The Dukes of Funchester

 Dave McLaughlin, Linda Lay, Tom Adams, David Lay, and Marshall Wilborn - Springfield Exit.

3 October 2014
Winchester, Virginia

      The place roared with laughter. Sean Loomis, lead vocalist and guitarist for Dry Mill Road, was explaining some things going on in Winchester and some woman in the audience yelled out "Funchester!" It aptly described the spirit of the evening, and the venue in which we were sitting. Connie and I got into Winchester early so we could take advantage of some walking time and enjoy a meal close to the Bright Box Theater. Dry Mill Road and Springfield Exit were on the same bill that evening and I was contemplating the outcome. Two entirely different bluegrass groups. Two entirely different approaches to bluegrass music. But each group consisted of consummate professionals who respected their craft, respected each other, and especially respected the audience which came out on such a dreary night to enjoy them. The Bright Box Theater has only been in existence a year, and if you need to find it, it's not hard to miss. It sits directly across from the old Court House Building on Loudoun Street, which is now the central Civil War Museum for the city of Winchester.
    
      Way back in time I remember as a child driving through Winchester on our way to Washington, DC. I remember the narrow streets and especially remember a Big Apple that sat in the center of town. On this evening I tried to remember where that Apple actually sat. It's all revitalized now - spruced up beyond beautiful and easily accessible. Several years ago it had all just started and now the vehicle-forbidden, pedestrian-friendly Loudoun Street has been expanded to include several other side streets. There are the usual upscale shops, restaurants, and yoga shops. There is plenty of outdoor seating and over-hangs, which came in handy when it started to rain - and why I'll never know, I'd left all the rain gear in the car and had to back-track to retrieve it. Parking was easy along any of the side-streets. On a chilly, rainy October evening, lots of people were out having fun in all the bars and restaurants or just browsing with their dogs. There were lots of dogs. When the rain started, most people headed into the myriad of cafes or opted to go home. The street lamps threw a nice reflective glow on the cobble stones and one could imagine a point in time when this city shifted allegiances 67 times during the Civil War. Sometimes it was in The South. Sometimes it was in The North. Terrible things had happened around these streets.

       When I think of Winchester (or "Funchester") I don't normally consider it a bluegrass mecca. I consider it a Patsy Cline mecca. This was her town long before the Philistines of all that is considered righteous in Winchester finally acknowledged they had a national star in their midst. Not that Winchester doesn't have its current bluegrass notables in its midst. It's one of the reasons why we opted to drive out this evening and enjoy the town. If you know bluegrass you know who the Johnson Mountain Boys are and you know that Linda Lay and Springfield Exit are the last vestiges of a group that is right up there in bluegrass history with the Seldom Scene, Country Gentlemen, and the Bluegrass Cardinals. I'm fortunate. Springfield Exit plays a lot around here when they're not out on the road. More recently, they've almost made a steady gig of playing at the old Washington Hotel in Winchester, within easy walking distance of the Loudoun Street pedestrian area. Almost anybody worth their salt in popular bluegrass circles is liable to show up and join Springfield Exit when they're playing at the Washington Hotel. That's what I love about this music. One never knows what to expect except you're destined to have a good time and enjoy it. I knew it was going to get interesting at the Bright Box Theater: put together a package as 'conservatively' bluegrass as Springfield Exit with an 'edgy' bluegrass group like Dry Mill Road and see how the patrons react.

       On a chilly and rainy July day in 2012, in Martinsburg, West Virginia, July 21st to be exact, I was invited out to a mini-bluegrass festival of sorts to hear some local bands. The place was a picnic pavilion way out in the middle of nowhere. I passed it a few times before I finally found it. Sound engineer Todd Stotler was there and said "Howdy" as I pulled in. We traded greetings and then he asked me if I had ever heard of "Dry Mill Road." Answering no, he then told me to prepare myself, that I might not like them, it was a warning of sorts, that conservative as I am, I might be disappointed. I get this a lot when I pull into a strange place. I'm not really the bluegrass police. My real friends (Todd is a good friend, by the way, and knows my tastes in music) know that I do have the ability to keep an open mind. I remember that day. It's stuck in my brain. Dry Mill Road was the last band out of six. The set started off with some traditional bluegrass numbers and then went down roads I'd never heard in bluegrass. It sounded like bluegrass but it may have been Celtic. It may have been bluegrass, but the wizardry of the music, the rapid-fire runs in key and octave changes, came darned close to the tightest of tight  jazz improvisation. I got hooked; but I like to see how an audience is reacting at all times. I was sitting in the midst of a hard-core bluegrass audience. They had all come to hear bluegrass, Mountain-Style, they never expected what they got, and I didn't expect it either. The crowd went nuts and wanted two more encores before they would let Dry Mill Road go home. The rest is history, as they say. Dry Mill Road had arrived and they were ready to go to work. One of my main interests in following locals groups is watching and studying a group's progress. It's like making a statement and then living up to that statement. Are you in it for real or just another flash in the pan? Are you contented playing for free at church picnics and pumpkin festivals or do you want to carry your music to a broader audience? I was never happier than when I got the news this year from Rob Mabe that Dry Mill Road was playing Carnegie Hall in New York City.

      I was happy to see a good turn-out at the Bright Box Theater. A lot of competition on an evening full of ball-games and later bad-weather predictions. The bars and cafes along Loudoun Street shouted out their own offerings of rock and blues to the younger crowd. Every once in a while you'd hear a roar build up when somebody scored a run. Autumn baseball season. I like to believe we were having a lot more fun inside the theater with an enthusiastic crowd of  bluegrassers. True believers here to see and hear local bluegrass legends and a more contemporary band called Dry Mill Road. That I enjoyed Springfield Exit is a given. By all that is holy in speaking the name Jimmy Martin, I really shouldn't like Dry Mill Road and what this band does with bluegrass - but I do, and I'm always left with a feeling that they've really just started to make their statement about their music. Tonight was a night to experience royalty - call them all the Dukes of Funchester.

Springfield Exit: Linda Lay, David Lay, Dave McLaughlin, Marshall Wilborn, and Tom Adams.

Dry Mill Road:  Sean Loomis, Robert Mabe, Douglas Ross, and Dave Hurt.

Doug Ross, Sean Loomis, Dave Hurt, Robert Mabe -  Dry Mill Road