Event No. 4 in Brunswick: The Momentum Builds

The Lost and Found at Brunswick, 30 January 2011

30 January 2011: Brunswick Roundhouse Concert Productions presented its Fourth Event up in Brunswick, Maryland yesterday. Offer something unique and the customers will show - they'll lay down their money to have a good time. There is nothing more appreciative than a rousing audience of bluegrass die-hards. Snow be damned. Weird highway detours showing up out of nowhere be damned. Somebody among the Brunswick Boosters had the foresight to put up plenty of hand-painted directional signs so concert-attendees could find their way to the Brunswick High School. We had to go the back way from our normal route and I wasn't real happy to find out that the Maryland Department of Highways detour signs took me eight miles out of the way! God bless whoever it was who put up the "Bluegrass" signs. But that's the kind of planning and assistance you can expect from the good people up in Brunswick. The BRCP team and Brunswick Boosters have now established a well-oiled machine that is cranking out wonderful entertainment for Frederick County and Northern Virginia bluegrass fans.

It all started on July 25th, 2009, with the first concert to raise funds for the Brunswick Junior Baseball League, with Darren Beachley (he's a 'local') offering up his talent. Kenny Ray Horton (of the U.S. Navy's Country Current) joined him. Everyone was pleasantly shocked at the public's response. Soon after, a team developed that decided to take it a few steps further. Other concerts were scheduled. Concert No. 2 happened on July 10th, 2010 and the word spread. The original team then formed a non-profit entity to promote musical performances in support of high school booster activities at the Brunswick High School.

Concert No. 3 took place on November 21st, 2010, Concert No. 4 happened yesterday, and Event No. 5 will take place on March 20th, 2011. The fan base is growing and so is the donor-support list for Brunswick Roundhouse Concert Productions, the non-profit 'parent operation' in charge.
Modestly staying in the background of all this activity are Jill and Roy Hossler and the extended Hossler Family, and also Darren and Sherri Beachley and all of their Family. The Hosslers and Beachleys will be the first to mention that none of this stuff happens without the support of the army of volunteers they've gathered around the concert events.

The Music: Yesterday's event featured Kenny Ray Horton and Washington Junction, and the legendary band Lost and Found. This was Kenny Ray's second appearance at the Brunswick concerts and he was joined by Country Current alumnus Pat White on fiddle and mandolin, Keith Arneson on banjo, and Jeremy Middleton on bass. Darren Beachley's got the task of lining up the entertainment and you can sense where he's going with the music. Both bands offered a broad range of bluegrass tastes. Maybe it's because of Kenny Ray's Navy background and the "having to please all" attitude of the different Navy Band configurations or maybe it's because sometimes he just sounds a little too 'country' for my taste in bluegrass, I always hold my classifications in reserve for Kenny Ray. You want to see what this guy is going to become in the future, because this guy is good, and thoroughly entertaining and proficient as an artist. Both Kenny Ray and Pat White are in classifications of their own. They're brilliant musicians - that's why they were chosen for duty in the Second-Best U.S. military Band. The First of course, is the U.S. Marine Corps Band. Yeah - you can quote me on that - and then try to shoot me.

The Lost and Found's performance is purely Old School traditional - it took me back to days of listening to hillbilly music on the radio when I was a kid. When you need your bluegrass fix and you want to go down into that dark hollow, these are the folks you listen to. You either love or hate this kind of music - and I love it - songs like "Wreck of the Old 97" "Shackles and Chains" "Down the Road" "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains." They threw in a medley from the Grand Ole Opry and some Red Foley - they brought down the house. You walk out smiling and saying to yourself, "I just experienced the Real Deal."

Two very different bands spanning different generations, but it's all about the acoustically performed music and the vocal connectivity. You have to appreciate the genius of how it all comes together and works to delight the senses. God knows I've listened to too much uninspired and bad, modern country music and rock-and-roll. The air waves are filled with it. I listen to it once and then turn it off. I keep going back to bluegrass again and again and again. My grand daughter thinks I'm a Virginia hillbilly (I'm not). Just me, that's who I am.

You can get schedules, ticket information, and information on how to contribute to Brunswick Roundhouse Concert productions at www.brunswickbluegrass.org

March 20th, 2011, at 3:00 (Doors open at 2:00) featuring The Little Roy and Lizzie Show and Bill Yates and the Country Gentlemen Tribute Band. Tickets are on sale now.