High Octane is On a Roll

 Doug Ross, Marv Ashby, Beardie Bassman, and Robby Benzing at Barns of Rose Hill, Berryville.

9 February 2013: Barns of Rose Hill, Berryville, Virginia

     It's billed as a CD Release Party for High Octane's latest effort Morgan County, and it really has turned into a party. There's barbeque from the Berryville Grill being served up in the Art Gallery and a drink stand in another gallery serving up moonshine concoctions. I passed on that since I'm a teetotaler, but the reports coming in say the moonshine was pretty good. Marvin Ashby is making a lot of jokes about it onstage. A nice crowd is showing up on a really cold evening and Marv and Beardie are making everybody feel at home in this beautiful playing space out in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley. Robby Benzing (Banjo) is being his usual reserved self. Just once I'd like to get a smile from him as I work the room and take a lot of pictures. Well, he's awfully young, and after all, he's one of the hottest young banjo-pickers in this neck of Appalachia. There's a lot of great talent in this valley extending up into the West Virginia Panhandle. Robby may not smile a lot because he's all business when you put a five-string in his hands. I've been told he's just as slick on a guitar, too.
     They don't call themselves "High Octane" for nothing. Marvin Ashby is making a name for himself with his hard-driving guitar style, while "Beardie Bassman" (Doug Moats) pushes both Marv and Robby with a driving, flogging, style of rhythm on stand-up bass. Vocals are supplied by Ashby and Moats. "Beardie" is particularly gifted with a wide assortment of old Jimmy Martin favorites (OK, you just made me a fan, Beardie,). I love to hear these guys play together. If there is anything not quite up to snuff, it's the vocals. It's sometimes very difficult to understand the words and phrasing, even when I know the songs they're playing. Maybe it's just me and my being crippled with an English Degree. I can be a snob about such matters as diction. But the playing? Well, these guys are full-throttle dynamite. And it wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention that High Octane is straight-on, real, By-God mountain music played in the right style to placate any egg-head musicologist or folklorist who might be reading this or making a study of such matters. You don't need to study these guys, just watch the audience reaction. This is potent stuff right out of the mountains and lost a long time ago on the radio waves.
     On this evening they were joined by an old friend, Douglas Ross on mandolin. Doug Ross plays regularly with Dry Mill Road (Winchester, Va.) and both groups have shared stages together throughout the Panhandle, Maryland, and Virginia. Doug Ross was having a lot of fun trying to keep up with High Octane, and often, this music is about pushing the limits. Beardie ceded one of his favorite numbers to Doug, ("Freeborn Man") and that's a class-act sign of professionalism. It's about fun and showmanship. High Octane and the crowd got into the celebration. Instead of "Morgan County West Virginia" they should have named the CD "Morgan County West Virginia - Authentic"

