Doug Taylor plays the Bass fiddle and sings harmony for Fresh Cut Grass . Doug met Marty and Gary in early 1992 when Gary put an ad in the newspaper looking for a bass player.

Doug has an impeccable sense of timing and lays down the foundation for the bands music. Doug’s bass playing is tasteful and never overbearing, always putting in the right thing at the right time.

Doug sings baritone, which is the hardest part to find when singing harmony. Doug is always right on pitch and his voice blends perfectly with Gary’s and Marty’s voices.

Doug sat down and answered a few questions about playing bass in a bluegrass band.

When and why did you start playing?
I started playing electric bass when I was 12 or 13. I tried the guitar first but I quickly learned you can play with much better musicians if you play bass.

Which instruments do you play?
Upright and electric bass

Which famous musicians do you admire?
I look for guys that play with drive, and are not too flashy. When it gets your foot to tapping you know it is right.

Which famous musicians have you learned from?
My biggest influence as far as bluegrass bass players has been Ray Deaton who used to play with IIIrd Tyme Out. I literally listened to his bass playing for hundreds of hours.

However there are lots of great bass players out there that I have learned from over the years. Right now I am spending lots of time listening to Jason Moore of Mountain Heart.

Who was your first teacher?
I am mostly self taught, but like most musicians I have had plenty of help here and there.

When I first starting playing with Marty and Gary I had never sang very much. We did not have a baritone singer so Marty started working with me teaching me how to sing baritone. He would record cassette tapes overdubbing the baritone parts which I would take home and practice singing with. I sang with those tapes while I was driving back and forth to work for 2 years.

Describe your first instrument.
My first good bass was a 1966 Fender Precision bass that I bought with my paper route money when I was 14. I have had lots of basses over the years both good and bad.

My first upright was an Engelhardt, it had terrible action and was impossible to play, but I did not know any better and thought that was how it was. I now play a 1940 Kay bass.

What are your fondest musical memories?
This band has been very lucky and we have had the good fortune to open for some great bands and we have gotten to play at all of the major bluegrass events in Louisville, but I love to play in the church services better than anything else. Serving God through music is more satisfying to me than anywhere else I could do with music.

What advice would you give to beginners who are just getting started playing your instrument in bluegrass?
Play simple bass lines. Your job as a bass player is to make the rest of the band sound good. You can’t do that if you are playing too many notes. Play with other pickers, you will get better a lot faster if you get out there and jam. Bluegrass musicians are a friendly bunch for the most part and most jam sessions will help you along. I think the most important thing is to listen to great bass players. If you can’t hear it in your head you can’t play it.

How do you balance your music with other obligations?
It is hard sometimes but if the music is important to you you will find the time to make it all work. We are all busy and everyone has to make sacrifices to make it all work.

Marty Bennet plays banjo and sings lead and tenor with Fresh Cut Grass.

Marty is the reason that this band exists, and is the heart and soul of Fresh Cut Grass. He is the one who called Gary Kelly and Doug Taylor back in 1995 and said he wanted to see if we could put together a band and play a few shows. Who would have thought 18 years later we would still be at it.

He is as driving as you will find on the 5 string banjo, and he helps all of us get our vocal harmonies as close as we can get them. Marty has a God given ability to hear when the harmonies are correct, and he can sing all 4 parts equally well.

Marty sat down and answered a few questions about his background and opinions on banjos and bluegrass music.

Q: How did you get started playing music?

Marty: I played French horn through high school and then attended U of L on a music scholarship. I dropped out after a year and a half and bought my first banjo in 1979. I had mentioned something about buying a banjo and my future brother in law introduced me to Bill Sullivan who lived around the corner from them. I came home with a banjo and Bills copy of the Earl Scruggs book and the rest is history

Q: What instruments do you play?

Marty: Banjo and a little guitar.

Q: Are There any banjo players you admire?

I can’t say as I “admire” any famous musicians but I do have my favorites. They are people just like us, they just play music for a living. My favorite banjo players are / were Earl Scruggs, JD Crowe and Ron Block. I like Earl for his pioneering of the three finger style of playing and he is the one through Bill Monroe, who brought the banjo into bluegrass. I like JD and Ron for their clean hard driving style, not too fancy but the three T’s, Tone, Taste and Timing.

Q: Which famous musicians have you learned from?
Marty: I’m not proud, I’ll copy licks from anyone

Q: Who was your first teacher? Other teachers?
Marty: I am self taught. I guess it shows I didn’t have a very good teacher.

Q: Describe your first instrument
Marty: My first banjo was a Hondo, I then got a Gold Star and then a couple of Gibson copies. I owned a Rich and Taylor which was an excellent instrument. Then with Bill Sullivan’s help I got a Gibson RB4 from the custom shop. I still have that banjo and it is my main axe. I obtained a Gibson RB75 about four years ago and I play it quite often.

Q: What are your fondest musical memories?
Marty: Getting to meet Earl Scruggs, opening for JD Crowe and IIIrd Tyme Out

Q: Were you influenced by old records & tapes? Which ones?

Marty: I had an old Flatt and Scruggs 8 track tape that I wore out

Q:Who are your favorite musicians? Groups? CD’s?

Marty: JD Crowe and the New South, Flatt and Scruggs, Doyle Lawson, Daley and Vincent , Bill Monroe, Allison Krauss are probably my favorites but I like almost all Bluegrass bands.

Q: What advice would you give to beginners who is just getting started playing the banjo in bluegrass?

Marty: As soon as possible get with other people to play with. Play along with recordings or use a metronome to practice with. Timing is the most important thing to master. Practice practice practice. The more you put into it the more you will get out of it.

