ED HENRY: The Emergence of Great Entertainment

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.