("Jack/Photo Gallery")
("Jack’s e-mail Link")
Jack Bustle/Bass
The bass players of this world don’t get the credit they deserve. Try playing without the fullness and timing of a bass, and you’ll find out what I mean. Once you get used to playing with a bass, you’ll never be the same. An electric bass is ok, but in bluegrass music, nothing can compare to the fullness and punch of an upright bass.
It’s Jacks job to keep us all in line. Now if you know Jack, you may think that’s funny, but it’s not. Jack is the bass vocalist and upright bass player in the group. Plus the fact that he owns the garage that we all practice in. He laughs about Ron’s comments about him being a simple bass player, but he will tell you himself, “simple is usually cleaner and more solid. Many times fancy and complicated, is too cluttered.” When it comes right down to it, some of the best bluegrass music, is the old simple stuff.
As I said earlier, Jack’s timing is flawless. Being an honorary Kentucky Colonel, and being the strict disciplinarian that he is, I guess he’s the one for the job. Someday, his wife Linda, who is a fine bass player in her own right, hopes that he can afford his own upright bass, and that he’ll give her vintage, mid 1950’s Epiphone upright, back to her. For the time being, I don’t think that Linda minds very much if he plays it though. Did I mention that he owns the garage that we all practice in?
Jack knows all about timing. Not only is he an accomplished bassist, he is also an accomplished banjo player. He and Ronnie sit in quite a bit, when Common Ground isn’t performing, with another local bluegrass group called Hoosier Hills Bluegrass. This is where he keeps his fingers nimble and loose on the 5-string.
Jack has been into bluegrass for many years. While he has a vast range of influences, he’s partial to Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, J. D. Crowe & The New South, Southern Blend, The Bluegrass Cardinals and also Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Of course, also being a banjoist, he’s always had a fascination with Earl Scruggs.
Jack has also become kind of the keeper of the pen, unofficially of course. It seems every time that we practice or do a show, Jack usually winds up taking the notes or creating the set list. It’s not because he’s the only one that can write either. When we worked on the first CD project, Michael Cleveland commented on how he noticed that Jack was the one that kept everything organized on paper. Some day he’s libel to make someone a great secretary.
Jack and Linda live in Holton, Indiana. They spend most of their time, (when they aren’t thinking about picking), with their grandkids, Christopher, Jackson, and Olivia. Jack’s been working with the boys, hoping to get them interested in pickin’ a little bluegrass.
---Ronnie Deaton
