My
bluegrass odyssey goes back many years. Back in the good old days,
bluegrass was just another aspect of country music – you’d hear
it on The Grand Ole Opry and similar programs, and on country
music stations. TV shows such as the Porter Wagoner Show and
others would include bluegrass musicians along with the more
mainstream country stars of the day.
I
always enjoyed bluegrass, and considered it just a part of country
music. One thing that really piqued my interest was a TV broadcast
that I happened to see some time in the 60s. It featured Lester
Flatt & Earl Scruggs playing “Salty Dog Blues,” (AKA
"Old Salty Dog Blues") and I was
amazed and impressed at the performance. When each player took his
solo, he stepped up to the mike and played his part with precision,
looking as if it was the easiest thing in the world. This song has
been my favorite bluegrass song ever since.
In the
late 1990s, I discovered that there was a bluegrass festival in my
home town of Mariposa CA. I decided to check it out, and took in the afternoon and evening shows,
joined by my younger daughter and her husband, Jennifer & Rod.
The
next year (May 1998) I again went on Saturday, joined this time by
my older daughter and her family, Teri, Tim & grandson Mikie.
In 1999
I took Friday off from work, and attended my first full weekend
festival. I didn’t take the trailer, but instead spent the night
at my parents' house after the music ended Friday and Saturday
nights.
Tim
& Teri decided that the next year, they would go with me for the
weekend, and for the first time I took my trailer. Both grandsons, Mikie
and Johnny, came along, as well as Johnny's friend and hockey
teammate Moses, and
Tim’s parents, Marge & Rocky. This time I took off work so we
could go on Thursday.
Everyone
enjoyed the festival in their own way...the adults for the music and
just getting away from the day to day routine...Mikie just because
he enjoys life nearly all the time...JD
and Moses hanging out together and doing whatever they could find to
do. They went to town most of Saturday; and went out to dinner with
Dad and Mother.
We
immediately agreed that we would return next year (2001), but it was
not to be. The Mariposa Arts Council decided not to hold the
festivals any longer, so I started looking into a festival I had
heard of that would be held in Parkfield, in the coast hills west of
Fresno. Teri, Mikie and I went to it, and I have missed only one
since then, the 2007 event.
The
following year (2002) was the first festival after I retired, so for the
first time I did not need to go home on Sunday night. We went on
Wednesday as I recall, and came home Monday morning, and enjoyed
everything about it. With the extra time available due to not having
to go to work, I began to seek out and attend other festivals, and
the rest is recorded in my endless series of travel reports.
By my
informal count, I have attended 58 festivals, 8 of them for one
day only, and the rest for the full three or four days. I’m
looking forward to many more.
2018, 2019 and 2020 updates: In recent years my attendance has gradually
diminished. When I attended Parkfield in 2018, it was the first
festival I had been to since the previous year's Parkfield event.
When I went to the 2019 event, it was the first time I had even used
the motor home since Parkfield 2018. Driving the motor home
had become a chore, and in June I sold it. I still go camping with
my pickup, but Parkfield is not suitable for that type of camping. I will probably make Parkfield a
one-day event if I go at all. (The 2020 and 2021 events were canceled due to
the coronavirus, and I did not go in 2022.)
The
official count
(Updated May 13, 2019)
|
Summergrass (Vista
CA)............................................................................. |
1 |
|
|
Jake's Brown Barn Festival.......................................................................... |
3 |
|
|
Parkfield
(formerly Camp Rude).................................................................. |
18 |
|
|
Logandale
NV...............................................................................................
|
2 |
|
|
Colorado
River
(Bullhead/Laughlin)............................................................ |
3 |
|
|
Bluegrass
on the River (Parker AZ)............................................................ |
3 |
|
|
Bluegrass on the Beach (Lake Havasu
AZ) (Replaced Parker)..............
|
1
|
|
|
Bluegrass
in the Foothills (Plymouth
CA)................................................... |
6 |
|
|
Superstition
Mountain
(Apache Junction
AZ)............................................ |
1 |
|
|
Supergrass
(Bakersfield)............................................................................. |
2 |
|
|
Kings
River (formerly Hobbs Grove; formerly
Kings River)....................... |
9 |
|
|
Mariposa
Festival.......................................................................................... |
4 |
|
|
Huck
Finn Jubilee (Victorville
CA)............................................................... |
3 |
|
|
Mid-State Bluegrass
Festival (Paso Robles)............................................. |
1 |
|
|
Good Old Fashioned
Bluegrass Festival (Hollister).................................. |
2 |
|
By the
way, if your cable or satellite system offers RFD TV, you have
access to some great bluegrass and country music (it’s channel 379
on my DirecTV service).
