Bluegrass is my Second Language

I've just finished a fascinating book by John Santa called "Bluegrass Is My Second Language". Santa hails from Bluegrass Heaven, North Carolina that is, and he knows what he's talking about when it comes to explaining the atmosphere of the jam session. He made the transition from a long history of playing the blues to the frenetic world of bluegrass sorta" cold turkey" when asked by a new friend that he had only just recently jammed with to help out at a benefit for a large group of important people. The other players were complete strangers to him. In the book he humorously explains the emotions he has on the ride to the gig and how he gets thru it all.
The rest of the book takes the reader on many long rides to magical places where the people are warm and wonderful. You get to meet folks that are sometimes a bit different, maybe even quirky and some of the surroundings where the jams take place are almost mythical. Santa tells us about the many emotional relationships he develops with folks at the jams and shows us the basic goodness found in all of them, how they help him get through sad times as when his beloved dog passes or when a particularly bad winter puts him into a depression. Santa has the ability to put the reader right into the middle of a jam with his vivid recollections of how each player takes his turn on a solo or backs up the group and the audiences reaction to the music. This turned out to be a fun read and I know I'll go back and reread chapters just to enjoy the books characters.

To learn more about the book click here




EIGHTwentythree


John Santa

L-R John Santa Keith Carroll Jeff Wiseman Gregg Eldred

Gibson Brothers Iron & Diamonds

You know you've got a good audience when your marketing table is swamped long before the start of the show. And it proved to be a great audience for the Gibson Brothers "Iron and Diamonds" CD release party at the Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Mass. The energy was very high and the band seemed to feed off it performing a sensational set starting with "Cabin Down Below" which got the folks in the groove and continuing with the title cut, "Iron and Diamonds," about the lives of hard working miners and how they came alive on sunday to play ball. The Brothers played most of the new self written material as well as some requests of tunes from their previous release "Red Letter Day". My favorite of the night was "Pickers Blues", this song starts with a powerful guitar solo and wonderful rhythm and it's easy for a picker to relate to the lyrics. All in all it was a great night of music, the band was tight and right with Rick Hayes on mandolin, Clayton Campbell on fiddle and of course Mike Barber on bass , they played nearly two hours and probably would have played even longer but they had to stop in order to get bass player Mike Barber home by morning so he could get to the fishing hole.

Bluegrass Millionaire

A recent study indicates there are over 18 million bluegrass consumers around the planet buying CD’s, attending concerts and spending money supporting the artists. The minute I read that I thought that’s wrong. No way is there that many fans following bluegrass. How’d they come up with that figure? I’ve been to concerts of some of the best BG performers around and watched them play to a few dozen believers. That’s just the nature of our music, feast and famine. Of course the big festivals can draw thousands but the general rule is if you want to get rich, don’t choose bluegrass as the vehicle. Were the survey accurate most bluegrass bands would be rolling in dough, riding in their own busses, own houses in luxury spots around the globe. Furthermore you would be able to see your favorite bands on morning TV shows singing their latest hits, on late night shows chatting happily about their kids and their latest “project.” Wouldn’t that be nice?
I’ for one would like to see this happen. I’d like to see the artists enjoy fame and fortune. But wait! If that happened would they become like the stars of other genre’s , isolated from their fans, surrounded by bodyguards, segregated, aloof, somewhat arrogant. I don’t want to see that happen. I like it the way it is now, where you can sit down and chat with your favorite band members just as though they were school buddies or neighbors, no pretensions, just regular folks, willing to teach you some licks or give you some insight about performing and traveling place to place, interesting stuff that you’ll never be able to experience your self. I guess I’m really torn because on the one hand I want the musicians to be successful but I wouldn’t want to lose the closeness and sharing and the community spirit of the present bluegrass community.