The Picture

10 January 2013 - Cai Tac Village, Hau Giang Province, Viet Nam

     Six of us drove down from Saigon today to begin our work with the WEAV organization (Women's Empowerment and Voice). It's hot and very humid for this time of the year. It looks like rain. South of Saigon the landscape changes dramatically to an aquatic world of water palms, coconut palms, and green rice paddies, and the numerous rivers that make up the Mekong River System. Most tourists see only the Mekong. The Hau River ahead of us is much, much larger, and more interesting. I had been on the Hau many times in previous years and for me it was like a homecoming to see its broad expanse again. Continually muddy with silt coming all the way out of Laos and Cambodia, as if carrying away all the hopes and dreams of the local inhabitants and dumping them into the Pacific Ocean. Having been all over the geography of Viet Nam from top to bottom and having studied each section, the Mekong Delta remains one of my favorite locales. It's just very fascinating. Everyone and everything moves by water. The water dictates their lives and feeds the world with its endless variety of tropical fruits and farm products. They say no one ever starves in this region due to the abundance of food hanging from the trees and the seafood trapped in its waterways. Add to this the thousands of canals connecting the production areas and farms to the numerous rivers. Hollywood couldn't have dreamed this place up. No modern computer-generated movie could duplicate the raw beauty of the weird landscape.
     Seven kilometers southeast of Can Tho we headed off the highway and into a village system of canals and narrow roads until the roads ended at the edge of what looked like a jungle. Not really. Every piece of land here is in reality numerous fruit plantations that butt up against each other and they are tended as carefully as anyone's garden plot is cared for. How anyone fought a war here is beyond my belief. Our Navy tried to control it, but failed miserably against the enemy and the elements. Our group of two Americans and four Vietnamese is here now to award 54 college scholarships to promising students from Hau Giang Province, and check in with local women who were awarded micro loans last year. We would be staying at the ancestral home of Ms. Thanh My, one of the board members, and a gracious host for the WEAV Team.
Loi, our van driver pulled off the road at the edge of the jungle and we began the walk to what we soon started calling "The Hacienda" situated deep within the forest of fruit trees, coconut palms, and alongside a narrow canal. It started raining as soon as we left the van. We were laughing. What a way to make an entrance.
     Rooming and bedding arrangements were sorted out after dinner. This would be interesting in the morning with all these women trying to use the one bathroom in the house. Three other women (Thanh My's relatives) already lived there and pampered all of us with constant meals, fruit, and non-stop amounts of tea and coffee. The real work was to begin in the morning at a local school and we had to be on time. I was directed toward a bedroom I would share with Mr. Thai, a quiet sort, but a good man about my age. The first order of business in this neck of the woods is to rig up your mosquito net and find space for your gear, preferably up off the floor so it's not infested with insects.  I slept like a baby amidst frog and gecko noises. The night air  was warm but not unpleasant.
     The house came alive with the first call of the local roosters. A cooking fire was started. I trundled around in the gloom of our room to find my shaving gear. Above my head I spotted some old wedding photos, somewhat faded with time, a calendar from the previous year, and next to my shaving gear on a bureau, an old photo in a silver frame of a young man dressed in a navy uniform. His eyes stared at me. I took time to look at him as my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the coming morning. I wondered who's navy he had been in. Such questions can be deeply personal and possibly none of my business in a country with which we had previously fought a war. The business at the local school went well; even better than expected, and the team returned to the "Hacienda" tired, but elated. I filled my brain all that day with a thousand questions about the sailor in the picture. I had to find out who he was and what his connection was to this gracious family who was now hosting me and five other people in their home.
     We were tired that evening, but no matter. Tuyen, the lady who seemed to be the main organizer of our stay, soon had dinner ready and let us relax afterward in hammocks and again and again, produced large servings of freshly picked fruit and pots of tea. It was a wonderful evening. I asked if there was a guitar in the house and one was quickly produced. It was a hand-made beauty from Can Tho and probably cost no more than a hundred dollars. We laughed and joked and discussed the day's business. The guitar helped me slide into the night-sounds, and continuing thoughts of the Sailor in the photo. There are a million stories in (and out) of this country that have never surfaced yet. The war was one thing. The diaspora of the Boat People was another. The Post 1975 period of peace and economic struggle is the Today portion of a continuing history. I've been a witness to it all and have worked with many who've made it a life advocacy to continue to watch it, study it, and write about it. My life has been good to me throughout it all. The military part of me would like me to forget about it, but every once in a while it jumps up to bite me at odd and curious moments, such as the one I was having right now with that photograph. We all went to bed early with the January shortness of the day - and I said a silent goodnight to the eyes staring out at me from the photo.
     I'm an inveterate collector of stories. They feed our memories of people, both good and bad. If they're never written down the truth within them is lost to the ages. Facts get confused with time and exaggeration. If I didn't ask any questions I wasn't about to get any answers about the Sailor. The next morning's breakfast of fried fish and Pho proved to be interesting.
     During a more quiet moment after the meal I broached the subject with our host Thanh My. She was curious as to why I was so interested in knowing who the man was. I told her I too, had been in the military, and had actually served here during the war. All the women seemed surprised to learn this. The open veranda, which served as gathering area and dining area became even more quiet as Thanh My started telling the story of Tran Kim Long, who's widow Hue had graciously opened her home to us for the past several days. I looked at Hue, and the wedding photos in the bedroom suddenly became clearer to me. Kim Long's photo also held a special place on the Family Altar in the center of the home. "What happened to him?" I asked. "Let me show you something," replied Thanh My. She led me reverently out to the rear of the house and down a path covered with fruit trees. Ahead was the Family burial ground, neatly kept and obviously visited often. "Here he is," said Thanh My. "He survived the war and struggled after he came home. He married, had three daughters who still live close by, and then suddenly died when he was 45." It reminded me of so many other stories I'd heard over the years since the end of the war. Kim Long had served on "the Southern Side" but it didn't seem to matter to me in the end. He had his whole life ahead of him after surviving so much, only to die at a young age in a man's life-span. I, a former Sailor paid my tributes to another Sailor. The civilian world has no understanding of the meaning behind the exchange. It's a code of sorts, ingrained in me until I meet my own passing from this piece of dirt. Although I never knew him, I'll not forget him.

