Man.”
The Imperial had a full house for the concert. One part of the night that had some fans dancing in their seats and others erupting in applause at the conclusion was a jam session early in the set, where the musicians played unscripted and unencumbered.
Bush had said in a phone interview earlier in the week that the first time he played on the Imperial Theatre stage was for the Augusta Ballet, now Colton Ballet Co., production of The Legend of the Hatfields and McCoys. For that show more than two decades ago, his band had to stick to the letter because the dancers needed the regimented music; there was no room for improvisation that time.
He gave a shout out to Peter Powlus who choreographed that production. He said Powlus was in the audience Friday.
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While it was Bush’s first concert of 2022, it was the last concert in the 19th season of Southern Soul and Song presented by the Morris Museum of Art, according to Kevin Grogan, museum curator.
Prior to the concert’s start, he thanked the audience for a great six-concert season, which started in fall 2021, and said the 2022-2023 lineup would be announced in the summer. He did hint that offers have been made to several performers including members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Carlene Carter.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
