Great Southern Bluegrass Festival - Review

Promoter Ernie Evans and park owner Pat Tillman courageously took on the task of creating, promoting, and presenting a bluegrass festival in only six weeks after the unfortunate demise of the Spirit of Suwannee Bluegrass festival. While too few people came, this festival bodes well for the future if they decide to continue to build the lineups offered here as well as to develop the site.

Ernie Evans and Pat Tillman

Picker’s Paradise Park in Ochlocknee, GA (a few miles north of the lovely town of Thomasville) provides a good base to develop into a first rate music park. Located on a flat, large piece of land beside a picturesque pond, the park has a tin roof shed with plenty of space underneath and good site lines from the side. The stage is well-sized. The back of the shed contains an adequate kitchen which offered a limited but tasty menu of hamburgers, and barbecued pork or chicken. An excellent hot dog vendor was there for part of the festival as well as a well-supplied instrument vendor. Porta- johns were adequate and were kept very clean. The 125 water and electric sites at Picker’s Paradise Park are adequate for a small festival, but will need to be upgraded should Pat Tillman wish to attract a larger crowd. He expressed a desire to build both a shower/flush toilet facility and a dump station. These provisions would make his park more attractive to both RVers and tent campers. Pat and his staff were extremely pleasant and eager to please. On the whole, this park shows great promise to develop into a venue for medium sized, quality bluegrass festival. The grounds are certainly large enough to allow significant growth.

Brian Gandy (Gandy Brothers)

Skylar Gandy (Gandy Brothers)

Ernie Evans is, in many ways, a visionary promoter who, because of his experience as a performer, is well acquainted with the ins and outs of promoting a bluegrass festival. His festivals at Craig’s RV in Arcadia, Waldo, and Perry show that he knows how to offer a range of performers sufficient to satisfy a variety of bluegrass tastes. He is committed to providing a forum for local and regional bluegrass bands to perform and gain recognition. He has been particularly strong in booking and presenting small, little-known, young bands, some of which may grow into much more professional and recognized groups. Ernie comes from Jacksonville, FL and is well aware of the bands performing in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama who don’t have to travel too far to perform at one of his festivals. His knowledge of the national scene is broad, allowing him to book bands from traditional to somewhat progressive and balance them effectively. He is a hearty, enthusiastic, and optimistic man, essential qualities for any bluegrass promoter.

Brendan Andrews (Andrews Family)

Michael Andrews (Andrews Family)

Musically, The Great Southern Bluegrass Festival (a somewhat overblown name which will have to earn it) offered a limited, but enjoyable schedule. The Showcase, beginning at 4:00 PM on Friday, offered the Gandy Brothers, two kids (one 18 and one 10) who show promise. Ten year old Skylar on fiddle picks pretty well. His older brother Brandon a developing voice with a good baritone bottom. His banjo picking is adequate and will improve. The entire band did not perform, so they were supported by Ernie Evans on guitar and Clint Wilson on bass. The Andrews Family Band has improved significantly since we saw them at Live Oak a year ago. Brian Andrews on guitar shows real signs of becoming a first rate flat picker. His voice is still uncertain, but will improve with experience. Michael Andrews (13) is on his way to becoming a very good banjo picker and bears an eerie resemblance to Cory Walker. They were backed by their father on bass and Nick Ball (Southern Lite’s new banjo player) on mandolin. Both bands will continue to develop. The Kenny Hill Band features three more experienced pickers as well as a unique and interesting sound. Featuring Brian Hill on guitar, his wife Jennifer on lead vocals and bass, and Ken Baldauf on banjo, they offer a mélange of bluegrass, folk, country, and funk that comes together as an interesting and enjoyable Saturday afternoon sound. Brian is a very good flat picker. They step on ground where many a bluegrasser fears to tread by even using an accordion for one song, along with the comment that Bill Monroe also experimented with the cordeen. Their sound is tight and they were fun for me to hear.

Kenny Hill Band

Nick Ball (Ernie Evans & Southern Lite)

Ernie Evans & Southern Lite

More familiar bands appearing at Great Southern were led off by Ernie Evans and Southern Lite. Ernie’s added a new banjo player, Nick Ball from Tennessee, who picks well and has a terrific bass kicker in his voice that’s particularly effective on country songs, is too new to the band for me to have much to say about his contribution. Deb Evans plays bass and has a good bluegrass voice for singing lead or harmony. Ernie plays a lively mandolin and a good voice to his performances, and Brian Andres played guitar for him. The band offers a solid assortment of bluegrass standards, Ernie schedules them in appropriate places on the bill, and they provide good fill and pleasant sounds.

Deb and Ernie Evans

Pure and Simple Bluegrass

Greg Whigham (Pure and Simple)

Pure and Simple Bluegrass (MySpace) stands out as the surprise band for this festival. (Parenthetical question: would readers prefer that I link to a band’s web site or its MySpace page when I have a choice? Leave a comment or e-mail me.) This six piece band offers both high quality work on traditional bluegrass; some interesting grass takes on songs from other genres (Lynard Skynard, Alabama, Grateful Dead, Steve Goodman, and the Eagles). Add to this some delightful on-stage banter, a bunch of corny jokes at each other’s expense, and genuine delight in each other’s company, and you have a band worth watching and listening to. Dobro player Travis Perry promotes a festival in their home town of Dothan, Alabama which looks like a sure winner. Check out the Great American Bluegrass Festival. Pure and Simple’s trio is tight and sounds good. Their picking is enjoyable, and their enthusiasm infectious. They were a real presence at The Great Southern Bluegrass Festival and a delight to meet and be around.

