Hooked on bluegrass

FINGER PICKING: American Bluegrass musician Tim O'Brien performs.

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Grammy Award-winner Tim O'Brien has played with the elite of country and folk and is bringing his sound here.

If your knowledge of bluegrass starts and stops with Duelling Banjos, it's time to meet Tim O'Brien – and next week could be your one and only opportunity.

American O'Brien, one of the world's leading and most respected bluegrass musicians and songwriters, arrives in Nelson for a one-off performance for the Nelson Arts Festival on Tuesday night.

The fact he has a Grammy award, has had his songs recorded by some of the stellar names in country music, has played down the years with a who's who of bluegrass, country and folk, and performs in front of vast festival audiences should settle any questions about O'Brien's musical status.

Now, he finds himself in the uncharted territory of New Zealand, where he's just landed for his first tour, accompanied by guitarist Gerry Paul of the Irish band Grada (who played in Nelson as part of the Ceol Aneas festival at the start of winter), and Trevor Hutchinson, a double bassist who has played with the likes of the Waterboys, Eric Bibb and Lunasa.

The three will perform as the Two Oceans Trio, the name reflecting that they hail from three continents with two oceans between them. O'Brien admits he is not sure what his following is like in New Zealand, but says his records have been played on the radio for years. "I think the records have preceded me. I think it smells like a place where people are pretty open-minded and if word of mouth is good they will come and check it out."

He has brought with him the mandolin, fiddle and the banjo – and his voice, described as "the most fluid and recognisable in bluegrass".

The group has recorded an album for the tour, which O'Brien says came together with the help of his wife, who also did the cover art. "It's a homegrown, in-house, small-town thing."

Even his tour band has an element of the unknown. He met Gerry Paul on the festival circuit about five years ago. But the pair "haven't really played together so it will come together as we go down the highway".

Hailing originally from Wheeling, West Virginia, O'Brien's CV includes recording and playing with the likes of Steve Earle, Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Mary Chapin Carpenter and the Chieftains.

His most recent project was playing and touring with bluegrass banjo player and actor Steve Martin. Gerry Paul recounts how, while the Two Oceans Trio were recording their album in Nashville, a call came through from Mark Knopfler asking O'Brien to accompany the guitar legend on his upcoming tour.

His songs have been recorded by the Dixie Chicks and Garth Brooks. He is a former president of the International Bluegrass Music Association and won a Grammy Award for best traditional folk in 2005 for his album Fiddlers Green. In 1993 and 2006 he was the International Bluegrass Music Association's male vocalist of the year.

Then again, he can still get nervous about performing, as his experience at an enormous bluegrass festival in San Francisco demonstrated. With about 750,000 people visiting over the course of a weekend, O'Brien reels off the names of various stars present, although one in particular almost threw him off his stride. "I was playing away having a good time, when I looked to the side of the stage and saw Robert Plant sitting there listening," he says. "He makes me more nervous than 40,000 people – he is a big fan." (The former Led Zeppelin frontman won a Grammy with Alison Krauss this year.)

Tuesday night is Nelson's opportunity to hear this legend of bluegrass, with the 90-minute show to include a mix of O'Brien's self-penned songs along with the traditional Americana folk tunes from the trio's album.

Tim O'Brien and the Two Oceans Trio are performing at the Granary Festival Cafe, Founders Park, on Tuesday at 8.30pm. Tickets are $38 from Everyman.

Festival organisers want to advise that the planned Americana music workshop with O'Brien has been cancelled.