The Old Bowie Town Grille Launches Bluegrass

 Gerry Stover, George Fehlner, Evan Clark, and Bob Graber on Bass

24 August 2014 - Bowie, Maryland

     There were other places I could have been, but I didn't want to miss this. It's not every day you get to see a new band do its first-ever paid gig in front of a live audience. It may not sound like much to you if you're not a part of the entertainment business, but I know what's at stake for the entertainers. This is the point where you can either prove or disprove that you've got the stability and cajones to get up in front of people and belt out a song or play an instrument with any amount of gumption. You hope they applaud and like you. Or you hope to God there isn't some drunk in the back who's going to boo you. The majority in the audience (unless they're musicians or performers themselves,) wouldn't dare get up there and do what the entertainer is doing. They're paying money for the entertainer to do it. The majority in the audience simply lacks the guts to do it. Dale Carnegie made a fortune in the 20's and 30's off a fact he discovered early on in his successful business career. People would rather die than get up in front of a room-full of their peers  and deliver a talk; a speech, or a sales pitch. Carnegie discovered this simple dynamic, this human foible, long before the pseudo psycho babblers of the 70's and 80's attached pseudo psycho names to it. How about good old stage fright? Yeah. That'll work. There's this air of scary apprehension. Failure, success, or worse yet, polite, soft clapping of  hands, like the soft, muffled sound of 80 or 90 cats pawing each other on the head.

      It wasn't only the debut of a new bluegrass band called The Cypress Creek Bluegrass Band. Bobby Joe Owens, owner/proprietor of the Old Bowie Town Grille had a lot riding on this gig, too. The venue has a reputation for keeping a sizable audience of regulars happy with a steady diet of good food and classic rock and roll and classic country. It's one of the last bastions of classic country. None of that pretty-boy new country stuff (I call it California Male-Model Country). No. I'm talking Merle, George, Conway, and Patsy. Some months ago I was in the Grille to hear some country and Bobby Joe and I got to talking. He was pumping me with questions about bluegrass. I knew something was on his mind. Then he showed up more than a few times at some of the bluegrass venues I hang out in. Now I knew he was up to something and I suspected he was doing field research. More conversations ensued and he told me he was going to launch a bluegrass program. Test the waters. See what happens. Bobby Joe is a former Marine. I'm a former FMF Corpsman (Third Mar Div and First Mar Div infantry rifle companies, thank you very much!) so we hit it off right away. We were taught to always look at the Big Picture. I knew from conversations that Bobby Joe was staying continuously focused on The Big Picture. He had set a date and had a band lined up. It would be August 24th and it would be a new band with no website, no CD's, nothing but a hope and a prayer that yes, indeed, they would play bluegrass. I asked him numerous times who they were, because I might know one or two of  them or maybe all of them. He couldn't give me much information, just that they were a couple local guys. One notable name popped up. Gerry Stover, the son of  Don Stover, who's known far and wide in the local and national music scene. Gerry had his own musical career going but had taken an eight-year sabbatical from performing to raise a family and establish himself. Born and raised and still living in Bowie, Gerry had played on and off with the other members around Bowie and Hagerstown. But decision time came as it usually does for any musician. Do I keep doing this or do I take care of myself and my family?

      It's 4:15 and after getting lost again (the third time I've gotten lost trying to find "Old Bowie." Some day I'll figure out where I keep going wrong.) I showed up in plenty of time. The upstairs bar and performance room was empty except for Bobby Joe sitting alone with an i-Pad. No customers. No band. I felt more than a little rattled. I hate these Washington/Baltimore suburbs and should move out of this hell-hole  but my housing values keep going up. Anything can happen. Traffic jams, football games, shootings, killings, hazmat catastrophes, anything to upset the best laid plans of mice and men. The emptiness gave Bobby and me time to talk. Ten minutes before five the band showed up and got to work tuning up and testing sound equipment.  At one minute to five the place filled with customers and Bobby Joe went to work glad-handing and greeting old friends, some musician friends and regular customers. I was relieved to see some familiar faces; and not just familiar faces but some of the most solid bluegrass supporters in Maryland. There were lots of seniors and families too, with children; a real mixed bag of curious customers who stayed most of the night and had fun. It was like any bluegrass audience I was so used to being with at other venues.

