Eric Brace & Peter Cooper - C&O Canal

Most think of Washington D.C. as only a city of politics. But if you get past the well-known marble monuments and the dysfunctional legislating on Capitol Hill, it turns out there's a real city there, with a real cultural history. For decades, Washington was The Bluegrass Capital of the World, and possessor of an enormous legacy in folk, blues, and country as well. Eric Brace & Peter Cooper both spent many formative years in Washington D.C. and absorbed its musical lessons better than most. They learned those lessons most often at a club called the Birchmere, in the D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. And most often on a Thursday night, when the great progressive bluegrass band the Seldom Scene took the stage. On Brace & Cooper's new album, C&O CANAL, they cover ten songs connected to Washington's acoustic and roots music scene. There are three songs closely associated with the Seldom Scene, and most of the others are one-degree-of-separation from that progressive group that changed the bluegrass, folk, and acoustic scene in D.C. and around the world. Songs by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tony Rice, Alice Gerrard, Ralph Stanley, Karl Straub and more.