Awesome Bluegrass

Jerry Goldsmith’s main title music to Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of the most memorable TV themes of all time. As both a Trekkie and Bluegrass fan, musician Gordon Lustig and his pals performed the theme on banjo, fiddle, bass, and mandolin, and created a new opening title sequence with the Enterprise D replaced by a flying banjo.

Bohemian Rhapsody is the definitive example of Rock Opera. The members of Aussie group The Spooky Men’s Chorale started performing it that way, then took a left turn, transforming the Queen classic into an energetic bluegrass hoedown deserving of a standing ovation. Galiley-hoo! Yee-haw, life has just begun!

The Stone Temple Pilots song Plush is a ’90s grunge classic. But we bet you’ve never heard it like this. Brazilian band Tião e os Bravos turned in this awesomely twangy bluegrass cover of the tune that’ll have you square dancing at your desk. Want some more? How about some Nirvana?

Hey-oh-way-o! In 1986, The Bangles had a hit on their hands with their unstoppable pop-rock track Walk Like an Egyptian. The song was quirky on its own merits, but this country-bluegrass performance from The Cleverlys on Country Road takes it to a whole new level. Like that? Check out their cover of CeeLo Green’s profanity-free Forget You.

If you’ve seen the Coen Brothers’ film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, you’ll immediately recognize the song I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow, made famous by The Soggy Bottom Boys. Singer Geoff Castellucci sang all parts of the American folk classic and embellished the track with his impressive low bass vocals.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio’s Linus and Lucy from A Charlie Brown Christmas brings happy memories flooding in. While the jazzy original was performed on piano, bass, and drums, Foggy Mountain Spaceship gave it a twangy new sound by playing the track on banjos. For more banjo goodness, check out their cover of Walking on the Moon by The Police.

Composer Lalo Schifrin’s theme from Mission Impossible is one of the most recognizeable TV and movie theme songs of all time. But we bet you’ve never heard it like this. Musician Jamie Dupuis found a way to preserve the urgency of the original while adding a dash of bluegrass on the 5-string banjo.

There I Ruined It imagines how people celebrate Halloween in Kentucky by turning Michael Jackson’s megahit Thriller into a bluegrass song. We like to imagine the zombies dancing down the street in overalls and nibbling on straw. Also, it turns out this isn’t the first bluegrass version of the song.

Finnish band Steve’n’Seagulls pays tribute to the Top Gun franchise with a jangly bluegrass version of the Kenny Loggins track Danger Zone. The video combines live performance footage and a series of vignettes featuring a stereotypical American dude who really wants to fly like an eagle.

Vocalists Robyn Adele Anderson and Anthony Vincent of Ten Second Songs fame teamed up to perform this twangy bluegrass cover of the Guns N’ Roses track Sweet Child O’ Mine. Get out your dew rags and your best square dancin’ outfit for a good old time.

The Coen Brothers’ 2000 movie O, Brother Where Art Thou featured a fantastic bluegrass soundtrack, highlighted by George Clooney’s lip-syncing to Dan Tyminski’s version of Man of Constant Sorrow. Nearly two decades later, Tyminski stopped by the Paste Magazine offices for this flawless performance of the tune.

Saskatchewan bluegrass band The Dead South takes on The Doors 1967 classic People Are Strange, giving it a twangy country sound and a music video that reminds us that space aliens are people too. From the EP Easy Listening for Jerks – Part 2, a collection of their rock covers.

There I Ruined It is back to mess with another classic tune, transforming Beck’s 1994 hit Loser into a twangy Bluegrass tune best suited to square dancing. Kill the headlights and put it in neutral! Now Do-si-do and Promenade!

There I Ruined It have outdone themselves, turning Eminem’s Without Me into a twangy bluegrass song that sounds like it could have been the theme to The Beverly Hillbillies or Hee-Haw. We suppose that’s what you get when you start your song with square dance instructions, Marshall.

Ukranian folk-rock cover band Sedo i Ludy offers their unique spin on the Bon Jovi track It’s My Life, with a rollicking cover version that combines bluegrass with traditional Russian folk sounds. About halfway through it turns into a Haircut 100 version of the James Bond theme song.

Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache. The Backstreet Boys track I Want It That Way gets a new sound courtesy of The Petersons, who transformed the 1999 boy band hit into a twangy bluegrass song, complete with the requisite fiddle, banjo, upright bass, and steel resonator guitar.