Metallica Gets The Bluegrass Treatment

The Muscle Shoals band Iron Horse has given Metallica the Bluegrass treatment. You can now hear them picking, strumming and singing their heartfelt way through a musical world where no bluegrass group has gone before.
"Fade to Bluegrass" -- the four-member band's genre-bending, redefining tribute to the head-banging, heavy-metal sounds of monster rockers Metallica – will be released nationwide today by the Los Angeles-based label CMH Records.

"It's the last thing in the world we ever expected to do," admitted Iron Horse co-founder Tony Robertson, who plays mandolin and sings lead, high lead and tenor vocals. "But it's really challenged us as musicians and given us an opportunity to explore an alternate form of American music. In the process, we've grown to love it."

In the case of Metallica, members of Iron Horse were essentially novices when it came to musical familiarity with Metallica's pounding drums, scorching guitars and screaming vocals. Beneath the heavy-metal bombast, the bluegrass musicians discovered intricate compositions and compelling lyrics in the Metallica anthems "Unforgiven," "Enter Sandman" and "Fade to Black."

"Once you actually know what the lyrics say, it really opens your eyes and ears to the music," Robertson remarked. "The label isn't trying to sell Metallica music to bluegrass fans. Instead, they're releasing it in the roots, Americana and alternative markets, which is a great place for us to be. We do hope the bluegrass fans will like it – and we hope Metallica fans will like it, too."

While I'm a big fan of covers of metal (especially Metallica) in drastically different styles (e.g Apocalyptica), I'm not sure the bluegrass version is my thing, although it's still quite interesting (and better than country). You can hear some clips of a few songs or even order the CD on Amazon.com.

Source: Metallica.com