      At 5:03 pm Cypress Creek did an obligatory instrumental opening to test the equipment and get warmed up. Evan Clark, lead vocalist and guitar, took charge. I've got him pegged. He's a real buckaroo and showman. He's from Davidsonville, Maryland. The first official song was "How Mountain Girls can Love" followed by 19 more songs before they took a break. They pulled out all the old saws; "Sing Me Back Home," Tall Pines,"  "Lorena," "Kentucky Girl," "Black Diamond," an endless list of old chestnuts. The message was clear. They were traditional bluegrass following fixed and rigid boundaries, but the fun was only beginning. The second set included audience-recognizable and audience-familiar stuff  like "Fox on the Run," "Man of Constant Sorrow," and yes, even "Rocky Top" (wherein everybody started screaming at the tops of their voices.) I had to smile at that one. I appreciated that they used a play-list and stuck to it. Nothing worse than watching a group up on stage yammering and saying "Well, what are we going to do Boys?" We had a name for that kind of disorganization in the Marine Corps. It was called a Goat Rodeo. Save that for the high school Sock-Hop or a gratis appearance at your girl friend's graduation party. Evan Clark's take-charge attitude payed off in spades with extremely tight vocals, along with George Fehlner (Burke, Virginia) and Bob Graber (Hagerstown, Maryland). The musicianship was excellent and adequate. No real flash or hot-dogging. There weren't any major disasters, only a seriously dedicated purpose, and that's another piece of  the evening I appreciated. I experienced only two drawbacks and they're mine personally: they could have used a fiddler to punctuate and drive some of  the material (which was a good choice of material, by the way,) and Evan Clark got a little long-winded on some of the jokes. But that's a personal thing with me. Timing and pacing is an entertainment science full of dangerous pit-falls. The excellent vocals and instrumentation would have been enough to keep me happy.

      And I'd also be very happy to see them again at the Old Bowie Town Grille. I'd like to see them with a dancing crowd. I have a feeling there's a whole wealth of song-material packed away in their saddle-bags that wasn't even tapped into. It was an excellent launch and I'm looking forward to seeing how far Cypress Creek Bluegrass Band wants to carry this on into the future.

Evan Clark:  Lead vocals and guitar
George Fehlner: vocals and mandolin
Gerry Stover:  Banjo
Bob Graber: vocals and bass

   

The Emergence of Great Entertainment - Bluetrain and Flavio Sala

 Flavio Sala (Italy) makes his debut at Rob's Barn in Westminster, Maryland, USA on August 9, 2014

9 August 2014:  Westminster, Maryland.


      Terese Hartline, one of the most active and dedicated bluegrass followers in Maryland asked me recently to name my favorite bluegrass band. I thought long and hard for a moment and then told her I had a standard answer for that question: The bands I like, I like for different reasons. One might have more polish than another. One might be gifted with a better fiddler. One might do great vocals while another might be better pickers. I have a hundred different reasons for liking the bands I'll go out to listen to, or drive lots of extra miles to experience; not just listen to, but experience. You can't just listen to a bluegrass group or bluegrass musician. You have to experience their craft; their product. Darren Beachley calls it 'the total package' when he's talking about professionalism in the business. No one would know better than Darren. I've always respected his professional approach to the business, and his professional approach to entertaining his audiences. This past Saturday night and past Sunday afternoon gave me pause to think about these things again. Don't be surprised. I approach my favorite operas the same way I appreciate good bluegrass. One might have a better story-line. One might have more spectacular arias. One might be darkly gothic and typically German, while the next favorite might be typically Italian Bel Canto. My humanities training reminds me that it's helpful to know the historical and cultural backdrop of  how and why certain things happen, and appear, and emerge in the arts, music, language of any distinct time period or national culture. I'm always more interested in the emergence factor. And don't let all the big words fool you. When it comes to bluegrass, I'm just a gad-fly. I have a lot of fun with the emergence factor. To wit: recently I wasted four hours out of my day when a new band didn't bother to show up for an unpaid gig. I really wanted to know who they were and get some photos. So much for thinking about professionalism if you want to break into the entertainment business!