Travis Perry (Pure and Simple)

Ronnie Rutherford (Pure and Simple)

The Wilson Family Band

Robert Wilson

The Wilson Family Band continues to improve almost from week to week. From Robert Wilson’s time with The River Grass Review two decades ago, he has been involved in bluegrass music in some way or another. His wife Melissa grew up in Jacksonville in a family that played and sang bluegrass, also. Together, from their home in Folkston, Georgia they have forged a family that is held together and strengthened through their commitment to their religious background and making music. In the case of this band, it’s pretty hard to beat. Robert’s gravelly lead singing and very solid rhythm guitar provide a solid base for this group’s presentations. While acting as spokesman for their group, he has ceded a good deal of this job to their son Clint, who at nearly eighteen has emerged not only as a fine banjo picker, but shows an improving voice and a very pleasant stage presence. Robert portrays himself as something of a rube, but don’t let this wise man fool you for a second. He has forged a group that shows poise, musicality, and personality in such a way they are sure winners. The acknowledged star of the band is twelve year old Katie. When we first saw her a little over a year ago, she was something of a novelty, it’s clear a year later that she’s the real thing. Her fiddle playing continues to improve, showing increasingly mature and intricate licks and growing power. Her singing, as she gains in age and strength, is becoming more melodious while losing its somewhat childlike edge. She’s becoming a real bluegrass singer.

Clint Wilson

Katie Wilson

Phil Leadbetter Workshop

Phil Leadbetter and Alan Bibey of Grasstowne led off Saturday with successive hour long workshops. Even for someone not playing either instrument, they constituted the beginnings of an advanced degree in picking. Their sessions were well-attended by interested participants with a range of skills. Both men skillfully responded to questions at the appropriate level, challenging each participant to learn and improve without moving beyond their capabilities. The workshops served as good lessons in teaching as well as musicianship.

Alan Bibey Workshop

Alan Bibey

Grasstowne is always a pleasure to watch. Even at this rather small, sparsely attended event, the band gave its all, or perhaps even a little more. The three veteran pickers each stand at the top of their profession. During his workshop, Alan Bibey was asked who he listens to. He mentioned Bill Monroe as well as several others, but if truth be known, Bibey has developed such a distinctive style, that while it reflects those who came before him, still stands on its own as Bibey style mandolin. Alan was awarded the SPBGMA award as Mandolin Player of the Year in 2007. Phil Leadbetter has already been recognized by becoming one of only three people ever to win IBMA’s Dobro Player of the Year award. Steve Gulley is a standout vocalist in a crowded field. The more I listen to his soulful singing and watch the depth of commitment evident in his face and the sweat dripping from it as he sings, the more I realize how much he gives to his singing and how much he rewards his audience. His clear tenor voice, capable of lows into the baritone range, reflects a range of emotion unusual in any singer and almost non-existent in most bluegrass performers. As an ensemble, Grasstowne sets standards of musicality hard to match in any other group. Jason Davis on banjo is quickly moving towards this sort of height. Though barely twenty years of age, Jason has toured with four top bands and now graced the cover of Banjo Newsletter, the youngest picker ever so honored. Having Grasstowne at the festival turned it into a success, even if the other bands hadn’t already done so.

Steve Gulley

Phil Leadbetter

Jason Davis

Pat Tillman and Ernie Evans have some work to do to build the audience for this festival in South Georgia. They have the expertise and the location. With good luck and persistence, they’ll also be able to create and cultivate both the local audience and the drive-in day group to make The Great Southern Bluegrass Festival at Picker’s Paradise Park into a financial as well as an artistic success.

Pat Tillman and Ernie Davis with Grasstowne

Silver River State Park, The Big Green Egg Fest & Ocala

Along the Sinkhole Trail

Silver River State Park lies tucked in between the City of Ocala and the old Florida resort of Silver Springs. It is one of the newest parks in the Florida system and shows how it has learned enough from other parks so that now it’s teaching them how to bring themselves up to date. The park’s spacious campground features four loops in two separate sections, each one featuring sites large enough for even the largest RVs while maintaining enough separation to give plenty of privacy. Sites are graded and leveled using gravel and rock fines in such proportion as to give a very solid base, almost appearing like paving while accepting spikes for awnings or tents. All sites have water and electric service, and there are some sites with 50 amp service. Each section has a large rest room complex with a washer and drier. These facilities are kept spotlessly clean by the very pleasant and welcoming staff of work campers. The park lies along the Silver River, the largest artesian fed river in the world and the site of the famous 1930’s resort Silver Springs, where Lloyd Bridges filmed many of his SeaHunt episodes for television.

Our Campsite

Rest Room Facility

The park has about fifteen miles of trails open to hikers and off-road bicyclists. We hike two of these trails and found them to be interesting and enjoyable. The Sinkhole trail leads through a north Florida hammock with mixed vegetation around a sink hole which is difficult to see because of the heavy growth down in it. Interpretive signs introduce hikers to the wildlife and give some understanding of the ecology. There are two River Trails. We took the swamp trail leading down toward the Silver River through a predominantly pine and live oak forest through a cypress swamp where the trail turns into an elevated walkway. Eventually, the walkway leads to an outlook on the Silver River, a beautiful clear water stream fed by artesian water bubbling from the ground. We saw a huge bass and a bowfish, although no alligators. One of the rangers, who regularly comes down to this spot for his lunch, walked us back up the boardwalk to show us a cotton mouth moccasin curled quietly in the notch of a tree. The park claims 5000 acres of viewable habitat and many animals. All this lies within a couple of miles of the bustling city of Ocala.

