Blu Grass in the Sky produces first single

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Blu Grass in the Sky Band has a new video and is eagerly awaiting its debut.  High Grade Love is to be released on Tuesday and comes on the back of a two-year journey.

Cousins Simon Samuel and Rasheed McCallum started the band, the former writing the songs, while the latter provided the guitar melody.

The sound wasn't complete until Suane Brown on drums and Craig 'Craole' Cole on bass joined the group.

Samuel, who is also the lead singer, told The Sunday Gleaner recently, that the combination the band has found, came naturally.

"Me and my cousin, we had been playing together for a while, and we soon grew and developed our own sound. We lined up a bass player and drummer and it was all a natural progression."

Naming the band

The name of the band comes from one of their singles which begins, "I hear there is blue grass in the sky, take off your shoes let's take a walk." After developing a few songs, the band joined the growing live-music scene, playing at spots like Red Bones Blues Café, Weekenz, Village Blues Café, Jamnesia in Bull Bay, St Thomas, as well as various venues on the Negril strip.

Blu Grass also gave critically acclaimed performances at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festivals in 2009 and 2010.

At last year's festival, the band opened the main stage on what was the main night, the same Friday night Maroon 5 were the headline act.

While still a small band, Blu Grass in the Sky has, undoubtedly, created a buzz on the live-music with their blend of blues, reggae, dancehall, Latin and rock.

"We begin with reggae and then it just forms into something else. We all have such different influences so its a blend of that. Right now it's all about what's next. You know Jamaican music evolves, so we're unto what's to come next," Samuel explained.

The music

The music that comes from that blend, the band simply calls a "reggae-world sound" which, according to Samuel is "like a growing child". You have an idea of what you want it to become, you want it to grow and flourish, but it develops naturally and also has a mind of its own."

The band has recorded songs like Get Closer, Rivers, King of Destiny and Dusty Shoes.

Despite the multiplicity of recorded material, the group's first official single, is High Grade Love, which is available for free download at blugrassinthesky.bandcamp.com.

The video was shot in January at the Jamnesia Surf Club and was directed by Nile Saulter, assisted by his famous director brother Storm Saulter. According to Samuel, the video has an international feel and the band is hoping their fans will be appreciative of their effort.

"The launch is next week Wednesday at UWI [University of the West Indies]. It's a really good video, international standard."

The band has hopes for a bright future and McCallum sums it up by saying, "when ground level is sky level, the lowest you can be is the sky."

Samuel shares his sentiments.

"For the future we'll have to watch and see what happens. We want to take our music as far as we can, we're a really good musical find, and we plan to keep on doing good music."