      But there is always a pay-back with the emergence factor; a rich, rich pay-back. Few are willing to risk the invested time and effort. I have to smile at Tony Bennett's story. Coming out of the late 40's Age of the Crooners, he was nearly washed up and forgotten (the public is very fickle!) by the end of the 50's only to emerge later as one of the biggest music stars in the world. He persisted. He believed in himself and his music while the Great Unwashed forgot about him. He evolved and emerged back into universal music consciousness because he was good. He was always good; but it took a long time for the world to realize it. I'm always the Gad-fly sitting in a chair and mulling over these crazy notions while watching a great band that's barely been in existence for a year perform in a Barn in Maryland, or a band that's been in existence for barely four years go from a Beer Bar in Loudoun County right on into Carnegie Hall in New York City. If they're reading this, they know who they are, and God bless them for their courage to stick with it and believe in what they're doing.

      The other band that played the Barn in Maryland is not just any band. And the Barn they played in is not just any Barn in Maryland. Within a short span of a few years, Rob's Barn in Westminster, Maryland has established a unique and extremely special reputation for offering only the best (and closest-to-authentic as you can get,) bluegrass music. The authenticity-part is very important. The audience is demanding. The owner (Rob Miller) is in agreement and accedes to their demands. The plan is pretty simple and undemanding: show us what you got and provide a good evening of entertainment. It's nothing more than what any of the other Maryland bluegrass venues are asking of its performers. But one working environment is as different as the next. As a paying customer I make my choices as to what kind of environment will give me the most bang for my buck. I will naturally choose the environment that offers me the best entertainment. In this, Rob's Barn has emerged. Rob Miller and the team of volunteers who help him with the (now annual) selection and programming of  'Barn Concerts' already has the requisite reputation for offering quality over quantity. I offer all this as backdrop to what happened there on the night of August 9th.

      Rob Miller got an e-mail from a friend of a friend, requesting some help for a young guy from Italy who wanted to establish his musical credentials with some appearances in the U.S. He already had a European fan-base, an established following on You Tube, and now he wanted to spend three years in America. He plays classical guitar. Not quite the genre that the Barn audience comes to expect. But Rob Miller took a chance and convinced his committee it might be fun. Flavio Sala's name soon began to appear in the Barn's promo material for the concert series. He would appear on the 9th as (sort of) the opening act with Dave Propst and BLUETRAIN. It wouldn't so much be an opening act, but more of a prelude entertainment factor. In conversations with the band, I couldn't actually get much information out of them as to what was happening or what was planned for the entrance of the unknown Flavio Sala. Nothing like this had ever happened in a "Bluegrass Barn." Once the evening started, I knew exactly what was happening. It was a full-blown, debut Recital for an extraordinary guitarist. As Flavio Sala talked, gave background information on himself, and gave informative commentary on his knowledge of South American guitar styles (especially Venezuelan) and Venezuelan composers, his rich guitar-playing lifted to the rafters and the audience (composed of a lot of good guitar-players) sat in stunned silence; not in any negative way, but in deep appreciation for his talent. After 45 minutes of playing, which included numbers by Santana and Eric Clapton, the full house erupted with shouts and applause and they demanded two more encore numbers. The look on Flavio's face was priceless. The look on Rob Miller's face was priceless. What happened next was even better. During a short intermission Flavio was swamped by the audience for hand-shakes, expressions of gratitude, congratulatory comments, and lots of questions from all the guitar-pickers in the audience. He said to me in a brief photo-op  "I never in my wildest dreams expected this. I went to one bluegrass event in Italy and I honestly didn't like it. But this is very different. This is so much better!" He could have left after his recital. He stayed to watch and listen to BLUETRAIN. Then he stayed long after closing time to talk to local guitarists. BLUETRAIN just keeps getting better; they're emerging too, musically and as entertainers. What happened was not so much an entertaining musical event, as it was a cultural exchange of the highest order between musical worlds.

      When we finally got home my phone lines and internet lines were buzzing. The main question was "What did we just witness??" Rob's Barn had a record night. Those who had never experienced BLUETRAIN were telling me, "Now I know why you like these guys!" Old Rob's Barn hands were running around proclaiming it the best night ever at Rob's Barn. Well, the success factors are easy to discern. A lot of talented people all gathered in one cozy and comfortable location for an event the likes of which we may never experience again - and it's all still emerging as long as there is a vibrant audience around to appreciate and support traditional bluegrass music.

 BLUETRAIN's second appearance at the Rob's Barn Concert Series  (9 August 2014)