While live music being performed in Yahoo's Santa Monica studio is by no means an unprecedented situation, sometimes the players and the music being heard can border on the extraordinary.
That was the case recently when a sparkling array of ultra-talented musicians brought their jaw-dropping talents and dazzled virtually every person in attendance.
Photo by Jeremy Cowart
The players were a truly all-star cast of musicians drawn from a variety of genres and musical disciplines: Best known was cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whose musical versatility has been well-established, joining fellow world-class players Edgar Meyer (bass), Chris Thile (mandolin), Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and guest vocalist Aoife O'Donovan of bluegrass group Crooked Still.
And the name for this gathering? A Goat Rodeo.
That's the moniker this batch of stellar instrumentalists took on to describe their recently released album on Sony Masterworks, The Goat Rodeo Sessions. The always reliable UrbanDictionary.com defines the term vividly and also gets the contextual point across as well: "A Goat Rodeo AKA Goat Rope, is about the most polite term used by aviation people (and others in higher risk situations) to describe a scenario that requires about 100 things to go right at once if you intend to walk away from it."
The album is an absolute delight, and any attempt to classify it as being any one genre--whether that be bluegrass, classical, fusion or any derivation of those forms--is destined for failure. But from where we stand at RAM COUNTRY, players with this much skill, and these kind of resumes, are an eye- and ear-opening delight that will astound you.
Check out the performances below and see if you don't agree. And if you want to see this entire Goat Rodeo in verbal action, watch the interview and, just like the music, it will all make spectacular sense.