Silver River Museum Display

The Marion County Board of Education, in close cooperation with Silver River State Park, operates an Environmental Education Center featuring the Silver River Museum and the Cracker Village. The museum is open to the public on weekends for a nominal charge. The buildings of the Cracker Village, demonstrating life in north Florida in the late nineteenth century, are only rarely open to the public, but it’s worth checking to park’s schedule to take the opportunity to view these old and primitive buildings. The museum has a fine collection showing the development of this part of Florida from an environmental and scientific viewpoint for its early development and then tracking the social history of the region from the days of the Seminole Wars through the development of tourist Florida in the 1920’s and 30’s until the present day. The artifacts are very useful. The descriptions are sufficiently detailed to give a good overview of the regions natural and human history without becoming boring or pedantic. This small museum is a special gem.

Sweetwater Bluegrass Band

After we’d been at Silver River a day or so, we put up our Bluegrass Music banner on our awning. Early in the evening there was a knock on the door and one of the rangers stood there asking if we were pickers. As we chatted with Mickey Summers, it developed he had just returned from the ETA Bluegrass Cruise we had enjoyed so much. After much enjoyable reminiscing, Mickey invited us to attend the Big Green Egg Fest on Saturday to hear his band Sweetwater Bluegrass and enjoy the festivities. Around eleven on Saturday morning we wandered over to the pavilion. We could hear the big bass pounding and the banjo leading the way as Sweetwater Bluegrass kept the music coming. Perhaps a couple hundred people milled around as dozens of green, egg-shaped cookers belched smoke and the aroma of cooking meat filled the air. Ostensibly a public event, the hefty$30.00 admission fee made it pretty expensive to attend, so the largest portion of people attending appeared to be Egg enthusiasts appreciating each other’s work. We sat at a picnic table to enjoy the music of Mickey’s band, but soon succumbed to the temptation to sample the productions of the Eggers.

Jeff Houck Live Blogging

Egg Culture

Big Green Eggs are a beautifully designed smoker. cooker, grill shaped like an egg and lined with a heavy ceramic coating that concentrates the heat of natural charcoal and various flavoring additives to allow users to cook either fast or slow and to control cooking time and temperature quite accurately. The results were a variety of smoked and grilled meats as well as quick breads, and even pizza that looked and tasted wonderful. A large regional distributer was very much in evidence as well as several other vendors. People cooked, people ate and milled and chatted and compared recipes and enjoyed themselves. Sweetwater Bluegrass contributed to the generally jovial atmosphere. Tampa Tribune food writer and blogger Jeff Houck had set up his computer at a nearby picnic table and was live-blogging the event, posting commentary and pictures to his blog. Check his work out here, here, here, here, and here. I’ll leave it to his very professional work to portray the event. For us, the food was tasty, the concept of the Big Green Egg intriguing, and the music enjoyable, making a real contribution to the entire event. Silver River State park hosts a variety of events, and it’s worth checking the schedule there if you live close enough to get there easily. There’ll be a bluegrass event there on May 16^th.

Vendor Diplay

Rayne Summers Displays Egg

Ocala proved to be a delightful place to visit. We’ve driven around the circumference several times in recent years, but not stopped to spend any time before. A short drive from the quiet and seemingly remote Park, the city offers all the shopping and eating conveniences of a regional center which for years has attracted wealthy horse lovers. We found a delightful Thai restaurant across the street from the Paddock Mall that more than satisfied our taste for this delightful food. Ocala’s real draw is horses. Large horse farms of almost every kind from jumping to racing through cattle herding surround the city. Many of these can be visited. There are also frequent horse shows and other equine events. Driving out of Ocala in almost any direction will yield views of horses and training facilities. Since most of these are working farms, it may be difficult, but worthwhile, to arrange visits. All told, Ocala is worth a visit and Silver River State Park provides a great base for making a grand tour of the region or for enjoying a quiet spot to get away for a weekend or a couple of weeks.

River Trail Cypress Swamp

Silver River

Our New Friend

Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road Homecoming - Preview

Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road

Lorraine Jordan and the Carolina Road Band will host their Homecoming Bluegrass Festival on March 28 and 29, 2008 at the Ramada Inn in Burlington, NC. While this festival serves primarily as a showcase for bands from North Carolina it will also present a selection of excellent bands from a wider geographical area. Lorraine tells me it’s called a homecoming because of the friendly reception and sense of reunion the festival embodies. This event provides fans and promoters an opportunity to view bands from the region as well further afield to preview bands, hire them, and make decisions about both hiring and festival attendance. The indoor festival opens the spring bluegrass season in North Carolina and offers a lot of diversity for fans of traditional bluegrass and gospel.

Remington Ryde

David Davis

Anita Fisher

Deeper Shade of Blue

Bands on Thursday from outside the region include Remington Ryde from Pennsylvania and David Davis and the Warrior River Boys from Alabama. Davis’ band is known for its hard driving Monroe style picking and Davis’ soulful voice. Davis version of “Chancellorsville” is a heart rending telling of Stonewall Jackson’s death from friendly fire. Owen Saunders is a standout on fiddle. Remington Ryde plays mostly in Pennsylvania and neighboring states, so this event will give them broader exposure. The cuts on their web site suggest solid and traditional bluegrass. The Anita Fisher Band, featuring Ray Deaton, which hails from Georgia, will also be featured. This band is receiving wider play in recent months as folks become accustomed to Ray’s no longer being a member of IIrd Tyme Out, the band he founded. Deeper Shade of Blue plays a solid mix of gospel and traditional bluegrass. Each of the bands above will be playing two sets on Friday.

