Sam Bush

In 2023, Sam Bush was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame for a second time — this time as a solo artist, making him only the sixth performer ever honored twice, after his 2020 induction with New Grass Revival. Few musicians have reshaped a genre so thoroughly that lawmakers took notice: in March 2010, Kentucky officially named Bowling Green the ‘Birthplace of Newgrass’ and Bush the ‘Father of Newgrass.’

Born April 13, 1952, in Bowling Green, Bush absorbed country and bluegrass from his father Charlie’s record collection and the Flatt & Scruggs television show. He bought his first mandolin at 11, and after attending the inaugural Roanoke, VA Bluegrass Festival in 1965, his path was set. As a teen he won the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Contest in Weiser, ID three times, recorded ‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’ in 1969, and joined the Bluegrass Alliance in Louisville in 1970. The following year, that band reformed as the New Grass Revival.

As the group’s sole constant member, Bush drove progressive bluegrass forward for nearly two decades, touring with Leon Russell from 1979 to 1981 alongside John Cowan, Béla Fleck, and Pat Flynn. After the band dissolved in 1989, he spent five years touring and recording with Emmylou Harris’ Nash Ramblers, then built a solo catalog spanning ‘Late as Usual,’ ‘Glamour & Grits,’ ‘Howlin’ at the Moon,’ and ‘Laps in Seven.’

The IBMA has named him Mandolin Player of the Year four times, and the Americana Music Association awarded him its Lifetime Achievement for Instrumentalist honor at the Ryman Auditorium in 2009. Inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2006 and twice host of the IBMA Awards, Bush remains a sought-after collaborator, from David Grisman (‘Hold On, We’re Strummin”) to Nefesh Mountain, with his story told in the 2015 documentary ‘Revival: The Sam Bush Story.’