  
     

A Rose Amidst the Thorns

An old farm is restored and refigured into an exceptional showcase for the arts in Berryville

     Every community produces an artistic landscape that is representative of the people who comprise that community. It takes dreamers. People who aren't afraid to lend a hand to celebrating the better part of our human nature. We celebrate human milestones of birth and death, weddings and harvests, pastoral milestones of plantings and reapings. When it's all well and good and further enhances and enriches the life of a community, we humans want to keep it as a part of who we are. We are quickly losing vast stretches of northern Virginia to suburban expansion and 'progress' and for me personally it's all very sad. Once known for breeding racing champions, fine livestock, and tons of grain that flowed on post-Civil War railroads to Alexandria and Baltimore, the edge of the Blue Ridge is now dotted with very conspicuous 'upscale' housing developments and ugly shopping centers. Moving out to these areas used to seem like a great idea, until one discovers that all your beltway neighbors have the same plan.

     These thoughts cross my mind as I reach a certain point on Route Seven past Purcellville. You start climbing one of the first ridges of the Blue Ridge foothills and once you reach the top and start down the other side,  you encounter a vista that any glitzy travel mag would love to have as next month's cover photo. What you are viewing is the Shenandoah Valley, rolling and green, and filled with herds of grazing cows. For me, the armchair military strategist, you understand immediately why this vast stretch of valley gained so much importance in the great Civil War. The area reeks of historical importance on many counts and for the record, no other local entity does a better job of explaining it than the relatively new Museum of the Shenandoah in Winchester. While the changes occur, the loss of who we were in the past excelerates and the agricultural market is being supplanted with wine economics, land speculation, and how to deal with the new demographics. I read a few years ago that Virginia had become the Number Four wine producer in the United States. Whether this is true or not, I don't know. I have no interest in the matter than to say that if it's bringing more money into our state then so much the better. Like any person of my age,  I cling to the past, that more civil period when spending time in the country or going to Uncle Bill's farm meant that there wasn't an admission fee or Dad didn't have to find just the right parking spot.

