I'm tired of hearing people say, “It's
all about the music.” That phrase, meant to excuse bluegrass music
for the often static, not to say boring, way in which many
performances of bluegrass music present themselves just doesn't hold
water. In order to bring fans to their seats, great bands need to
present great shows sparkling with high concept performance values
which include great music and entertaining presentation. Without
both, people might come to see, but they won't stay to listen and
appreciate or return to keep the seats filled. Musicianship by
itself, isn't even the most important requirement, although it helps,
but high quality entertainment for audiences presented with more
entertainment choices than they've ever had requires much more.
Entertainment means creating more than
a highly scripted, carefully rehearsed and choreographed performance.
Jokes and schtick aren't sufficient. Neither is surpassing musical
ability. We can all point to bands filled with fine musicians, people
who distinguish themselves in sounding really good, yet which never
establish their own sound or create a new and distinctive personna, a
sound and personna which, after the first five or six notes, an
informed listener can say, “That's what I really like to hear.”
Rarely do we hear a new band which kicks off a song that appeals from
the first note, but that band, if it continues to choose its material
wisely, will attract an audience. As the music business changes and
develops in these days of cable television channels appealing to
niche audiences and bluegrass bands playing to full houses in
performing arts centers while everyone experiences a reduction in the
sales of recorded music, the question of how to reach out to new,
affluent audiences which can afford live entertainment is always
before us.
The bluegrass festival wasn't there at
the beginning nor is it a requirement that it continue to be the most
important means of delivering bluegrass to its fans, but festivals
still seek to attract large audiences to three and four day multiple
band outdoor events even when the weather is bound to be iffy and the
main stage performances are subject to the vagaries of sunshine,
rain, heat, cold, wind, and whatever else the outdoors will provide.
Remember that the early bluegrass musicians performed in auditoriums
to which they attracted fans by ceaseless travel and promotion
through local performances on radio. There were no festivals before
1965, well into the era which Bill Monroe kicked off in 1945 with a
live indoor performance at the Ryman Auditorium heard widely on the
radio. We're now forty-seven years beyond Fincastle and must ask
ourselves whether the format created by Carleton Haney remains the
best way to disseminate bluegrass music, if it ever was.
It's not easy to characterize what
makes a band entertaining, at least partly because its a matter of
personal choice. One thing's for sure, when multiple bands are
involved, not all bands need to be to everyone's taste. Within the
rubric of bluegrass, there are a remarkable number of very good bands
serving to entertain people with a variety of tastes and preferences.
Perhaps now we can point to several bands which are quite different,
musically strong, and deeply satisfying to their large fan bases. The
most obvious and, to many, interesting is Steve Martin and the Steep
Canyon Rangers. With the gifted comic, actor, writer, and banjo
player Steve Martin at the head, the Steep Canyon Rangers & Steve
Martin serves to introduce bluegrass to audiences who've never
encountered it before or who have preconceptions about the music far
removed from what it proves to be when the best bands perform. It
almost goes without saying that Steve Martin is a great entertainer
who brings in fans and commands high ticket prices and large fees.
What's obvious to those who've known the Steeps for years as a
stand-alone band is the impovement seen in their musicality from
their association with Martin. Together or as a standalone, this is
an entertaining show.
Another show catering to a quite
different audience is presented by Dailey & Vincent with their
combination of old bluegrass standards, country music, as well as
bluegrass gospel and southern gospel music. Their core bluegrass
sound is enhanced (altered) by the bass voice of Christian Davis, a
voice once confined to a capella quartets, but now used widely
throughout their performance. The band has upset the balance of
traditional bluegrass festivals by insisting on presenting one ninety
minute set rather than the traditional two sets, but audiences seem
to like the long program, and it's well suited to the concert halls
and performing arts series where they perform more frequently these
days. Other groups are also spreading their wings to other venues
than just traditional bluegrass markets. Rhonda Vincent & the
Rage and the Gibson Brothers are finding success and bringing
bluegrass to new audiences. It's also fairly easy to point to bands
of negligible musical ability who can, through sheer showmanship,
whether it's tasteful or not, keep audiences laughing and in their
seats.
As the festival season heats up, make
no mistake that it is limited by season and geography, so we should
welcome this transition to new environs, many in suburban and urban
areas where bluegrass has previously been limited to small clubs and
folk music outlets. The widening of the venues where bluegrass is
available means that newer audiences with different backgrouds and
experience will have the opportunity to hear the music. Whether they
return to hear it again, to watch it, to purchase CD's and support it
in other ways depends on how well they are entertained. In the end,
professional musicians will go in directions that assure they can
make a living. It's also clear that those new audiences are unlikely
to share the farm background and rural life ethos of the original
bluegrass fans. Most people today have either grown up in suburban or
urban settings or moved their by choice.
Entertainment values are just as
subjective as muscial ones. One person's humor is another's bad
taste. Five white guys standing in a row playing their instruments
well is sufficiently entertaining for some, while others are in
search of more. The honoring of the first and second generations of
bluegrass performers will continue as their songs and renditions
continue to be played and sung around the campfire. The line between
recreational singing along with semi-professional covers of the early
work and the truly professional bands will continue to bother some.
However, creativity can't be stopped if something resembling
bluegrass is to continue. We can only trust the market and believe
that Gresham's Law (bad money drives out good) doesn't apply to
music. If the success of the top entertaining bands is any
indication, excellence in music combined with good entertainment
values will always win out in the end. Look at who fills the seats!