Bluegrass Addiction

I really love bluegrass music, I think I may be obsessed with it. I think about it most of the day. I read about it, write about it, and whenever I have a spare moment there's a guitar in my hands. I even take a guitar to work so that I can play during my lunch break. I've been into it since 1985 but it seems it's more consuming now than ever before. Over the years I've developed a repertoire of probably two dozen songs/tunes that I seem to repeat over and over, much to the chagrin of my wife Meg. In fact she said to me just today "if you could sing and play like Eric or Leigh Gibson I'd say why don't you play for me." I responded "oh," she said, " but you don't, so take a break." So I figured, maybe she's tired of the same old tunes, maybe if I learn some new stuff she'll come round. So I jumped on the internet and searched for bluegrass music. I found one publication that sounded interesting. It was titled "Parking Lot Picker's Songbook," put together by Dix Bruce. He's someone I'm familiar with seeing how I learned to play from one of his books some years ago, It was bluegrass/ old time music, but I can't remember the title. Well anyway the new book has 200 of the most popular tunes played by grassers. Many of the tunes I have heard and liked but never got around to learning the music or the lyrics so this should be fun for me. I'm hoping Meg will like the new sounds and encourage me to play on for hours, oh what bliss that would be. One of the tunes in the book I particulary like is "Katy Dear," a traditional song which tells the story of two young lovers who weren't allowed to marry so they ended their lives with a silver dagger, some real cheery stuff but a scenario that's been repeated throughout history. There are many more that tell stories of hard times, sad times, loss of homeplace and feats of daring and strength. They all must have some truth in them and if we had lived during the period when they were penned we could quickly relate. I'm sure I will never learn to play or sing all of these tunes but I will have a grand time trying. "Without music, life would be a mistake." Freidrich Nietzsche.

Bluegrass at Bull Run

The Gibson Brothers

Paul Revere may have stopped here on his midnite ride to warn the colonists of the impending attack by the British Army, or he may not have. Lots of legends surround this pre-revolutionary Inn located in Shirley, Mass. But a few things I'm sure of, the food is good, the ambience is wonderful and the Gibson Brothers will have their CD release party there. The name of the place is the "Bull Run Restaurant," the name of the album is "Iron and Diamonds," and the reviews of the album are sensational.

Leigh and Eric have written 7 new songs for this project. I've heard two of the cuts, the title cut, Iron and Diamonds, and Pickers Blues, both are solid enjoyable pieces, well done as usual. I'm eager to hear the entire album and am hoping they sing and play most if not all the cuts that night, which by the way is April 4th, friday evening.

Joe Val Workshops

Workshops are a huge hit at most festivals these days, even the smaller venues are holding them. As anyone who attempts to attend a workshop can tell you, "ya betta git there early", yes that's right, the line is down the hall and around the corner if it's indoors, and twenty deep if outdoors. And why not? Who wouldn't want to get tips from the likes of Adam Steffey, Michael Cleveland, Leigh and Eric Gibson, Audie Blaylock and other top touring musicians as well as gifted teachers like August Watters, Rich Stillman and others. I found it interesting to see people of all ages, male and female, eager to learn our music. This tells me that the odds are good that this music will carry on and hopefully grow to where more musicians will be able to make their living doing what they love.

Spirit Fiddle

Robin Warren's face breaks into a smile the minute she begins playing, that's how the music affects her. As she plays she looks into the faces of the admiring fans and returns their smiles. She connects immediately with her audience. She plays brilliantly, each note sharp and crisp, it's apparent that she's done this before. In fact she has performed more than 700 concerts in the ten or more years since forming Spirit Fiddle. This night she is playing Canadian and Irish jigs and waltzes. Listening to this lively music one can picture a barndance on a saturday night somewhere on Cape Breton, NS where champion fiddlers are born and nurtured. Robin would fit right in there, she has won numerous awards for her fiddling (three time winner of "Fiddler of the Festival" title) at the Fiddler's Grove in North Carolina. Robin is accompanied by the masterful playing of Brian Clancey on rhythm guitar. Tonight they're happily entertaining a full house at a Grange in Killingly, CT., the audience is obviously enjoying every minute of it. Robin and Brian work well together, often trading barbs with each other to the delight of the audience. Their playing is flawless, and the tunes are at times happy and energetic and then somber and melancholy as in their version of the "Ashokan Farewell", the theme tune from Robert Burns Civil War film seen on many PBS stations. They will be invited to return I'm sure. To visit Spirit Fiddle's site click here