     It takes a courageous step forward to retain what we once had. My trip today is to find out how that's done. I've  been invited out to Berryville to meet with Cheryl Ash, the Executive Director of the Barns of Rose Hill Arts Center. I had met her the night Dry Mill Road was performing. She was busy with her husband Brian greeting the crowd and both were engaged in final preparations for the show, the wine bar, the catered Chili coming in from the Berryville Grill. I fell in love with the place as soon as I entered. An old dairy barn completely re-fashioned and up-graded for music and the arts or just about any other kind of occasion you could think of. Let your mind go wild with possibilities: art exhibits, music, music, music, or seminars on local history and culture. One visit to hear one of my favorite bluegrass bands (Dry Mill Road from Winchester,) wasn't enough. I asked Cheryl if I could come back and really make a full inspection of the place. Cheryl graciously accepted. It's a wonderful, crystal-clear fall day to leave the 'Burbs and head out to Clarke County. That in itself is enough of an enticement. Get away from the drudge and take a step back into time. There is so much to see on old Route Seven heading up into the mountains. And oh yeah, there are lots of new vineyards, local wine festivals, food-tastings, and all the trappings if you're in to that sort of thing. For the planners of the 'Barns' the dream to make the Barns of Rose Hill a central focal point for the arts in Clarke County started around 2004 and finally culminated in a grand opening in 2011. It took a lot of money, personal contributions, and promises of support. You have to believe that the steering committee, struggling through one of America's worst economic periods had faith in the future of Clarke County and the emergence of the geographical location of the western reaches of northern Virginia. It's all there: many small liberal arts institutions, beautiful scenery, an excellent climate, easy access to Martinsburg,  Harper's Ferry, Washington, D.C., Roanoke and points south, western Maryland and Pittsburgh. Nearby Winchester is booming with a population explosion.

     I have grown to respect the abundance of artistic talent in this region, too. Whether fiddler, singer, or the next great concert performer, emerging photographer or painter, I took a look around the Barns facility and recognized the possibilities of the place providing the proper venue to showcase what talent there is - and there is plenty of it, waiting for the chance.  A beautiful stage/musical area that can hold 200 customers. A huge art gallery downstairs in the old milking area that is very beautifully lit with natural sunlight on one side. Two more, smaller galleries and little nooks and crannies could serve as highlighted private showing spaces. My visit was also enriched by meeting up with Logan Van Meter, a native son of Berryville and recent MFA recipient (James Madison University). He currently serves as the Director of Berryville's Visitors Center which also has a home in the Barns facility. I could see his enthusiasm for his new position, and both he and Cheryl Ash provided me with an exciting view of the future programming at the Barns of Rose Hill. No rose-colored glasses here, they realize the depth of the challenge, the hard work it will take, and the money too, that will have to be raised to keep the Barns going as a viable Clarke County Showcase for the Arts. I appreciated the candor. An undertaking like this has to have a game-plan, a mission statement, and dedicated artists and customers to keep it going. It's been a year now since officially opening for business and already a full calendar of performances and presentations has been logged. The offerings have been fascinating and eclectic. There has been a string of sell-outs and lots of excited visitors and customers. I have a feeling though, the intent will be to show what's best about, and for, Clarke County and northwestern Virginia. We are a lucky and blessed community - as long as we can keep a check on the thorns of so-called progress and over-development. Go west and get away from it all. Start your day-trip in a little town called Berryville. Top it off with a night of entertainment at the Barns of Rose Hill.

www.barnsofrosehill.org
P.O. Box 738, Berryville, Va. 22611
(540) 955-2004

Easy to find, plenty of easy and free parking, good local restaurants, town-strolling can be a lot of fun and interesting. 

     

Vapid Landscapes

Dry Mill Road at Lost Rhino Brewing Company in Ashburn, Virginia.

3 October 2012:

Guys my age don't hang out in bars unless they've got a serious drinking problem, a serious loneliness problem, or a serious problem connecting with the opposite sex. It's the stuff of bluegrass music. Add prison-time, chain-gangs, and murdering your girlfriend and you've got the whole shooting match. Last night I found myself at the Lost Rhino Brewing Company in Ashburn, Virginia to catch up with Dry Mill Road, an up-and-coming bluegrass band from the Winchester area. I went mainly to see how an upwardly mobile crowd of suburban professionals would take to this kind of music. The band kicked off at 5:30 in the late afternoon, all part of Lost Rhino's jumpstart on its Oktoberfest activities. I kept asking myself: who's going to show up here on a week-day, 5:30 in the afternoon, and especially on the first night of the presidential debates? I got there at 4:00 and nobody was there. Around here, you plan to get a seat early, because Fairfax County and Loudoun County have the worst traffic tie-ups in the nation; maybe even worse than Bangkok or Manila.

