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Sam Bush

Recording Artist · Active 1975–present · Bowling Green, Kentucky · sambush.com · Also a musician
Progressive Bluegrass Contemporary Bluegrass New Acoustic

Sam Bush is the founding father of newgrass — the mandolinist, fiddler, and bandleader whose New Grass Revival (1971–1989) fundamentally redefined what bluegrass could be. Since the Revival's dissolution, his four decades of solo work, sideman sessions, and festival headlining have cemented him as a central figure in progressive acoustic music and earned him the longstanding nickname “King of Telluride” for his enduring place at that festival. His combination of blistering technical command, funk and reggae-infused rhythms, and unbridled live energy has made him one of the most imitated mandolinists since Bill Monroe.

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  • Born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Started on mandolin as a child; his father was an amateur musician and fiddle-tune enthusiast. Won the National Fiddle Championship at Weiser, Idaho the junior division three times (1967, 1968, 1969) as a teenager — establishing him as a prodigy before bluegrass knew his name.
  • Co-founded the Bluegrass Alliance in Louisville in 1970 with Lonnie Peerce, Dan Crary, Tony Rice (briefly), and Courtney Johnson.
  • Founded New Grass Revival in 1971 with Ebo Walker, Courtney Johnson, and Curtis Burch, later joined by John Cowan, Béla Fleck, and Pat Flynn. The band's blending of bluegrass instrumentation with rock song structures, extended improvisation, and Cowan's R&B-influenced vocals defined “newgrass” as a recognized subgenre — a term the band itself coined.
  • New Grass Revival served as Leon Russell's touring band in the late 1970s and early 1980s — an experience that further pushed the band's genre-crossing identity and exposed Bush to rock-and-roll-scale touring.
  • New Grass Revival signed to EMI America and released commercially successful albums in the late 1980s before dissolving in 1989. Their song “Callin' Baton Rouge” became a #1 Garth Brooks country hit in 1993.
  • Post-Revival, Bush toured with Emmylou Harris's Nash Ramblers (1989–1995), appearing on her Grammy-winning At the Ryman (1992).
  • Launched the Sam Bush Band in the mid-1990s. Solo catalog on Sugar Hill and Rounder includes Glamour and Grits (1996), Howlin' at the Moon (1998), Ice Caps: Peaks of Telluride (2000), King of My World (2004), Laps in Seven (2006), Circles Around Me (2009), Storyman (2016), and Radio John: The Songs of John Hartford (2022).
  • Named IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year in 1990, 1991, 1992, and again in 2007.
  • Founding member of Strength in Numbers (Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor), whose 1989 The Telluride Sessions became a touchstone for acoustic instrumental music.
  • Extensive session work includes Béla Fleck's Drive, Dolly Parton's The Grass Is Blue, Alison Krauss albums, Garth Brooks's catalog, and many more.
  • Inducted into the IBMA Hall of Honor in 2020 (as a member of New Grass Revival). Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist (2009).
  • Survived non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in his 20s — diagnosed in 1982, declared cancer-free after treatment. The experience shaped his outlook and life philosophy.
  • Long-time Telluride Bluegrass Festival regular since 1976; plays there nearly every year, earning the “King of Telluride” nickname. Co-founded the festival's house band tradition.
  • Sam Bush Band current lineup: Scott Vestal (banjo), Stephen Mougin (guitar), Chris Brown (drums), Todd Parks (bass). The band tours about 100 dates a year.
  • Married to Lynn Bush since 1985; based in Nashville. Continues to tour and record at 73.

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