The stage back-drop at Rob's Barn after the lighting of the bonfire in the meadow behind the barn. An incredible season of some of the finest traditional bluegrass music comes to an end with the chill of late Autumn.
19 October 2013
Or give or take a few miles either way . . .
It's fun to be on a quest. It gives life a purpose. We suddenly look at our situations one day, out of the blue and for no particular reason, and wonder where our lives went. I always wanted to write the world's next great novel. I never did. I had a dream to stage an Opera. I never did. Real life took over instead. We are all slaves to the Great Toad - work, careers, family, just surviving enough to get along. Now I'm at that point where I'm looking back and trying to compartmentalize the higher points in my life. Those points that really mattered to me. We have a tendency to think of them in economic terms because we're all Capitalists at the core of our being. Other grandfathers will probably agree with me that one's thinking immediately changes once the first grandchild arrives. There is the physical feeling that the clock is ticking. There's a secondary realization that maybe life really was worth living after all. I call it "The Second Set of Dreams" and hope to put it all down in writing some day. So there. You've read the title. Now nobody can steal it from me.
The question comes up too, about Life Ever After. Does heaven really exist? Or is it here, in the here and now? Or is it really like that Peggy Lee song, "Is That All There Is?" I'm just crazy enough to think about all this stuff while I'm 'questing' around Maryland trying to search out traditional bluegrass music. One small story or one more chance-meeting leads to another discovery about the history of bluegrass music and the families producing it in the Bay State. I'm not so much amazed at Maryland's rich history of bluegrass music, as being constantly amazed that the history is flourishing, continuing, and still a vibrant part of Maryland's Art Scene. Not so in many other regions of the United States. I think there is an interesting reason for it. There seems to be a pride factor involved. A pride in the traditional aspects of the music and a family pride in the production of it. What I've often noticed too, is a mutual respect among the players and cooperation among them when it was necessary to keep the musical form alive and vibrant within the State. My 'quest' took me once again, last Saturday night, back to Rob's Barn in Westminster, Maryland. Rob Miller and Company (a dedicated group of people who are Die-Hard fans of all the magnificent Maryland talent that used to show up at the now defunct Friendly Inn,) were staging their last concert performance for the season at Rob's Barn - a beautiful parcel of private property a few miles outside of Westminster. There is a pre-civil war era farm house and a magnificent hand-crafted Amish barn that serves as a playing space for invited bluegrass musicians. With the season getting colder the fun has to end some time. On this evening, Blue Train was closing down the season. David Propst, a regular member of Blue Train and a few other well-established groups in Maryland and Virginia, was heartily recognized by Rob Miller and his steering committee for all the hard work Dave had contributed to a successful concert season. As an added surprise a plaque showed up on stage that was to eventually go to Mike Munford for his IBMA Award of Banjo Player of the Year. Marylanders appreciate their local talent and just wanted to say thank you for a lot of good music.
Seasons end. Seasons return. While the festivals fade into summer memory for most bluegrassers, winter is just cranking up for Maryland Bluegrass and the regular stock of working bands line up gigs at any number of venues in Maryland still serving the public's demand for traditional bluegrass - year round. This is another interesting facet of the Maryland bluegrass scene. It doesn't fade away with the lack of warm sunshine - it just seems to retreat indoors. It's kept alive by a hard-core network of fans trading information on who's playing where or who's coming out with a new CD or who's made band- member changes. If you're seriously into bluegrass in Maryland, you're part of an extended family of sorts that closely guards the welfare of the musician and fan community. This helps to insure the vibrancy of the community, and gives it further reason for most bluegrass events to become celebratory happenings. Trite to say this, but it is American music - down-home music. It's a reflection and chronicled history of the players and the people who enjoy gathering to listen to it. And when it's done well, it's just about the most honest music form there is.
Blue Train appears next at Jumbo Jimmy's Crab Shack on November 3rd, 2013. Another hot-spot of Traditional Maryland Bluegrass, Jumbo Jimmy's (Bainbridge Road, Port Deposit, Md.) provides bluegrass music every Sunday at 4:00.
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