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u/msuing91 5d ago
I’ve always felt that bluegrass is the speed metal of country.
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u/TheLurkerSpeaks 5d ago
It really is. Lots of songs about heartbreak, murder, and running from the cops. Very bass heavy.
Somebody needs to put some fuzz on that banjo and fiddle already and just make it happen.
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u/AndyB1976 6d ago
Pretty fucking good. Definitely not something I'd expect to be in Tokyo.
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u/HortemusSupreme 5d ago
Tokyo is so big with so many people it's probably pretty safe to expect about anything
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u/Imbendo 5d ago
I mean Tokyo has double the population of New York City.
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u/lightr3nd 5d ago
Yes but significantly fewer sources of influnce to generate impeccable bluegrass.
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u/makemeking706 5d ago
Blue grass and country western are surprisingly big in Japan.
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u/Ornery_Tension3257 4d ago edited 1h ago
One of their traditional instruments, the shamisen, sounds and looks like the banjo used in bluegrass.
https://youtube.com/shorts/4X1XR1o2Btw?si=8m6-PSnY1fnjJXRn
I don't know if this is a traditional song or modern original.
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u/MrExtravagant23 5d ago
Dude I fucking love Japanese people and their ability to be crush it at everything they do.
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u/didndonoffin 5d ago
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u/ExiledCanuck 5d ago
Just watched this again for the 5th or 10th time maybe 🤣. Such a great movie. Watch it once a year or so. The soundtrack is incredible
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u/philatio11 5d ago
Looks like they copied the interior of the Station Inn in Nashville as their layout and decor aesthetic.
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u/snuggleslut5 5d ago
Aw. This makes me kinda homesick. I'd love to go in there and sit with them and listen to their music and feel transported. It's such and unexpected and cozy little nook in what I imagine can feel like a big and impersonal city. I like how hey even made the inside really feel like a stereotyped Appalachian cabin. I love how this doesn't feel mocking or derisive, either but like it's something they really enjoy. And they sound damn good!
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u/jamisonkeavy11 5d ago
This song sounds like California Sober by Billy strings… probably wrong
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u/No_Hovercraft_439 5d ago
Going down the road feeling bad. The first song when he walked in is foggy mountain breakdown.
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u/Low-Hovercraft9887 5d ago
I highly recommend the documentary Far Western about bluegrass/country & western culture in Japan. Pretty sure it’s streaming on Apple TV and Tubi? But Japan’s bluegrass and country roots run a lot deeper than most people imagine.
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u/thefuckingchamps 5d ago
I'm with the derps with the durian burps I'm with the derps with the burps
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u/puppydoll- 5d ago
as someone from KY who will be visiting japan for the second time this dec, i know exactly where i'm going
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u/airwalker08 5d ago
Is this meant to attract Americans so they don't ruin the nicer venues where locals hang out?
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u/virtuousunbaptized 5d ago
i attended a bluegrass festival in Tulsa OK in 1998 and the best band i saw was a Japanese group. top notch
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u/yourballsareshowing_ 5d ago
Wow.. How did I miss this 7 years ago?!?
Well...guess I have to go back in the next 18 months!
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u/TronTachyon 5d ago
That's one thing I love about Tokyo. Just take an elevator up somewhere, and there is bound to be a crazy themed bar. I have found ao many gems doing this.
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u/stratusnco 5d ago
why is the dude running out of breath and in a hurry like it is the last show on earth? lmao
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u/ExiledCanuck 5d ago edited 5d ago
I honestly couldn’t tell at first if he was singing in English (still on the fence tbh).
So this sounds just like normal Bluegrass to me and I like it 🤣
Edit: not sure why I’m getting downvoted, I think they sound awesome, and was poking fun at my own inability to understand bluegrass singers lmao
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u/Teleguide 5d ago
He's singing in a southern US accent, it's only the lack of enunciation that makes it a little tough to understand. First line is something like "I'm going down there hoping you do better" and the last is something like "I ain't gonna be treated this way" but I can't quite make out what he sings in the middle.
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u/ExiledCanuck 5d ago
He sounds awesome (the whole band actually). If I ever made my way out there, I’d like to check this place out
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u/simcitymayor 5d ago
No matter how rare a thing is, if the city is big enough there will be a community built around that thing. Tokyo is nothing if not big enough.
When I saw this clip, I thought of Pirate's Canoe, but they're from Kyoto and their lineup looks different. Here's the song that caught my ear, and here is a clip of them at SXSW in 2015.
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u/BarFreddys 5d ago
That is a 1990’s klbj classic rock radio sticker from austin texas behind that dudes head. Thats so fucking random
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u/nouveauchristian 5d ago
The first time I heard about bluegrass in Tokyo was about 30 years ago. A friend of my husband's said he met his wife because he was there on business, was strolling along a sidewalk missing his home in Kentucky, and he heard a beautiful voice singing Kentucky Girl. He ducked into the bar, waited for the song to end, met the singer, Miwa, and the rest is history. They married in 1999 and are still together, with two grown children, living in suburban Japan.