One of the neatest things about Bluegrass is the cadre of new friends you have as soon as you setup camp at a Bluegrass Festival. I am coming to believe that Bluegrass is not so much a musical style as a state of mind. In this genre there are few super-stars specifically because it is “do-it-yourself” music. Yet the music must be played in ensemble. This draws people together to pursue their passion, and a passion it is.
The roots of Bluegrass, as I understand it, are deeply entwined in the Appalachian Mountains of the south eastern United States. I don’t intend to wax eloquent on the subject, for I am very new at this. I do find the people to be very friendly and outgoing. This afternoon, for example, one of our neighbors here in the fairgrounds camping area stopped by to tell us that they were starting a “jam session” a couple trailers down from where we are camped. They invited us to come join in. When we arrived with lawn chairs and guitar in hand the “jam” was just getting started. Tom had a guitar and banjo staged nearby and his wife was thumping an acoustic bass. I gave my standard warning that I was new at this, and we started in on a couple songs that I didn’t know. The other good part of Bluegrass is that the chord structures of the songs are mostly very straight forward. Also using a capo, (a device to stop the strings of the instrument to change keys,) is not only accepted it is an expected part of playing bluegrass. The consequence of this is you only need to be proficient in about three keys to play almost any song that comes along. Another good thing about Bluegrass pickers is they are very tolerant and are willing to nurture new players. During the course of a jam session each player is invited to lead out with a song. When my turn came I reverted to my roots in country western and we did Leroy Van Dyke’s, Auctioneer Song. It was well received and I started to relax and gain some confidence. As the afternoon wore on, we picked up a mandolin player, two more bass players and a banjo player. I only recognized about one out of every three songs that we played. All of the music is high energy and it didn’t take me long to realize that most of the players by now were members of the bands that are scheduled to play this evening.
Now tell me, can you even imagine sitting in a campground and hammering out a few tunes with Crosby Stills and Nash or the Rolling Stones. I really think that this is one of the things that are wrong with what music has become. We the people have been demoted to the status of consumers of music. Music is what you buy at the music and video super-store and play on your I-Pod.
Sunday morning update:
We have fried, stewed and simmered our brains in bluegrass music for two days. Gary won a “Tee” shirt from the “Rambilin’ Grass” band for having traveled the furthest to attend the festival. After the set the members of the band all signed the shirt and posed for a photo. That photo is below.
After all of this and at eleven at night we got together with new friends Lemuel and Kathy Jones from the local Atlanta area. Lem brought his bass and squeezed it into Arcturus and we jammed until about 1:30.
Well that’s it for now, but give a welcome to Lem and Kathy as they join our little group. We will close with our love for all y’all.
Gary and Judy
