He's Holding a Banjo, So It Must Be Bluegrass . . .

15 July 2013:  From the Field:

      I love You Tube. I can generally find a band, performer, or musical act and check them out before I ever invest my gas money to go see them. Most of the stuff up on You Tube is so badly produced that it doesn't do any performer any marketing favors. A camera on a mobile phone in a noisy bar full of drunken, screaming, 21-year olds will never capture the artistic intent. It won't help to 'sell' a band, either. A few weeks ago somebody recommended I take a look at a band that was coming to the DC area. They were being hailed as a young, up and coming, bluegrass act. As suspected, it was four young people playing a collection of percussive devices, one kid strumming a banjo, and one kid strumming a cheap guitar. He strummed the basic blues chords - Ad nauseam - Every song. I kept shuffling the videos hoping I would hear some bluegrass. I'm glad I could rely on You Tube to help me save some ticket money. Interestingly, this page led me to hundreds of other pages where young people were extolling great street bands they'd seen on their latest vacation in New Orleans. Now granted, I've never been to New Orleans so this fascinated me. What didn't fascinate me was the tag on every one of these videos that said, "Real Delta Blues Band Plays in New Orleans." You have to check this out. Every one of the dreadfully produced videos usually show a bunch of kids who look like run-aways. They all look dirty. Like somehow personal hygiene problems are definitely connected to what might be suspected substance abuse problems. There might be 6 or seven of them in the 'band,' but usually only one person is playing a guitar, banjo, or fiddle. The rest are beating on things picked up out of the city trash. Wash-boards and big whiskey jugs (a la 1960's) are there too, to give it that Zydeco touch.  That's the sum total of any musical knowledge. The guitar-player is ALWAYS in an E-chord. Pan-handling the tourists is usually a part of the act, too. After watching these, and seeing how many there were, any thoughts of taking a vacation in New Orleans faded out of my brain-housing group. Sort of like dreaming of that vacation in San Francisco, until you get there and are greeted by San Francisco's out-of-control homeless problem.
      You Tube thus serves as a good resource for checking something out before you unwittingly pay your hard-earned money and sit down in an auditorium seat. Lately I've noticed that this same 'style' of band is creeping into bluegrass festivals, known and lesser known, and showing up at places that cater to trying to please the general public's musical tastes. The travesty is when they are promoted or packaged as bluegrass bands, either by people who don't know the difference, or by people who hired them on hear-say, or the misdirected recommendation of a friend in the business. What really hurts, and I hear this all the time while I'm out in the field is somebody from the general public saying "well I see a banjo and a fiddle, so they must be bluegrass." Watching the annual Mummers' Parade in Philadelphia with its thousands of people strumming thousands of banjos, all playing "Happy Days Are Here Again," isn't bluegrass, either. The only saving grace is the good people of Philadelphia know it has nothing to do with bluegrass, and don't promote it as such.