Grass Street

Carolina Junction

Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion

Johnny Ridge (Bluegrass Reunion)

In addition, Blue ‘No’ More, Boys from Carolina, Grass Street, and Carolina Junction will each play a full set. The ever popular Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion will be playing a set on both Friday and Saturday. We’ve seen Batten in Florida as well as North Carolina. He’s a popular mainstay in his home state. Fiddler Johnny Ridge is a particular standout. These five bands are all from North Carolina and have strong regional backing and experience. They are seasoned bands who will delight fans of traditional bluegrass. Carolina Junction is a young band which aspires to a wider audience. Playing a somewhat more eclectic mix of music, they deserve watching. I highlighted them in my blog after their appearance at White Oak Shores last October. I could find no information on-line about Blue ‘No’ More. It’s truly important these days for bands to have at least a MySpace presence to help fans and festival organizers become familiar with them.

Constant Change

Jr. Sisk

Carolina Sonshine

James King

Saturday also features a strong list of regional bands as well as several national bands and a couple in the process of making the transition to a larger and wider audience. Crossroads is a California band playing largely gospel music, while the Fritts Family hails from Tennessee and also specializes in gospel music. Red and Donna, Chris Jobe, and Constant Change, are bands primarily known in North Carolina. The Grass Cats are another North Carolina band with a rising national reputation bolstered by a showcase appearance at IBMA and lots of recent play on XM radio. They’ll be offering one set at 8:15 on Saturday. Some higher profile bands will be playing two sets on Saturday. Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice has recently signed a recording contract with Rebel Records. Junior spent a number of years as lead singer with Blueridge. Long recognized as one of the finest tenor singers in bluegrass, he has recently re-established his band. The range and diversity of his touring schedule attests to the happiness among bluegrass people to see his band back on the road. Carolina Sonshine, long an established gospel band in the Low Country has stepped up in the last couple of years, appearing at more widespread events as well as on the Bell Buckle Bluegrass Cruise. The storied James King Band will perform a single long set at 9:15 on Saturday evening. King has been named SPBGMA traditional male singer of the year seven times. He’s particularly noted for the soulfulness of his singing in which he often becomes so involved the tears flow. Festival hosts Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road will close out the festival on Saturday night with another set of their hard driving, traditional bluegrass. Carolina Road has improved steadily during the three years we’ve been watching them. The band Lorraine has assembled and toured with for the past year or so is the best she has had. Balanced and strong at every position, Carolina Road specializes in Monroe style bluegrass and sets a standard for the other bands performing at this festival.

Lorraine Jordan

Benny Greene (Carolina Road)

Jerry Butler (Carolina Road)

The Ramada Inn is conveniently located at 2703 Ramada Road, Burlington, NC 27215 and can be reached by phone at (336) 227-5541. There will be plenty of room provided for workshops and jamming. Promoters wishing to see regional bands from North Carolina and surrounding states as well as fans tired of the long winter, will welcome this homecoming festival jam-packed with fine bands.

Owen Saunders and David Davis

Ray Deaton

Wayne Kinton (Grass Street)

Jason Johnson (Constant Change)

Dennis Cash (Carolina Sonshine)

Danny Stanley (Carolina Sonshine)

Kevin Prater (James King Band)

Josh Goforth (Carolina Road)

Todd Meade (Carolina Road)

The Gibson Brothers: Iron and Diamonds - Review

The Gibson Brothers have hit a home run with their new CD Iron and Diamonds. Containing twelve songs, seven of which were written by this celebrated brother duo, Iron and Diamonds demonstrates a more reflective view of the world as viewed from their homes in northern New York State and helps expand the world of bluegrass music without ever being untrue to their roots or the music from which they have sprung. In this, their fourth Sugar Hill release, Leigh and Eric have crafted seven new songs, covered songs from sources not always tapped by bluegrass artists, and recorded with as little recording studio technology intervening between them and the product as is possible in this hi-tech world. They recorded much of their singing facing each other using a single microphone, a practice almost unheard of these days. The result is clear and clean with the emphasis on singing and the words themselves. That isn’t to say that musicianship is downplayed in this album. Rather, the focus stays with Eric and Leigh’s singing. Personnel on this CD are the current touring band, aided on a couple of songs by old bandmate Jr. Barber on Dobro and Erin Gibson LaClair, the boys’ sister. By focusing their effort this way, the Gibsons approximate the immediacy found in their stage work while offering the sound quality only found in the studio.

Eric and Leigh Gibson

The disk opens with classic rock and roller Tom Petty’s “Cabin Down Below.” The instrumental kick-off features Eric’s banjo back by Clayton Campbell’s droning fiddle. The bass and mandolin create a sound much like a piano backing the song. The song opens:

Come go with me, babe
Come go with me, girl
Baby, let's go
To the cabin down below

The slow and languid tone belies the singer’s urgency to be alone with the girl. The cabin down below theme echoes the country cabin in a hollow appearing in many bluegrass songs with a bit of a twist. Choosing this particular song signals the Gibsons’ intention to present bluegrass with something of a difference reflecting the large range of their experience and musical interests.