Q: How often and for how long do you practice?

Marty: I try to practice every day but I don’t always get to. But anytime I can find a few minutes I try to pick up the banjo and play for a while.

Q: What do you practice – exercises, new tunes, hard tunes, etc.?

Marty: I practice new tune and try to find different ways to play old ones. I also just play to keep my chops up

Q: How do you balance your music with other obligations – mate, children, job?

Marty: Sometimes it is a challenge, but playing in a band is a commitment. Sometime you have to sacrifice family time to play. But you have to remember there is four other guys depending on you. And I have always said that making a living gets in the way of playing music. Or, I would play music for a living but I like to eat too much.

Rob Mitchum is the newest member of Fresh Cut Grass joining in July of 2012, playing mandolin.

Rob provides untold inspiration to the rest of us with the energy he adds to the band. He is an inventive picker that is constantly coming up with ideas to help make the band better.

Here are the answers to some questions he was kind enough to answer about his musical background and influences.

Q: When and why did you start playing?
Rob: I started playing around 1986, I really liked the unique sound of the mandolin and the diversity of the music you can play on it.

Q:Which instruments do you play?
Rob: Mandolin and Guitar

Q: Which famous musicians do you admire? Why?
Rob: Mike Marshall, because of his great playing ability, the many types of music he plays like bluegrass, classical and Brazilian choro. I also admire Mike for all that he has done for mandolin music and mandolin players around the world. I have to mention Bill Monroe for his gift of bluegrass to the world and I really love the Stanley Brothers gospel bluegrass. I admire David Grisman too because I really dig that dawg music!

Q: Which famous musicians have you learned from?
Rob: I have had the opportunity to learn from Keith Harris, Classical Mandolin Virtuoso from Australia. I’ve had some tips from Mike Marshall, Ricky Skaggs, Chris Thile and David Grisman all from public mando workshops.

Q: Who was your first teacher? Other teachers?
Rob: One of my favorite all time mandolin players is a wonderful local musician, Mike Schroeder. I’ve had some one on one lessons from Mike and have also picked up a lot from him just by being around him playing in the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra that he founded. Mike is a great musician and a great all around guy.

Q: Describe your first instrument. Other instruments.
Rob: I started playing electric guitar in a rock’n roll band when I was a teenager… doesn’t everybody?  My first mandolin was a Kentucky KM180. I quickly upgraded to a Kentucky KM1000.

Q: What are your fondest musical memories?
Rob: My best memory was playing twice at the Kentucky Center For The Arts’ Lonesome Pine Series. I played in the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra, and others that played that night was Mike Marshall’s Modern Mandolin Quartet, Sam Bush and Peter Ostroushko. We all played two finales at the end. The second concert was recorder for television and was also inducted into the Smithsonian Institute for the history of the folklore of the mandolin.

Q: Were you influenced by old records & tapes? Which ones?
Rob: Absolutely, for bluegrass I really liked Bill Monroe’s album that was a tribute to his Uncle Pen. Also, Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley’s tribute to the Stanley Brothers. Speaking of the Stanley’s I like all their old albums.

Q: Who are your favorite musicians? Groups? CD’s?
Rob: Favorite musicians. Mike Marshall, David Grisman Quintet, and all his CD’s. Ricky Skaggs and his Bluegrass Rules CD, and the Stanley Brothers Old Country Church, and I want to Preach the Gospel.

Q: What advice would you give to beginners who are just getting started playing your instrument in bluegrass?
Rob: Learn by ear at first, but later on learn to read music because it opens up a lot of doors, get familiar with your fretboard, practice, practice, practice and pick with others and have fun!

Q: How often and for how long do you practice?
Rob: 5 days a week at least 1-2 hours each time.

Q: What do you practice – exercises, new tunes, hard tunes, etc.?
Rob: I practice scales, pentatonic scales, always have a new harder piece of music I’m learning….I play along with CD’s and youtube videos.

Q: How do you balance your music with other obligations – mate, children, job?
Rob: You must always have you priorities in life… God is first, spouse, family, and you have to work to make a living… time for yourself is important but not the most. If you love all the above then you’ll make time for it…just keep it in the right order.

We have decided to start a series of blog posts to help you get to know the guys in the band a little better. Today we are featuring Gary Kelly.

Gary plays guitar and sings most of the lead with Fresh Cut Grass.  The band’s sound relies heavily on Gary’s powerful lead vocals and all of us depend on his strong and steady guitar work.

Gary started picking and singing with Marty Bennett back in 1984.  Although neither of them knew it at the time that was the start of the band that is playing today.

Gary was nice enough to sit down and answer a few questions about his views of playing guitar in a bluegrass band.

Q: Gary, how old where you when you started playing the guitar?

Gary: I heard bluegrass music live for the first time, at the KFC bluegrass festival in Louisville. Without really knowing it, that day changed my life. To this day I don’t know what made me think I would like to learn to play that music. I was 20 years old, and  never played any instrument prior to that day.

Q: What musicians or bands have influenced your playing?

Gary:  I am a huge fan of Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson , Flatt and Scruggs and many others.

Q: After all of these years do you still practice?

Gary: I do try to play everyday. I am always looking for a new song, while trying to practice current material.

Q: Do you have any advice for someone just starting out that wants to play in a bluegrass band?

Gary: To play music in a band situation is a real commitment, and I have learned its not for everybody.

Q: What is you best experience playing with Fresh Cut Grass?

Gary: I  would say my biggest thrill was when we opened for III Tyme Out.