Getting there and finding the place was the hard part. My google mapping wasn't much help. Thankfully, Rhino has some small blue and white signs posted along the way from Route 7 inward, into the morass of suburban sprawl which has engulfed what was once the pastoral landscape that was the basic maneuvering territory for Mosby, Jeb Stuart, and Bobby Lee. Very little of it is left. It's hard to believe that I used to bike out here when the WO&D bike trail was still a dirt path. I recognize nothing. Miles and miles of townhouse developments, strip malls, and strip-mall-one-story warehouse and office spaces in long red-brick lines. It's all called Ashburn Village, in honor of other imitation towns such as Kingstowne, Fairfax Village Center, and Dulles Town Center, and Reston Town Center. I applaud the non-creativity. There's usually no 'town' no 'village' or center to anything. Just another excuse to build a mall. Welcome to flim-flam marketing. On the news last week it was announced that Loudoun County is now the number one, richest county in our area. It's not hard to understand with this kind of out-of-control development. Well, as much as I hate the place, our local economy is booming and we have a lot of highly educated people employed by the high-tech companies that are driving Loudoun County's fortunes.

Customers started rolling in at 5:00. Lots of dockers and polo shirts and even some suits and ties. It's still a mystery to me why the American male can't get it straight: never wear brown shoes with a grey or black suit. Never wear black shoes with a brown suit or brown slacks. Same thing goes for the belt. Didn't their parents teach them better? All that money and . . .  I can't neglect describing the footwear. There were so many males and females wearing flip-flops I thought there must be a bath-house next door. Thank God cold weather is coming. I think of crazy things like this because I'm used to seeing lots of cowboy boots at most of the events I attend. I made a note about the flip-flops and then Sean Loomis and Douglas Ross (band members) showed up wearing cowboy boots. I began to feel like less of an intruder into this surreal painting. I decided to sit there and mind my own business as the crowd got bigger and the talk around me consisted of I-T, Weapons engineering, and other forms of Hi-Tech babble. Other than that, mixed with the alcohol-fed desire to score chicks, the central reason to be there was to drink beer and pretend you were in Bavaria celebrating Oktoberfest. I felt a lot of apprehension for the band. This was not your average bluegrass crowd. I wondered how they ever got the gig in the first place. I was in for an interesting evening.

This is not your average bluegrass band. I've even been questioned by my orthodox bluegrass friends as to why I enjoy them. What I admire in Dry Mill Road is their versatility and their total entertainment package. The longer they play a set the better they get as witnessed between two sets at this performance. The lukewarm, non-bluegrass crowd gently applauded after the first set. Sean Loomis was working hard for his money. The second set included their best material and the crowd started listening (well, mostly - luckily in the crowd were a small number of Dry Mill Road fans and friends to help center the attention, and I also ran into some other customers who at least knew a little bit about the music). On the second song of the second set a young female patron started screaming above the din of the crowd, "Play some Dead! Play some Dead!!" There was some applause. Ah Oh, I thought, here it comes. "Rocky Top" is next. Sean Loomis capitulated and did that song about 'the devil is a friend of mine' or whatever that Grateful Dead song is. Needless to say, I never followed Garcia and his ilk and I don't care. It worked in the band's favor. That over with, good riddance, the audience really came alive for the rest of the set. They were even asked to do two encore numbers. I have a feeling they'll be asked back to play. Maybe the crowd will give up shower slippers and start wearing cowboy boots. From traditional to new to doing their own songs, Dry Mill Road is a 'listening' experience. I'd rather experience them in a place where I can closely listen to what they are doing. The bass guy nevers gets any credit in bluegrass, Dave hurt on bass is one of the best in my book. There is no one real driver in Dry Mill Road. It's an equality of each member recognizing the other guy's talents. That's rare in a band that's been around for such a short time.

