Biography
-
Years Active
1991 – present (33 years)
Druhá Tráva ("Second Grass" in Czech) is a bluegrass band from the Czech Republic, formed in 1991 by Robert Křesťan. As of August 2005, they have released eighteen studio albums either as a group or as side projects.
They, along with much of Central Europe were inspired by Pete Seeger's tour there in 1982. Bluegrass music had existed in the Czech Republic since the mid 1960s. Along with American folk music, it was popular among many of the students involved in the Prague Spring in 1968. These events led to the interesting situation that bluegrass and folk music was considered politically subversive by some of the Communist elite.
Along with Křesťan (lead vocals, guitar), the original line-up consisted of Lubos Malina (banjo), Jiri Meisner (bass guitar), Pavel Malina (guitar), and Lubos Novotny (dobro). In 2004, the line-up changed considerably, with Jiri Meisner and Martin Ledvina leaving the group and Petr Sury (bass) and Emil Formanek (guitar, mandolin and harmony vocals) joining.
Druhá Tráva are commonly compared to their bluegrass and folk forerunners such as Ricky Skaggs, Peter Rowan, Davy Spillane, and Béla Fleck as well. The band recently signed to Compass Records. On Compass they released their sixth studio album, Czechmate, and an album with Peter Rowan, New Freedom Bell. In September 2004 they released an all-acoustic album entirely with English lyrics, Good Morning Friend, which was released in Czech Republic on the Universal label.
Official website: www.druhatrava.cz - in Czech
www.druhatrava.com - in English
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