Winters in New England are cold and dark. People here learn to dress for the cold, play outside, travel in treacherous weather, and enjoy themselves. The alternative is to stay inside by the fire and become something of a hermit. Candi Sawyer, and her husband Seth, do their best to combat the winter blahs by holding a series of open mic get togethers at the Weston (VT) Rod and Gun Club during the late fall and winter. Usually held on a Saturday afternoon, they are always a fun time for the Jenny Brook crowd to hear some good music, eat together, and have a fine time. Candi and Seth are the promoters of the Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival to be held in June at the Tunbridge World's Fair Grounds in Tunbridge, VT. They will also be presenting very strong indoor concert with The Gibson Brothers and the Spinney Brothers at the Bellows Falls Opera House on Sunday, January 16th. The crowd that gathers in Weston for these events represents the sort of salt-of-the earth group that makes bluegrass music so attractive to so many people. There's no way to tell, from looking, whether the person you're seeing is a retired consultant, a machinist, a Dartmouth dean, or a laborer. You don't know whether participants are Democrats of Republicans, or whether they even care about politics. What's there in common are people enjoying the music. Here's a sample from the series you'll find in this blog going back for several years I like to call "The Faces of Bluegrass." The real roots of bluegrass music lie more in these faces than they do in the touring stars.
Jim Warren and his friend Pat
Tony Kendall
Goat
Lonnie & Brenda Mathews - Candi Sawyer's Parents
Dave Gibson
Teresa and Liz
Kelly
Washington County Line
Gary Hutchins
Benefit Raffle
Rob Ravlin
Me
Brenda Mathews
Sherry Ravlin
Seth Sawyer
Lonnie Mathews and Daughter Candi Sawyer
Engineer Without a Train - Video
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