STEPHEN (Mojo) MOUGIN; Nashville bluegrass player Sam Bush Band, singer songwriter, record producer.
Whilst at the Summer NAMM show in Nashville, Tennessee in July 2017, I spotted an unmistakable, distinct green Fusion acoustic guitar gig bag, drifting periscope-like above a sea of heads at this year’s crowded event. Following said gig bag led me to the Fishman stand, arguably one of the world’s leaders within acoustic instrument pickup design, pre- amps and amplification.
It’s here that no other than Stephen Mougin multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, teacher, label owner and one of the finest bluegrass players, casually perched himself on a stool and played some fine bluegrass acoustic guitar. In typical American style, crowds whooped and cheered as Stephen finished his set and started to pack away his favourite Collings CJ-35 acoustic guitar in his trusty Fusion case.
“I’ve had Fusion bags for about 7 years now, so this one has had a serious road test”, says Stephen. “I tour with several nice guitars that I really don’t want to see trashed and was fed up with carrying heavy flight cases. I must admit, gig bags used to terrify me, until I saw the quality and protection the Fusion models offer.
I got this one from Dana Thorin’s Music Caravan at the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) show back in Nashville. I was really impressed when she showed me all the custom padding that held the guitar snugly without bumping around inside. I also liked the fact that for the amount of padding it had, it still remained streamline and was nice and light. I really didn’t want to carry around a huge brick. It’s so easy to handle, roomy inside and yet small enough to fit overhead in planes, on the tour bus and of course, I can get all my tuners, picks, capos, cables and so on in all the compartments. The headstock pocket is particularly handy for keys and go-to accessories. It just makes travelling with an expensive instrument more reassuring.”
Busy and late I may have been for my next appointment as a journalist at this demanding show, but when we got all nerdy with guitar talk and playing techniques, I just let the tape roll.
“I’m a flat picker,” says Stephen, “Not a fingerpicker. This is a technique that just uses the plectrum, as opposed to fingerpicking which uses all the fingers.
Flat picking is mandatory for all genres of bluegrass music which I specialise in, although, there have been rare exceptions in the past. Doc Watson for example, the USA country bluegrass guitarist actually played both flat picking and fingerpicking, while the likes of Carter Stanley and Lester Flatt used a thumb pick but didn’t do anything with their fingers.
It’s interesting to see how playing techniques can overlap across different genres. Playing fast on an acoustic guitar is different to playing fast with a plectrum on an electric guitar where you can just crank up the amp when you wanna get louder.
For bluegrass, it’s about getting a good solid rhythm with a lot of body, which most people are surprised to hear. They think of an acoustic guitar as a jangly sound that will mix on the other side of the hi hat, for bluegrass players, that’s certainly not the case. We are looking for a big sound that can drive the ensemble, so playing at the backend of the soundhole down by the bridge is kinda where we are playing most of the time.
The authentic bluegrass sound is generally built around a G chord, and so anything from open, up to the 5th fret your gonna try and grab in that solid G chord to get the correct sound. If you played a barre B chord in the key of B, it’s nearly impossible to make it sound like bluegrass, guitar players just wouldn’t do that, it’s not that they can’t, it just doesn’t sound right. There are a lot of notes on a guitar, and I haven’t found them all yet...” laughs Stephen.
As a typical youngster, Stephen wanted to do everything his Dad did, luckily, playing guitar was on the list.
“For some reason my Dad decided to learn guitar. I was 6 years old and just decided to noodle in the corner as he had lessons. My Mom also decided to take banjo lessons, and pretty soon her tutor brought along a guy to teach me guitar. This was up in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, where we had more cows than people. Looking back, the setting was perfect, bluegrass jams out on the porch and when it was cold we’d all grab a casserole, eat and make music beside the fire.
My first gig was aged 8 with the two guys who were my teachers, we played at the Cummington community centre in the Berkshire Hills. When I was 12, I started on the mandolin and my dad took me to the Peaceful Valley Bluegrass Festival in summer 1988. The legendary mandolin player, Bill Monroe was there holding a workshop, playing and asking questions.
We were early so we sat around in this empty room and in came Bill. He was early as well and he asked what I had in the case. So I’m all excited, flipped the latches and showed him my beginners mandolin and he started playing it, which was cool enough, but when peopled started to show up, he continued playing it and used it for the entire workshop.
I now know he really did that as he knew it would be something for me later in life. I mean, here was the original father of bluegrass playing my mandolin, and taking the time to encourage me and share his music. To me that was something special.