Eric

Iron and Diamonds, the second song and disk title, reflects still another element of the boys’ life experience. Lyon Mountain stands tall against the flats surrounding Lake Champlain north of the Adirondack Mountains. Eric and Leigh grew up on a dairy farm near the Canadian border in northern New York State. Lyon Mountain, lying south of their home, contained an iron mine which began to produce in the 1870’s, producing iron ore until 1967. The miners, like many working people who came to the Adirondacks were a tough breed of immigrants who risked their lives daily underground for too little money and respect. The song captures the risk, the dirt, the desperation and the outlet they enjoyed:

Up on Lyon Mountain

The houses look the same

Weathered wood hid wives and kids

And lives that never changed…

The miners go down into the mine which spreads its ugliness about. Leigh sings that “six days went to the company and one to the man above…” The only opportunity for the men of Lyon Mountain to express their inner selves came at the weekly Sunday afternoon baseball games. Eric’s banjo takes on an old-timey droning sound in a minor key with Clayton’s fiddle behind, somehow capturing the loneliness of their lives and the danger the miners faced. Mike Barber’s insistent bass beat keeps the song moving forward. Immigrant Americans seldom appear in bluegrass songs, but the Polish, Lithuanian, Italian, and Irish miners populate this song with their spirit and energy as they “dug into America, down a hole deep, dark, and cruel.” The miners discover freedom “between the foul lines” as they play the peculiarly American game of baseball. This song, largely written by Leigh, captures the dignity and spirit of these men as they become a part of their adopted country. It captures the imagination of listeners who can feel the life quivering through the song.

Mike Barber

I wouldn’t call “One Step Closer to the Grave” a gospel song, although it treats deeply spiritual questions. The singer, attending a funeral (perhaps his wife’s), realizes the emptiness of his life and his own mortality as he moves “one step closer to the grave.” He finds his Bible, hits his knees, and reads the red lines, finding a lost faith. Rick Hayes’ mandolin solo and Leigh’s guitar punctuate the passion expressed through Eric’s singing and the insistent lyric. Again, Clayton’s fiddle sets up the singer’s sense of aging as he confronts his own sinful life.

Rick Hayes

Eric describes Steve Earle’s 1997 song “The Other Side of Town” as a “honky tonkin’ grass tune.” They take Earle’s pedal steel backed solo and turn it into a lively search through the self to discover the brighter possibilities of life in a true bluegrass song.

When I’m sad and blue

And I’m feelin’ all alone

There’s a place that I go to,

That no one knows.

That’s the place where loneliness, death, and emptiness live. The way to escape this world is to seek out the one you love and keep close to that person to escape going to the dark places “on the other side of town.” The dark places within us are dangerous and self-destructive. Love provides the solution to this risk. Again, grassing this piece gives it life and hope for the future. Jr. Barber, long a member of this band, does a guest stint on Dobro providing the sound Earle used in his pedal steel backed version. This song has moved from country to bluegrass without skipping a beat.

Clayton Campbell

When first The Country Gentlemen and then The Seldom Scene took folk-rock and rock songs by Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, and the Beatles and turned them into what are now bluegrass standards, they pointed the way for bluegrass. A few years ago, The Grascals took Elvis Presley’s rockabilly song Viva Las Vegas and did the same. The Gibson Brothers continue in this tradition with Julie Miller’s rock blues “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go,” as well as in the earlier reviewed Tom Petty song. In covering Judy Miller’s “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go,” Eric and Leigh have taken Miller’s bluesy rock piece and turned it into an upbeat bluegrass song filled with enthusiasm for avoiding trouble:

Take me, take me somewhere trouble don’t go,

Make me, make me someone trouble don’t know.

Leigh’s guitar solo in the center of this song supported by Rick Hayes’ strong chop morphs into Hayes’ solo with Leigh behind him in a most interesting fashion. The longest song on the album, it captures the joy of the Gibson’s singing harmonies as well as the dynamic range of the band with its driving and insistent beat.

Leigh

“In another lifetime, not so long ago,” Leigh and Eric begin without any instrumental lead. Barber walks up with a bass run, and then Leigh continues, “I could make you happy, Now that isn’t so.” The song is all melody and harmony with the bass, guitar, and mandolin providing a rhythmic background while no fiddle or banjo plays. Eric plays lead guitar on this one with Leigh backing on rhythm while he also sings lead. “Lonely Me, Lonely You,” has a lost love sadness to it, simplicity emphasizing the power of lost love. Eric’s minimalist high harmony sounds almost like a ghost behind the lead. The song ends on a note of hopeful longing, while the tune suggests that no amount of trying will make enough difference. “Let’s pretend we never knew, Lonely me, Lonely you.”

Eric

Writing about the frustration of the road must be an irresistible draw for musicians. Recently The Infamous Stringdusters, Blue Highway, and now the Gibson Brothers have written and sung about finding one’s way on the lonely and demanding musical road. In “Picker’s Blues” Eric laments the demands of the road and of working to create constantly and simultaneously maintain a relationship. “Is it ego, is it pride, That makes me roam this country wide? I got the picker’s blues.” The agony of the artist is highlighted in this song. No matter what the costs are, making the music and meeting its demands are the muse the singer must follow. This difficult choice has challenged all artists in one way or another. Perhaps the challenge of genius has its cost in lost relationships.

In “A World So Full of Love” the Gibsons tap still another unusual source. Roger Miller, a sixties country-pop singer best known for “King of the Road,” but also winner of eleven Grammy awards and a Tony award for his work on a Broadway musical, seems an unlikely source for a bluegrass song. Their slight change in the lyric actually improves on Miller’s original country song.

I know how it feels to be alive with no desire to live,

I know how it feels to never take and always have to give.

To be let down by your lover in a world filled with love, when there still isn’t enough to go around might lead to despair without the hope of the song. The fiddle kicks this one off with a bouncy banjo and mandolin behind it. As in many bluegrass songs, the message of loneliness and desertion is denied by the essentially hopeful voice of the singing. Eric’s banjo is again played in a somewhat darker and plunkier sound than his usually brilliant sound.

Leigh

“Angry Man” is perhaps the darkest song in this collection.

It seems mankind’s

got out of whack,

Have we gone so far,

That we can’t get back?”

