Pickin' On Nirvana: The Bluegrass Tribute Featuring Iron Horse Out This April

By: Feb. 21, 2017
Get Access To Every Broadway Story

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click.




Existing user? Just click login.

Los Angeles-based CMH RECORDS has announced the release of Pickin' On Nirvana: The Bluegrass Tribute Featuring Iron Horse, the latest installment of their series featuring bluegrass interpretations of influential artists. Set for a special vinyl Record Store Day first release on April 22 with a digital release to follow April 28, the Nirvana tribute collection continues the tradition CMH began in the 90's with Pickin' On The Beatles. Other artists that have been given the Pickin' On treatment include Grateful Dead, Metallica, Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers Band, Coldplay, The Black Keys, Jack White, Modest Mouse, The Killers and many more.

Pickin' On Nirvana: The Bluegrass Tribute sees songs by the seminal alternative rockers stripped down to bare bones roots music. Alabama-based quartet Iron Horse bring their traditional instrumentation and harmonious vocals to bear while tackling Kurt Cobain's wildly influential fusion of melody and discordance. It all adds up to a collection of renditions that are unlike anything ever heard by fans of bluegrass and Nirvana.

Iron Horse's Ricky Rogers told No Depression, "Most bluegrass groups cover Flatt & Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, etc., because the performance of those songs by other artists are very close to the original compositions. I prefer the term 'tribute,' because we put a different interpretation on works that are widely recognized in their original form, and our intent is to pay tribute to the original artists' efforts and creations."

Iron Horse's rendition of "Night on the Sun" from Pickin' On's tribute to Modest Mouse was featured prominently in HBO's True Blood; watch here. This past December 2016, their tribute to Metallica, Fade to Bluegrass: A Bluegrass Tribute to Metallica reached #13 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart. Check out Iron Horse performing "Enter Sandman" here.
In a recent Los Angeles Times feature on the label, Randall Roberts noted, "The notion of reinterpreting popular music for different genres was initiated when CMH mined its catalog for a themed collection called Pickin' On the Movies. Pickin' On the Beatles followed, as did a similar tribute to the Eagles. The brand blew up when Deadheads fell for Pickin' On the Grateful Dead. The company's best sellers have been able to reach the high five figures."
CMH Records remains dedicated to presenting the finest in bluegrass and roots music, through re-issues of classic material by the greats and stellar recordings from new voices.
Track listing for Pickin' On Nirvana: The Bluegrass Tribute Featuring Iron Horse:
  1. All Apologies
  2. About A Girl
  3. In Bloom
  4. Polly
  5. Drain You
  6. Pennyroyal Tea
  7. Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle
  8. Come As You Are
  9. Sappy
  10. On A Plain
  11. Dumb
About CMH Records' Pickin' On Series: Born out of a love of rock music and for the virtuosity of bluegrass musicians, the Pickin' On Series features the best in bluegrass, paying tribute to the biggest and brightest artists in rock and pop. Though it started modestly in 1993 with the release of Pickin' On the Movies, tributes to The Beatles and Eagles soon followed and by 1997 the Pickin' On Series was on fire. The Pickin' On Series continues to thrive with one hand in traditional bluegrass and the other in popular music, ready for the next chance to create innovative bluegrass music.
For more information on CMH RECORDS, visit:


Videos