The Martins & Aspen Run
Blue Train
7 December 2013
Blue Train and The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run played at the Eureka Fire Hall in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania. I mention that first off to see if that's what shows up on my Google-searching. What a tremendously interesting age we live in wherein you can search just about anything on the internet and come up with some information about it, or practically any person on the planet. Still, I had to tell somebody the other day how to use hyperlinks to gain information. They had been using a computer for a few years and didn't know what a hyperlink was. We take so much for granted in this age of technology. I often fail to realize that a sizable portion of the American public is still in the dark about computer-use. The other night on Jeopardy a school teacher was crowing over the fact that he didn't own a cell phone and didn't know how to use one. I don't think I'd want my child in one of his classes. I'm sure he runs around all day asking other people to make phone calls for him, or else he's so oblivious to what's going on he has to be supremely egotistical. The good news is he was soundly beaten by the other contestants.
This has been quite a week leading up to that down-hill stretch we call The Holidays. I sit back and wonder where the year went. I notice that tanned pictures of me taken in the summer of 2013 are now looking pasty and sickly as we get into winter. Nelson Mandela died this week for the historical record. The flags in my home-town went to half-staff and I wondered whether it was for him or for Pearl Harbor Day. I asked our mayor what the reason was, and she said she'd get back to me with an answer. I don't remember our flags going to half-staff when the President of Poland died tragically in a plane-crash. If it was for Pearl Harbor Day I applaud our town leaders. Our first major winter "weather event" finally intruded upon us here in our area, and last night while I was out enjoying a double-shot of bluegrass up along the Mason-Dixon Line everyone seemed tensely aware that it was probably a good idea to get home sooner than later and hunker down. For those of you who missed the party, you missed a real wing-ding. Two high-energy bands that offered a small respite away from the Christmas shopping, impending doom of our first ice-storm, and 24-hour a day news coverage of Nelson Mandela. The only agenda item was traditional bluegrass served up in "McCoury Country." For the past two musical seasons David Ober of the Eureka Fire and Ambulance Company in Stewartstown, Pa. has produced this show as a sort of an end-of-season extravaganza for the Martin Brothers & Aspen Run out of Westminster, Maryland. Herb Martin (the Martin Brothers) usually asks another band to come along for the ride. The event is pretty special. This year, newcomers "Blue Train" joined up with the Martin Brothers. The dancing started early and never quit. The price to get in is dirt-cheap and there is always good food available. Dave's staff at the fire house go out of their way to welcome everyone in for a good time.
The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run (Westminster, Md.) came loaded for bear, all decked out in their western gear and trade-mark white boots. Fiddle-player Billy Hurt from Roanoke, Va. was hired on for the evening as an extra dose of energy. He's phenomenal and nationally recognized for his talent. The Martin Brothers and Aspen Run remain a group with rough edges, but 200% entertainment value. I've always loved these guys. There is nothing pretty about their music. Nothing slick. It's honest and that's the group's selling point. Aaron Martin (Stand-up Bass) had just played on Thursday night with John O'Dell and Kenny Wise, and here he was singing his heart out in Stewartstown. Youth can be deceiving. There has been so much improvement on his vocals and the limits to which he can push his voice. If you think it's easy to sing well and slap out a bass-line (perfectly,) then get up on a stage sometime in front of hundreds of people and try it. But Aaron is only a part of a machine that has the ability to get a crowd moving. Brothers Clayton and Herb Martin, III, plus Steve Unkart and Guy Herbert had the room rocking from start to finish. And it was a good crowd too - fans of both bands from Goofy's, Jumbo Jimmy's, Baltimore City, other local bluegrass musicians and a couple people who'd driven a hundred miles just to catch up with Fiddler Billy Hurt.
Blue Train rounded out the program and kept up the energy. Fiddler Tom Lyons had also played at Stables Restaurant with Kenny Wise and John O'Dell on the previous Thursday night. While The Martins are shutting down for the winter, Blue Train has any number of gigs running into February and beyond and it looks like they'll have a busy 2014. Blue Train is almost unique in the business. The band is still trying to "Find it's legs" get in a performing groove that suits them and their audiences. But talent and audience appeal? No questions here. They have the 'slick' that The Martins lack and maybe it's because they still need to figure out a direction: are we sticking with traditional or are we going to push the limits? The Martin Brothers hold up their traditional stance like a battle flag. I like them for that reason. Blue Train is so good they can tackle anything. I like them for that reason, too. Entertainment value? For that answer all you needed to do was pay the admission fee last night to get into the Fire Hall and witness the party-event that was going on. It was pretty wild, folks, and I knew before I got there that high energy bluegrass was going to be the only agenda item.
The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run: Herb Martin, III, Clayton Martin, Aaron Martin, Steve Unkart, Guy Herbert, and special guest: Billy Hurt (Fiddle)
Blue Train: Rick Miller, Dave Propst, George Osing, Tom Reeves, and Tom Lyons.
No comments:
Post a Comment