The singer laments the mess the world’s in, but he’s grown older without seeing much chance that people or nations will change for the better. This short and to the point song is perhaps the most contemporary in subject matter and expresses the greatest despair of any song in the set. Despite the singer’s willingness to work together with others to implement some sort of plan, he doesn’t see much change in the world. He begs both left and right to get it right, but just doesn’t see anything happening. He asks whether he’s the only angry man. This is one of the most socially aware songs ever written by the Gibson Brothers while remaining non-partisan and uncontroversial. It has an uncharacteristic bitter tinge to it, but it’s a truly great topical song.

“Bloom off the Rose” is a more standard bluegrass song about how living life kills the enthusiasm and zest in a relationship, forcing us to grow up and face reality. It’s a catchy tune about lost love that’ll be sung around campfires. It’s set in the context of a marriage growing apart as each partner goes separate ways until she finds a new man, seeing the singer as a dreamer. “Long Way Down” shows how easy it is to lose our dreams and head for the bottom. The singer sees his love as living in a high and mighty world removed from real people and not seeing how far she has to fall. He admonishes her to “hold on tight to your dreams, if you got ‘em. Don’t you know it’s a long way down?” This very melodic song has a lyrical tone, perhaps the best tune of the lot. It’s a song that could become a bluegrass standard.

The liner notes say the boys got this Bill Carlisle song “Gone Home” from hearing it sung by the HewHaw gospel quartet. It’s a terrific gospel tune to end an album with. Bringing together much of what has contributed to the Gibson Brothers sound over the years, the song features Jr. Barber on Dobro and Erin Gibson LaClair, their sweet-singing younger sister, contributing harmony. As the Gibson Brothers’ band has become a more cohesive ensemble unit, their need to feature guest artists has decreased. By adding Jr. Barber and Erin LaClair, they have truly kept it in the family while adding a degree of diversity. This is their first release made with the current touring band including their original bass player Mike Barber, as well as Clayton Campbell on fiddle and Rick Hayes on mandolin. The Sugar Hill release works as a whole, being thoughtfully constructed and hanging together. The individual songs may lose some of their effectiveness when not listened to as part of an album, so purchasing the entire CD makes a lot of sense. The songs will be available for download on March 15^th and in stores and available on-line as of April 15^th. On March 20^th at 9:00 AM Kyle Cantrell will be doing a cut-by-cut analysis on XM radio channel 14 with Leigh and Eric. This program will certainly be repeated. They will be appearing at the Blue Plate Special on WDVX in Knoxville on April 9^th followed by a live interview on XM on the tenth. That evening the Gibsons will have a release party at the Station Inn in Nashville. All this will culminate with an appearance on the Grand Ol’ Opry on Friday, April 11^th. For Gibson Brothers fans this will be another great addition to your collection of their material. If this fine band is new to you, this one offers a good introduction to them. They’ll be touring in support of this CD at festivals and other events for the next several months. Keep an eye on their web site for news of where they’ll be appearing near you.

The Gibson Brothers

Blue Highway, "Through the Window of a Train" - Review

Blue Highway was founded in 1994 by Tim Stafford and Wayne Taylor. Rob Ickes, Shawn Lane, and finally Jason Burleson came on board. Both Stafford on guitar and as a songwriter and Ickes on resonator guitar have won numerous awards, as has the band as a whole. The band has garnered awards from both the major bluegrass organizations as well as some Grammy nominations. Tim Stafford won a Grammy with Allison Kraus on "Every Time You Say Goodbye." Ickes is one of three resonphonic guitar players to have won the IBMA Dobro player of the year award. The band has remained at the forefront of bluegrass music, at once honoring the traditions of the music and finding new ground to explore musically and in their content. The band manages to be progressive and traditional at once. On stage they focus on their singing while managing to be amusing and enjoyable in their showmanship. They entertain while never assuming about or insulting their audience. Their songs and CDs have been consistent and this one is no exception. In fourteen years Blue Highway has produced eight albums. From the Window of a Train is the latest. Many bluegrass albums long for a past that never was or celebrate a faded and lost world that can’t be recaptured. Blue Highway’s songs present a starker and more realistic picture of a difficult and lost world where hope can still be found.

Wayne Taylor

On this CD there are twelve new songs, each written by members of the band. The CD kicks off with Jason Burleson’s lonely banjo solo suggesting a thoughtful and lost moment of contemplation. Life on the road must be really difficult or there wouldn’t be so many road songs in the catalog of bluegrass bands. Shawn Lane’s “Life of a Travelin’ Man” captures the ceaseless demands of the road while trying to meet the responsibilities of home and family:

Get the yard cut down and the babies fed

A million songs runnin’ through my head

Daylight comes I’ll be gone again

When does the highway ever end?

Rob Ickes resophonic solo picks up the loneliness and attraction of the road at once, complementing Lane’s plaintive love-hate relationship with the road. The image of lightning emphasizes the dark and stormy nature of the road, yet the singer doesn’t want to leave the life. A good road song is always an attractive way to introduce an album.

Tim Stafford

Through the Window of a Train, co-written by Tim Stafford and Steve Gulley and sung by Wayne Taylor also captures images of life passing by, but from a somewhat different perspective than the previous song. Seeing the world “through the window of a train” suggests a sense of separation from the world as it passes by without being involved in it in any real fashion.

I don’t expect you all to understand

Or see the country like a railroad man

So many things you’ll never realize

Unless you see ‘em with these eyes.

For the railroad man, life goes on, but being involved in it isn’t a part of his life. In the end everything looks the same and the speaker is always looking back. The bounciness of the music belies the essential emptiness of the speaker’s life, perhaps a characteristic of such road songs. The impermanence of life along the way with no real roots or ties to the land are seen through the window of a train without ever having to stop to make commitments or stay to experience the results of living life outside a frame.

