[SYN-060]
Before the so-called "father of bluegrass", Bill Monroe, introduced a sense of discipline and musicianship to the form, this was a music typically played with riotous, passionate — and usually drunken — abandon by the folks who brought it down from the hills. These "hillbillies" (as they were called) would have felt right at home with the guys in Aerosmith, who approached their music with much the same spirit — especially in the early half of their career. And when the bad boys from Boston (or, more accurately, New Hampshire) would emulate the sound and feel of a locomotive chugging along a pace of its own choosing — one, it should be noted, that usually kept-a-rollin' all night long — it reflected a rhythmic affinity with bluegrass, as well. While their rock-meets-R&B foundation, embodied by Joe Perry's dirty guitar licks, owes as much to the blues of Robert Johnson ("Sweet Emotion") as it does the funk of James Brown ("Walk This Way"), it is still roots music — albeit roots music that Aerosmith liked to play turned up to 11. Here, however, we get to consider their compositions with slightly less distortion and perhaps more lucid arrangements — but certainly no less vigor. — Mac Randall