After a rough road tour they'll be back at the Barns at Rose Hill in Berryville on October 13th. Tickets are available on-line. Get them quick because the last time they played there they sold out in a short time. After last night's show they packed up immediately and headed for the Big Outer Banks Festival in North Carolina and some gigs in between. They're working hard for the money - and delivering. My reward for the evening was talking with a 30-something who sat near me and intently listened to every song. He turned to me and said, "This is really difficult stuff to play, isn't it? Maybe I should learn more about this kind of music." You got it, son. Another recruit for bluegrass music. Garcia could be heard rolling over in his grave.

Dry Mill Road:  Sean Loomis, guitar. Douglas Ross, mandolin. Robert Mabe, banjo. Dave Hurt, bass.

When it's Picking Time

Stoney Creek Bluegrass Band at the recent Pickin' in the Panhandle Festival in Martinsburg

 

12 September 2012: Home.

I do my best thinking in my garden. I can commune with the squirrels who are eating the last of my sunflowers. They think they're getting away with something. They don't know I've planted them for their benefit. I'm watching five or six huge pumpkins develop - going from the green phase to their bright pumpkin-orange Halloween phase. They remind me of the turning of the season. The loss of summer days and nights. I don't do well when the thermometer goes below 70. Most of my friends know I'm a hot weather, high humidity, sun-freak. It's Harvest-Time. Shine on Harvest moon for me and my Gal. This time also ushers in a whole new phase of bluegrass for me.  It ushers in a whole new phase for the local talent, too. It's the start of the local farms to mount weekends dedicated to selling their harvests. This weekend I'll be back up in Martinsburg covering the Orr's Farm "Farm and Fun Days." On Saturday, Patent Pending and Stoney Creek will be featured. Then on Sunday the Back Creek Valley Boys will be playing. I wish I could just set up a tent and stay there, but I don't think the property owners would appreciate it. In our own area several farms each year feature bluegrass music as part of their 'farm weekends.' All you have to do is check your local merchandising papers to find them - you know, those little local papers that mysteriously get thrown in your driveway. And of course the internet is a valuable search tool to find out what's happening in your local area. We've got so many going on here in northern Virginia and central Maryland that it's hard to make a choice. I research them all to see which band is playing where. I've come up with some amazing surprises. Bands I've wanted to hear but somehow the scheduling never worked out, sometimes show up in the most unlikely venues.

My friends are funny. They tell me things like, "You're always out there following bluegrass. I wish I could. How do you find this stuff?" Here's another good one: "I really like that music. Take me with you the next time!"  Several calls and e-mails later and it's obvious they weren't really that serious about the music. They come up with the flakiest excuses for staying in their easy chairs propped up with potato chips in front of a TV set - or worse yet, the ultimate degradation as far as I'm concerned, a golf-date with a couple fellow club members. Yeah, life's grand at that 19th hole. I'd rather be around live people who are trying to make a living growing things or stringing a banjo. I'll do more interesting networking at a farmers' market than my friend out on the links- and by the way, what are "links" anyhow? Just some more of that esoteric golf-speak. I can always slink into my own smugness by acknowledging that I at least understand the musical concepts of a Lester Flatt G-Run. At Orr's Market this weekend I'll have to conceal that kind of bluegrass snobbery. My buddies in the Back Creek Valley Boys Band won't stand for it.

There's no mystery about how I find this stuff. It's all around us here in the long shadow of the Blue Ridge foothills. Some of the most authentic musicians you'll ever hear are waiting for you to come out and spend some time with them between now and October 31st at any of the numerous local farms or farmers' markets.