Shawn Lane

Ickes opening chords let us know a tragedy is coming in Sycamore Hollow. Written by Shawn Lane and Gerald Ellenburg, this murder song captures the desperation of threatemed love, danger, and death as do the best of such tunes. This one is further complicated by the loved one’s double abduction, first away from her father and later from her husband by a soldier in Sherman’s army. No force can stop the singer from being with the one he loves. This song, unlike so many such songs involving both death and the Civil War has a surprising happy ending.

Jason Burleson

Following Sycamore Hollow with a different kind of song involving the circumstances of war and loss is one of the reasons music lovers should consider buying entire recordings rather than downloading specific tracks. The contrast between these two songs is stark, on the one hand capturing the small victories that can be won, and on the other the loss and desperation of fighting a futile war. In Homeless Man, Wayne Taylor sings:

They took a simple country boy

And taught him how to use a gun

After four long years in service,

Two tours in Vietnam

The country that he served so well

Doesn’t seem to give a damn

That he’s a homeless man.

The keening loneliness of Rob Ickes’ reso combined with the counterpoint of Lane’s deceptively simple mandolin create a quiet elegiac quality to accompany this heartbreaking story of a man destroyed by the war he fought for his country. Accompanied by the later song, Two Soldiers, this song paints a sad picture of what happens to our returning soldiers, regardless of the empty rhetoric about supporting our troops. Taylor’s lyrics, simple and straightforward, speak for themselves.

Rob Ickes

In Where Did the Morning Go? Shawn Lane asks the questions of any aging person looking back on a life, no matter how successful it is.

Where did the morning go?

I meant to do so much more with my life

I was born a clear and sunny day

Now evening shadows fall my way

Where did the morning go?

This song captures what may be one of the signal qualities of this great band. Each picker is a fine musician, a master of his instrument, and yet Blue Highway avoids instrumental pyrotechnics, allowing the lyrics and more simple instrumentation to carry the songs. Their work, especially on this album, seems pared down and stripped of pretense, thus strengthening the power of their music.

Two Soldiers is placed in the middle of this CD and lies at the core of its content. This song describes the team sent to the homes of servicemen who have been killed abroad. It’s their job to inform families of the loss. This song strikes a particularly strong chord for us, because when Irene’s Dad was in the Navy during World War II, this was his job. A quiet and unassuming man, he carried the pain of this experience throughout his life. The song captures the fear and dread the black car and two formally dressed visitors bring with them as they come to visit a family. Written by Tim Stafford and Wood Newton and sung by Tim, the song is a powerful and simple testament to the horrors of war. It is followed by the only instrumental on the CD, The North Cove written by Jason Burleson, whose lead banjo on the piece is powerful. With Shawn on fiddle and Jason providing a blazing banjo, the piece provides a respite in the midst of this powerful set of songs as well as standing on its own. As an instrumental it allows for some of the virtuosity that has been restrained in other cuts by the strong content of this album.

A Week from Today examines the state of mind of an institutionalized prisoner being released from prison fifty years into a ninety-nine year sentence. Written by Tim Stafford and Bobby Starnes and sung by Taylor, the prisoner is completely unlike the typical prison song voice yearning for loved ones outside the prison walls and fleeing in his imagination to them. This prisoner fears the thought of freedom because “the prison cell’s the only home I’ve known.” After all, he’s been there all his adult life. He’s a different person from the man who was sent to jail. The song kicks off with an upbeat mandolin solo at a fast pace. The opening line, “Time is a funny thing, you know,” lowers the listeners resistance and sets up the kicker in which the singer leads us into the four walls and then hits us with the warden. Suddenly we’re facing a new take on the passage of time, completely removed from “Where Did the Morning Go.” The upbeat instrumental is shown to reflect the fear and loss experienced by the singer. The singer concludes “I’ll have to find a way back home,” and the total desperation of his situation is fully revealed. An underlying problem of our entire penal system is shown in this final stanza.

My Ropin’ Days are Done is a cowboy song with echoes of the Streets of Laredo running through it in a subtle homage to traditional cowboy songs. The opening passage on guitar raises reminders of the campfire, strong coffee, and ranch hands singing out their loneliness. Another contemplative song in which the singer voices his nostalgia for the sweat, smell, and tension of the cowboy life while knowing it’s time to head home to his loved one. Stafford again captures the sense of loss, but this time also recognizes that times are changing and his loved one has stood by him through his addiction to the action. The simple background of two guitars and Dobro provide just the right setting for the lyric. “Blues on Blues” is another song of loss and regret by Stafford with Jon Weisberger and Bobby Starnes, capturing the risk of loving and the chance of losing. The bluesy instrumentals with mandolin leading the way supported by banjo and guitar capture the lyrics and reinforce them fully. A V-Bottom Boat cuts through the water’s resistance and takes its passengers straight to the dock. This seemingly simple gospel song suggests simple answers to the difficult questions posed by modern life suggested by “cars, planes, and trains” preferring instead the simple v-bottom boat to find the true course to salvation. Shawn Lane has created a simple and affecting metaphor. The final song, Just Another Gravel in the Road, completes the cycle of thoughtful exploration as Wayne Taylor leads us through the problem of losing a loved one rather than changing one’s self. The singer loses the game of love rather than compromise his life style or principles.

