Best current Bluegrass Band

They have a drummer?

That would be The Del McCoury Band, with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder a close second.

If it has drums, it ain't Bluegrass.

Dry Branch Fire Squad for the show.

Don't even try to advocate for Billy Strings.  When he plays Bluegrass it's pretty good, but 3/4 of his set is effects-driven Rock-Fusion set to an annoying EDM lightshow.  It's Nightmare Hippie Chick music, not Bluegrass.

There are some good local bands.  Check out these guys if they come around to your neighborhood:

https://www.bandofcomerados.com/

But Billy Strings has the best jamgrass going these days hands down.   Saw him for the first time at the Edgefield last month and it kicked ass and lived up to the hype.  All the intense shredding jamgrass of the Infamous Stringdusters but with way more grit and soul.   He had a killer light show to boot.

I'm with Dave on this.

I'm not an expert on all the bluegrass bands around, but McCoury is still the best one I know of, and a drummer? Yeah, that's not bluegrass, that's jumping the shark to play bigger venues.

In my personal taste for bluegrass I'd say the Billy Strings band would be right at the top, if they had a fiddle player.

And lost the rock star light show.

But that's also part of playing the bigger venues.

But that's not really a music thing. If/when he brings in a drummer we'll know know he's jumped the bluegrass/newgrass shark as well.

IMO traditional bluegrass is a very unique, very brilliant sound, and it can be manipulated and re-worked and broadened or whatever, and that's all fine, but a damn good traditional bluegrass band is it's own special, improv, harmonies, ensemble group thing, and has been for a really long time.

And almost certainly will be for a really long time to come.

Many today that claim the bluegrass title don't use a banjo.  Monroe would thumbs down that, but he also said no lead guitar.

As a music becomes niche and time marches on things splinter.

Like in another niche genre, jazz, there will always be the trad fans and those pushing boundaries.

Strings on Kimmel the other night was a very strong contender for best trad.

Funny because the last time I heard him he was playing electric guitar with WSP.

If Tony Rice had done that in the 70's he would've been tarred and feathered by the trad crowd.

>>>>If Tony Rice had done that in the 70's he would've been tarred and feathered by the trad crowd.

Saw a Rice/Bush/Grisman show once and these two old geezers nearby got up disgusted and stormed out complaining "This ain't like any bluegrass I have heard before."

I dig these guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI9oVs4julc

Hot Rize

Not the "best", but Horseshoes and Handgrenades are pretty good. I dig their single mic thing too.