Looking For Real: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Bluegrass

Ragged Edge - 2012 Band Competition Winners at Pickin' in the Panhandle Festival

 

9 September 2012: Near Martinsburg

First, I want to thank Jennifer Jensen and the good folks in charge of the Pickin' in the Panhandle Festival for inviting me to participate in this year's Festival at the annual bluegrass band competition. I was asked to be one of the judges. Exactly why, I'll never know. I pretend I can play the guitar. I like bluegrass music. If anything, I'm merely a gadfly on the bluegrass scene. Second, I want to thank the army of volunteers recruited by the Berkeley County-Martinsburg Convention and Visitors Bureau for all the hard work they did in handing out information and assisting 10,000 Festival-goers at the Lazy A Campground. 2012 was my first experience at this unique gathering and I was impressed. Not easy handling an invasion of people and vehicles into an off-the-beaten path muddy meadow in Back Creek Valley, West Virginia. It's all about boosterism and showing the best face Martinsburg has to offer for three days of fun and bluegrass music. Except for one short-lived storm, the weather cooperated nicely. There are only two reasons for this sort of event: bring outside money into the local economy and give the people all the bluegrass music they can possibly stand. At the rate of exchange for the full weekend price, it was quite a good deal indeed.

Four bands showed up for the contest and the competition took place at "The Mountaineer Stage" (there were three stages in all, going full blast with continual music). We the judges got our marching orders and instructions and waited for a horrendous downpour of rain to stop before the contest started. The bands, (mostly young kids,) waited nervously to go on stage. It gave me time to think about what we were supposed to be looking for in the next generation of  'grassers.' There was a $500 top prize and a chance to appear on the Main Stage of next year's festival. I looked at the ballot sheet and agreed that all the qualifications and voting parameters were those that I had thought about on my way to the festival. They all basically boiled down to proficiency and entertainment value. An interesting question was "appearance." In other words, how well does the entrant "suit up and show up." The obviously better band, "Ragged Edge," won the contest hands down over the competition, but I'd also like to give a plug for "Second Generation" which was my 2nd choice for best band. My reasoning in the end is pretty simple. These two groups understood the music. Understood the accepted form. They also understood the 'suiting up and showing up' part of the equation. Sandra Sponaugle, the contest director, afterward told the audience that none of the bands had ever made any paid, professional appearances. A church gig here, an open-mic there, but nothing like this kind of huge public exposure. She kept that information from us so we could retain some objectivity in our choices. I wish the winners well, and hope to see "Ragged Edge" and "Second Generation" down the road somewhere. As for the other two groups, keep pushing. Keep practicing. There's plenty of room for everybody on the Great Stage of this style of music, but only the dedicated few really gain any kind of recognition. That part of the festival over I enjoyed the rest of what Pickin' in the panhandle had to offer, mainly, bluegrass music till you drop.

The contest left me with a lot to mull over in my mind. The old question comes back. Even us judges got into a conversation over it. What exactly is bluegrass? What form should it take? Are there rules, taboos, norms? Who are we to judge some amateur kid's take on what the music is supposed to sound like, what should the music evoke in the listener? What's the musical or entertainment merit? I have to mention one band at the festival and not by name. I tried to figure out what they basically were about. A comedy act?  A joke? A bad stereotype of the classic hillbilly image? A friend of mine gave me a side-glance and said, "Some people like this kind of stuff." I had to walk away from it and fast; especially when some of their friends started asking me a bunch of questions and tried to engage me in conversation. There were too many better bands and I didn't want to waste my time. "Some people like this kind of stuff" is a statement that encourages bad behavior, unprofessionalism, and a nose-thumb to those who are serious about their music and giving the audience their money's worth. The seriously dedicated young kids will win the battle. Not the band I'm referring to.