So there it is, a couple of road songs, a murder ballad, some loneliness and loss of self, a soldier song with a twist, a prison song, a cowboy song, a blues, a gospel, and a you can’t change me. It’s like a catalog of bluegrass themes, but each with a new or rethought process making them fresh and interesting. This is a powerful collection of songs eschewing the sunny optimism or stark tragedy of much bluegrass. Rather, it takes an unromantic and nuanced view of some of the difficulties and choices facing us in real life. While it doesn’t necessarily provide solutions, the unblinking look at reality offers fresh insight and thoughtful pictures of life as it’s led at the early part of the 21^st century.

Through the Window of a Train by Blue Highway is Rounder Records 11661-0594-1 and can be obtained through Blue Highway’s web site, Rounder Records ,where you can also hear samples, or other recording outlets. This album stands as such a fine work when heard altogether, it would be a shame to download individual cuts to your mp3 player. Purchase the whole thing, sit back and listen, and enjoy!

Great Southern Bluegras Fetival - Preview

Great Southern Bluegrass Festival
Ochlocknee, GA (near Thomasville)
March 21 and 22, 2008

It’s a sad event when a scheduled festival has to be postponed or cancelled. The Spirit of Suwannee Bluegrass Festival had been scheduled for the weekend of March 20 – 22, but it was cancelled. Promoter Don Miller tells me the cancellation was necessary because of inadequate pre-registrations and lack of sponsorship. My hunch says that Spirit of Suwannee Music Park was less than enthusiastic about this event, scheduling a large canoe festival for the same weekend and putting its emphasis onto Springfest coming the following one. Beer sales for Springfest are huge! Thus a fine festival with a varied lineup and a quality venue has gone down the tubes.
Fortunately, Miller’s co-promoter, North Florida’s Ernie Evans has stepped into the breach and arranged for a festival called “The Great Southern Bluegrass Festival” and held at Picker’s Paradise Park in Ochlocknee, GA (near Thomasville) on March 21 – 22. The headliner will be Grasstowne, a band only a little over a year old, but creating a buzz across the nation at concerts and festivals as well as through its hit CD “The Road Headin’ Home.” The Wilson Family Band, Southern Lite, Pure and Simple Bluegrass, and Southern Lite, as well as other bands to be announced are also on the bill. Of particular note in this schedule will be workshops offered by musical greats Alan Bibey and Phil Leadbetter on Saturday morning. Bibey, mandolin player for Grasstowne, has long been recognized as one of the very finest on his instrument. Chosen by SPBGMA as mandolin player of the year in 2006, Bibey was a founding member of four great bands as well as performing on countless other albums when pure, virtuoso picking is required. Leadbetter is one of only three Dobro players to ever have been awarded IBMA Dobro player of the year (2005) as well as being this year’s SPGMA Dobro player of the year. He is a fine teacher as well. An hour spent at a workshop with either of these masters is worth the price of admission to any festival.

Katie, Clint, and Robert Wilson

We first met the Wilson Family Band at the Spirit of Suwannee Bluegrass Festival a year ago. At that time they were still somewhat lacking in development, but were infectiously joyous about making their music. We were taken by them right away. Since then they’ve become friends of ours, and we seek out opportunities to see them perform. This is a family band with a difference, and the difference is joy. The look on Robert Wilson’s face as he watches and appreciates the work of his two children is priceless. Clint, at seventeen, has branched out from the banjo to also take solos on guitar and mandolin during their sets. We’ve also seen him play bass. Daughter Katie, still only twelve, has been playing fiddle for less than two years. Her fiddle playing, helped along by her friendship with Becky Buller, grows with each performance. Her voice will continue to mature as she grows into the songs she sings. The family has tailored song selection to her age and appearance, making her even more effective. Drew Jones on bass is a friend of the family and adds still another teenager to the group. Mother Melissa provides a steady beat on mandolin and has begun taking more frequent and demanding breaks. This band, hailing from rural Folkston, GA should be seen to be appreciated.

Melissa Wilson

Katie and Clint Wilson

Pure and Simple Bluegrass is a six member band which describes themselves as traditional with a “touch of comedy and magic thrown in.” Based in Dothan, Alabama, they appear mostly in the region and sound, at least from their on-line samples, to be a solid band. Southern Lite is the house band for this festival, as they are Ernie Evans’ band. Ernie brings a lively enthusiasm to everything he does, and this is reflected in the music his band plays. Ernie’s work on mandolin is very solid, and we were surprised to hear his very good flat picking in a guest appearance with Tyler Williams a month or so ago. Also appearing will be The Kenny Hill Band and The Andrews Family Band, neither of which provides sufficient Internet information for me to have anything to say about them. All told, the line-up for this event should provide sufficient variety and excellence to make its Friday evening all-say Saturday format varied, interesting, and enjoyable. The highlight, for both established fans and those who have not yet had the pleasure of seeing them, will be Grasstowne.

Alan Bibey (Grasstowne)

Phil Leadbetter (Grasstowne)

Picker’s Paradise Park can be found here. Some pictures of the facility can be found here. The pictures suggest a very pleasant setting in southern Georgia with trees, water, a comfortable and roomy music shed, and plenty of camping spaces. Water and electric are provided and there are hot showers and flush toilets available. Nearby Thomasville, located in south Georgia a few miles north of the Florida border, appears to be a pleasant town of slightly more than 18,000 people. Average daily high temperatures in Thomasville in late March are in the low seventies with evening temperatures in the low fifties. It’s early spring in this part of the world, and the azaleas should be in full bloom. Picker’s Paradise Park can be easily reached from North Florida, Eastern Alabama and South Georgia, Snowbird bluegrass fans beginning their trek homeward in late March should find this to be a pleasant and rewarding stop.

Steve Gulley (Grasstowne)

Jason Davis (Grasstowne)