AcrosstheTrack Bluegrass at one of its many appearances at Jumbo Jimmy's
13 March 2014:
This has been a productive winter season for Maryland bluegrass, even through all the bad weather. You're probably like me, sick and tired of hearing about the winter of 2013/2014. I'm old enough to remember winters which were worse, so I keep that in mind when I hear carping and complaining. Positive thinking requires me to go off into day-dreaming about fresh corn and ripe tomatoes while folks are crying the blues about having to dig out their driveways. Blah, blah, blah. The seasons are so wonderful because they always change and here in my neck of the woods, we have glorious season-changes. Spring can't be beat. It's just around the bend. The song birds tell me so every morning now, and they're smarter than any meteorologist. Throughout the cold and the extended darkness there was always the light and warmth of the music, richly supported by a community of good folks who enjoy gathering under the banner of bluegrass, and the love of traditional bluegrass. This has been a winter wherein, I found myself practically setting up a winter reporting/campaign headquarters at Jumbo Jimmy's Crab Shack in Port Deposit, Maryland, due to the fact that I think it has some of the best bluegrass music you can discover in our region. Maryland has a lot of great places to hear traditional bluegrass. In a down economy when bars and restaurants and night clubs are crying the blues over lost customers, the outposts of acoustical music in Maryland aren't thriving and getting rich, but they're surviving with a vigor that is encouraging, to say the least. One of the projects I always wanted to complete has come to fruition and I thank the folks who are using it - my Maryland Traditional Bluegrass Calendar. In one week I got over a thousand hits on it which actually shocked me, because you have no idea who's reading this stuff. I had another huge reason for designing the Calendar. If you'll log on to it and take notice, I've been running it since Christmas. It's now going on toward Easter and I am keeping all the 2014 dates. I'll keep running them. Reason? At the beginning of 2015 I want to tally it up. I want to study it for its record of how much traditional bluegrass music is going on in Maryland, who's playing it, and which places in Maryland and beyond that are keeping the Baltimore/Maryland Bluegrass music scene alive. There are a lot of them. They believe in the music too, as long as the music is drawing customers to the bar, dance-floor, and dining tables. It's all part of the entertainment system and neither one can do without the other.
As I look back, and more important, look forward, Jumbo Jimmy's Crab Shack was my microcosm of the Bluegrass Community. Jerry, Roger, George, Rex, and Yvonne rolled out the good-time music like a welcome mat while Doreen would practically throw or slam down an iced-tea in front of me when I walked in the door. She's the brains and manual labor behind a great bluegrass program for the Crab Shack. Then the Lundy's would arrive and take their usual table. Joyce Miller is the Grand Matron of Bluegrass and a walking history book, and Chubby's always at her side. They start filtering in before the band starts and you'll more than likely see anybody in bluegrass here on a Sunday afternoon. Charlie, Darlene, Robin, Tina, Kim, Fran and Gail, Dempsey and Rebecca, Frankie and Shelly, Warren and Kenny Blair, Jim Langer or Darin Wassum; the list goes on and on. It's been a year of sickness, illness, injuries, and heartache, and this is where you get your latest updates on Danny, Frankie, or Mike. There is a shared sense of true caring; darned-near like a small church gathering, and that's not a stretch to say that. The celebrations were good, too. New bands emerged and succeeded to prove to the community that they could win an audience. One of my all-time favorites called it quits. And ironically, that was one of the best parties of the year at Jumbo Jimmy's. The players are not really gone. They're here. They'll show up in other configurations and keep the flame alive.
As spring moves onward to summer, I'll be moving reporting/campaign headquarters northward and over the Mason-Dixon line to Goofy's Eatery and Spirits in Spring Grove, Pa. The reason's an easy one. You haven't lived until you've experienced 'Whitey' Runkle's bluegrass music offerings at his 'Back Pavilion.' It's a memory factory. You can lay back and be reminded of all the good times and good songs or get as wild as you want on the dance floor. No one really cares - as long as you're having fun and enjoying the music. What counts in the end though, is the community, and Whitey has fostered an extraordinary one. Whitey draws in the popular Maryland bands right along with some good ones from Pennsylvania. Spring is right around the corner. But while the temperatures remain cold, Maryland bluegrass is here to warm up the dance floor.
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