You pay your money and hoped to be entertained. Two groups (beyond the bands I'm already familiar with) made my whole weekend. I have to mention "Highland Grass" and "Stoney Creek." Joe and Donna Winebrenner (Highland Grass) blew me away with their high lonesome vocalizing. Donna has somehow captured that late 40's, early 50's style of so long ago. She has, the band has, that style that every  western 'Cow-girl group' is trying to attain. Very few can do it - that is, take you right back to the old radio stuff that's lost except for saved recordings. The proof is in the fact that an audience won't let you leave the stage when your time is up. Stoney Creek is another very traditional group with heavy gospel leanings and great vocalizing talents. They've recently won national awards for their latest gospel CD. For every bad experience of a band that doesn't deserve precious stage space bluegrass continues to show the better side of the business with groups such as Highland Grass and Stoney Creek. This is what you pay your money to experience.

Decent Folk

Aspen Run at Goofy's in Spring Grove, Pa. (Sept 2, 2012 - Photo by Ed Henry)

2 September 2012 - Spring Grove, Pa.

It's election year. I'm tired of it all. The negativism, the mud-slinging, the pandering to special interests, and each party (we have only two in this country) trying to bait each other into petty arguments that have nothing to do with the specific problems our country is facing. I live in the DC Burbs. We get a full 24-hour helping of this political garbage daily just because of our geo-location so close to the center of what I like to refer to as "The Great Chinese Magic Show." You've seen the act: a guy appears in a silk robe and starts spinning plates on a stick. It usually ends in a puff of smoke produced by a hidden bag of black powder. Lots of oo's and ahh's and then applause. Then endless commentary from the Talking Heads as to whether he spun the plates in the right direction, or whether there was enough smoke to cover his exit.

Labor Day Weekend was a good excuse to escape it all and travel beyond the Beltway where the Decent Folk gather to celebrate the end of summer. As I traveled northward I could see families enjoying themselves in their back or front yards with barbeque grills and coolers. The local farmers were out on the roadsides selling the last of their corn crop. Here and there a Romney sign stuck in the ground near a mailbox. This is beautiful country between Baltimore, Maryland and York, Pennsylvania. If any painters or photographers are reading this, I highly recommend you travel through it and capture the images before we lose them. If you're a 'burbanite like me, you don't have to travel far to spend some time with the Decent Folk. You don't have to listen to boring campaign speeches or hours of propaganda. The decent people just want to make a living, protect what they have, and exercise their liberties. As I drove the last four miles of the trip to Spring Grove (up a big hill, down a big hill,) I had quiet time to ponder these things. You might be wondering what any of this has to do with bluegrass music. For me, it has everything to do with bluegrass music - and the people who gather to enjoy it.

I was pleasantly shocked to enter Goofy's and see that the place was filling up an hour before Aspen Run was due to appear. Good sign, this. The Decent Folk chose this as their Labor Day Get-away for entertainment. I'm used to every venue within the confines of the Beltway competing for the entertainment dollar. All around me this weekend were some of the best bluegrass festivals you can imagine, if you are a follower of the schedules like I am. When you've got the money and the time, it can be a hard choice. I prefer bluegrass up-front and personal, which is another reason why I find myself ending up at Goofy's. What makes it the great space it is, is the audience of die-hard bluegrass fans who regularly show up to support the music and the venue. They're just decent people who are out for a good time away from the sameness of their lives - even if it is a holiday weekend.

Aspen Run epitomizes the kind of entertainment the Decent Folk are looking for. If you're questioning why I have the nerve to make such a statement, you should join us sometime and find out for yourself. Ask the fans. They'll tell you what decent folks the Martin Boys are. They'll tell you what a hard-driver Herb Martin is with his three sons. The drive is to do better, grow in the business, take care of the family. No grandiosity here. Just make every appearance better than the last one and maintain a sense of humor. There is a kind honesty in Aspen Run that is hard to manufacture. You don't manufacture it at all if you're to succeed in the entertainment business. You either maintain honesty or you don't. There is nothing more naked than an open stage occupied by a string band that is lying to the audience. The Decent Folk won't pay their money to see it.