I learned all the in’s and out’s of bluegrass mandolin playing and when I was 16, I played it with my teachers again but now as a permanent band member in their band called Thunder Mountain Bluegrass. I was with them for ten years before I left to move to Nashville. There are a lot of bluegrass players in and around Nashville, you’ll find them at the Station Inn, but there’s hardly any bluegrass among the hundreds of bands you see on Lower Broadway.”
Very few guitar players, whatever music they play, have had it handed to them on a plate. Like Stephen Mougin, they have had to work the up the ranks.
“Oh no, it didn’t come easy”, he laughs. “In ‘04 I was sort of penniless and homeless here in Nashville. I was either too stupid not to go home, or couldn’t afford to. Luckily, a good friend called Richard Smith an English fingerstyle guitar player and his wife took me in for about 18 months. I was playing in at least 11 bands, including The Randy Kohrs Band, but thanks to the economy at that time, none of them really had enough work to keep me busy. It got to the stage where I would take my guitar and mandolin to a gig as I didn’t know what I’d be playing that night. I could also sing bluegrass vocals, so I could adapt to a role pretty quickly which enabled me to survive. A big break came when Richard put a call in for me to audition as guitarist and vocalist in The Sam Bush Band and I got the part.
I was tickled pink, as Sam is recognised as the father of Newgrass, this was actually legislated by the State Of Kentucky. Newgrass is a musical genre that Sam helped create, reviving a bluegrass style that was lead by the likes of The Country Gentlemen in the 50’s and The Seldom Scene in the early 70’s. Sam started the revival with his original band actually called Newgrass Revival featuring Bela Flek, John Cowan and Pat Flynn. He’s mixing the likes of reggae, pop and rock, basically taking ideas from several genres whilst at the same time keeping the timing and tone of bluegrass.
I’ve been with The Sam Bush Band over 10 years now and I fell in pretty quick as I knew how to play and, just as importantly, how to sing bluegrass.”
Acoustic flat picking and mandolin aside, singing in country bluegrass style is an art in itself, as Stephen explains,
“If the harmonies are sung correctly, they should blend perfectly, it should be hard to tell them apart. I also own the Dark Shadow Recording record label and studio here and we have released several vocal tutorial CDs aimed at teaching bluegrass tenor and baritone harmony vocals. These videos have been very successful and are used in the Berkley School of Music and East Tennessee State University, where folks have learned to sing using our CD’s which is really cool. Like other genres of music, with bluegrass you have to learn to pronounce words and attack timing in a different way. I learned this myself after listening for hours and hours to the classic songs.
When I was a kid, I was very fortunate to have grown up in a time where I didn’t have access to every country or bluegrass record. I only had a few but would listen to them over and over until I could afford another. Flatt and Scruggs Live at Carnegie Hall, was a huge influence for my vocal training, along with an album by J.D. Crow & The New South, called 0044. Shoot!...ya know, I played both those albums hundreds of times. I persevered and later went to college at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to be a music teacher, graduating with a degree in teaching voice. All the hours listening to the classics paid off.
I love teaching and I love to share, so I was delighted when awarded the IBMA Mentor Of The Year award in 2016, probably the best award that I could receive. The year before, I won the Recorded Event award as a record producer- engineer here at Dark Shadow Recording studios, where I also offer a Band Coaching Service. This is all part of my love of teaching, where bands come in and we work on strategies for improving their sound, or their stage presence, or even finding the right keys for their voices.
We also work with video within the label, which is relatively a new venture. I made our first music video with Becky Buller, she is our most active artist right now and one of the most sought after bluegrass artists, having been nominated for a host of awards and the first person ever to win both vocalist and instrumental award. It’s a busy time for me with a lot of new projects and ongoing ones like teaming up with an old pal and banjo player Ned Luberecki. We have a new album happening soon and looking at tour dates, possibly in the UK as well, look out for Nedski and Mojo.
We also work with video within the label, which is relatively a new venture. I made our first music video with Becky Buller, she is our most active artist right now and one of the most sought after bluegrass artists, having been nominated for a host of awards and the first person ever to win both vocalist and instrumental award. It’s a busy time for me with a lot of new projects and ongoing ones like teaming up with an old pal and banjo player Ned Luberecki. We have a new album happening soon and looking at tour dates, possibly in the UK as well, look out for Nedski and Mojo.
So many people helped me when I was growing up, so it’s nice to give something back. There’s a huge generosity in the bluegrass community, I feel it’s my duty to bring that to the next generation of folks. Maybe it goes back to that Bill Monroe moment when he played my mandolin. I’m trying to help some of these folks that are just getting started in bluegrass, I just feel it’s an obligation, a pleasure and my duty to do that.”
For more information about Stephen Mougin, Dark Shadow Recording and Nedski and Mojo visit:
Interview by Lars Mullen