The
best show is
Reno’s Old
Time Music. Don Reno &
Red Smiley were among the first generation of bluegrass pioneers.
Although lesser known, they were nearly as influential as
Bill
Monroe or Flatt & Scruggs. Don’s son Ronnie hosts the show. Every episode features one song by
Ronnie and his band, followed by interviews and performances by some of
the top names in bluegrass. Sometimes there is a clip from Reno
& Smiley's TV show of the 1960s. As of April 2011, there are
brand new shows every week, with several repeats that are three to
five years old.
The
other pure bluegrass offering is
Cumberland
Highlanders. Originating
from
Bill
Monroe’s home town of Rosine, KY, these shows are current, or at least not more than a year old,
and feature many regional groups from the southeast. Frankly the
production work leaves a lot to be desired, but sometimes you can
hear some outstanding music by groups you’ve never heard of.
I’ve also seen the Cherryholmes Family, Ralph Stanley and a
several other
familiar groups and artists.
Stan
Hitchcock’s Heart to Heart
Classics focuses more on mainstream country, but it tends to be
the more traditional artists rather than the current crop who are
mostly rockers with big hats. The shows airing as of April 2011 are
from 2005 or later. The format is very informal, with interviews
interspersed with purely acoustic performances by the artist,
accompanied by Stan on guitar.
From
the late classic era comes The Porter Wagoner Show. Bluegrass
artists are rare, but these shows go back to the 1960s, and you get
a chance to see artists who are long gone. In recent weeks I saw a
very young Waylon Jennings, an equally young Bobby Bare, and
departed giants such as Hank Show and Marty Robbins. Many of the
shows also feature Dolly Parton, by herself and harmonizing with
Porter.
Bluegrass
purists may not care for the electric guitar, much less the electric
banjo, but the fiddler, the late Mack Magaha, toured for many years
with Reno & Smiley, so there is a bluegrass connection here.
9/30/09
update: The RFD Network is currently offering a brand new musical
show with an old-style flavor - the Marty
Stuart Show. Unless you have had no contact whatsoever with
country music over the last 20 years, you know that Marty
has been a big star for a long time. Before that, "Little Marty
Stuart" played bluegrass with Lester Flatt's band at age 13,
and later toured with Johnny Cash.
His
show reminds me in some ways of Wagoner's, complete with the fancy
western suits and a talented band, the Fabulous Superlatives, whose
members sometimes step forward to do a lead vocal. Most shows
feature a bluegrass or traditional country artist, and Marty's wife,
country star Connie Smith, makes an appearance in each show. It's a
nice mixture of electrified and acoustic country music. Although the
show starts out electrified, by the mid-point acoustic instruments
have nearly taken over in most episodes.
10/5/11
update: I recently discovered another bluegrass show. It's not
my style, but many fans might enjoy America's
Bluegrass Gospel Show, on Pursuit Channel. This is primarily an
infomercial and hunting/fishing channel (608 on DirecTV).
5/24/16
update: Cumberland Highlanders is apparently still
running; the others are either off the air or appear sporadically.
9/26/21
update: I don't think Cumberland
Highlanders is still on, but Marty Stewart is going
strong in re-runs. Most of the recent shows date from ten years ago,
allowing us to see Merle Haggard and other icons who are no longer
with us.
8/2/22
update: As far as I can tell, the
only one of these shows still on the air is Marty Stuart, and
those shows are all re-runs from ten years ago or earlier. However,
a new series this year, My Bluegrass Story, offers a brief
look at some of the top names in bluegrass. Each artist narrates his
or her own biography, interspersed with solo and band performances.
Each show features at least one number performed at the ROMP
Festival, as well as a solo outing filmed in the Bluegrass
Hall of Fame. The festival and the hall are both located in
Owensboro KY. Artists I've seen so far include Rhonda Vincent,
Russell Moore and Del McCourey.
If you
have any interest in bluegrass, country, or acoustic music in
general, these shows are all worth checking out.
--Dick
Estel, June 2006 (Updated May 2010, April
2011, May 2016, September 26, 2021 and August 2022) |