Jazz Bassist Charlie Haden to Perform Bluegrass

Jazz Bassist Charlie Haden to Perform Bluegrass
Date: July 30, 2008
Written By: Melissa Daniels

Famed jazz bassist Charlie Haden will be switching gears and performing bluegrass as part of Lincoln Center’s 25th Annual Roots of American Music Festival on Sunday, August 24.

To showcase the bluegrass-Americana song style from Haden’s upcoming album, the band slated to take the stage with Haden includes Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Bryan Sutton and Dan Tyminski.

Featured on the album, as well as in the festival performance, is Haden’s wife Ruth Cameron and their four children—son Josh and triplet daughters Petra, Rachel and Tanya—all of whom have had followed in their father’s footsteps with careers as professional musicians.

The festival performance will mark the live debut of Charlie Haden Family and Friends, according to a press release. Other acts at the festival include the Music Makers Blues Revue, The Knitters and Patti Smith and her band.

Haden’s upcoming release, presently titled Rambling Boy, brings the bassist back to his 1930s roots of traditional Americana songs, when he performed as a small child with the original Haden Family band.

To be released on Sept. 23 by Decca Records, the album is packed with guest musicians matching Haden’s own talent—artists include Pat Metheny, Vince Gill, Bruce Hornsby, Ricky Skaggs, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas and Sam Bush.

The performance will take place at the Damrosch Park Bandshell on Amsterdam Ave and West 62nd Street in New York City. The free show begins at 4 p.m., with the Haden family taking the stage at 7 p.m.

More information on the Roots of American Music festival can be found at the Lincoln Center Web site