By Mia Fatuzzo ’15, News Section Editor
Goat rodeo: an especially chaotic situation. The Goat Rodeo Sessions: Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Stuart Duncan covering mandolin and fiddle, Edward Meyer switching off between piano and bass, and Chris Thile singing and dancing to the beat as he demonstrates his talents on both mandolin and violin. Though several members of the group had previously played with each other on various projects, they had never all collaborated together until the 2012 release of their eponymously titled album. When explaining the inspiration behind the unusual name, Thile described a goat rodeo to be situation “where so many things … go wrong that you need to go right for everything to turn out not utterly disastrous.” However, the group’s sound is far from disastrous. Their record, which expertly melds bluegrass and classical music (falling further towards the bluegrass than classical genre), has garnered praise from both classical fans and bluegrass listeners alike, as well as critical acclaim and two Grammy Awards for Best Folk Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
Yo-Yo Ma, who began playing cello at the young age of four, is one of the world’s most recognized and best, cellists. He has released numerous records and has won multiple Grammys for his efforts. In 2010, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 2011, the Kennedy Center Honors. Chris Thile, the youngest (and most inclined to break into dance) of the group, was born into music. He recalls listening to Stan Getz’s “The Girl from Ipanema” before reaching his first birthday. He is an immensely talented mandolin player—at the age of
12 he won an international mandolin championship—but is also well versed in the relatively similar violin. Stuart Duncan, who can play nearly every bluegrass instrument but plays mostly banjo and fiddle with The Goat Rodeo Sessions, has played with everyone from Dolly Parton to Barbara Streisand, and now to Yo-Yo Ma. He can even be heard fiddling away on the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? Rounding out the group, Edgar Meyer is a bassist who is more than comfortable playing in any genre, from jazz to bluegrass to classical. He has collaborated with everyone from Joshua Bell to James Taylor, and even graced the top of the pop charts on the applauded Appalachia Waltz. Aoifie O’Donovon, who provides vocals for several of the pieces, attended the New York Conservatory of Music and now performs as the lead singer for Crooked Still, an alternative bluegrass band.
On Tuesday, August 20th, Riverbend’s PNC Pavilion hosted the four musicians, their vocalist Aoife O’Donovon, and their horde of assorted instruments, classical and bluegrass alike. Ma’s cello, roughly 300 years old and considered priceless to most, appeared at first confused next to Duncan’s banjo. However, all confusion vanished once the four began to play. Their instruments blended together to create a distinctive yet recognizably bluegrass sound that was both enticing and interesting. Almost as impressive as the music resonating in the air was the excitement radiating off the stage. Thile danced in time to his frantic mandolin-playing, Yo-Yo Ma referred to himself as an “old goat”, Duncan revealed a story of a childhood band name gone wrong, and Meyer questioned what a bluegrass band was doing by attempting Bach.
While their goal—to blend genres on an improbable combination of instruments—might seem ambitious to some, that’s exactly what Ma wanted: “We all like to go to the edge,” Ma adds. “And we like to take calculated risks to go to the edge… When somebody does something that you know is special to them or going in a different direction, we almost intuitively will follow. It’s like a school of fish, you know; suddenly they will turn direction. And that’s part of the thing that makes a performance or music come alive.”
