Upper Valley Bluegrass Festival – Lebanon, NH

The second annual Upper Valley Bluegrass Festival will be held at the Lebanon Opera House in Lebanon, New Hampshire on November 21 and 22. Friday night’s bands will be Rhonda Vincent & the Rage and The Jerry Douglas Band. Saturday night’s program presents The Grascals and Seldom Scene. Executive Director Heather Clow has pulled together a lineup to rival the very successful first run of this early winter festival from last year. A series of workshops will held on Saturday afternoon at the nearby AVA Gallery, just a few steps from the front door of the Opera House. Tickets can be obtained here and cost $33.00 for each performance or $55.00 for a festival pass, including the Saturday workshops. For those attending the workshops or wishing to enjoy a meal in Lebanon, several very nice restaurants are located on the town square where the Opera House can be found. Information about food, lodging, and finding the Opera House is available here. The Lebanon Opera House, which has an interesting history, has comfortable, although not lavish, seating with excellent sight lines and very good sound. Parking on the square is pretty sparse, but there’s a large lot in the back.

Rhonda Vincent and the Rage

Rhonda Vincent

Mickey Harris and Darrell Webb

Kenny Ingram

Hunter Berry

This year’s lineup at the Upper Valley Bluegrass Festival is a little more conventional than the first outing of this event, but it provides plenty for all tastes across the bluegrass spectrum. Friday’s program opens with Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. Since Lebanon Valley will be one of their last three appearances in 2008, I’m told the current band will perform there, affording New Englanders a last chance to see the current edition of this very popular high quality band. One of the most popular and hardest touring bands in the business, Rhonda Vincent always appears with her A game. She has a fine voice and a winning stage personality, moving the show along with good humor and high professionalism. Oh, she looks good, too. Vincent is one of the most generous band leaders in bluegrass. This serves two purposes: it showcases the very fine musicians who tour with her, and it saves her voice from too much strain. Departing members Kenny Ingram and Darrell Webb have brought great strengths to the band, but replacing them will not be as difficult as you might think. Ingram is one of the great banjo players, and has been performing with top bands for many years, although he spent a good deal of time off the road. The much travelled Webb has a fine voice, is a good song writer, and picks the guitar well. Mickey Harris, on bass, brings a very solid beat and fine singing, particularly of Gospel music, to the band. Hunter Berry on fiddle is not only a fine stylist, but his stage presence adds plenty of humor to a Rhonda Vincent performance. Rhonda and the band have won eight IBMA awards. Members of the band have won any number of SPBGMA awards, an organization more fan-based than IBMA, the major professional organization of bluegrass music. Because they appear frequently in New England, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage will be familiar to many, but they always deliver.

The Jerry Douglas Band

Jerry Douglas

Todd Parks

Luke Bulla

Guthrie Trapp

Chad Melton

The Jerry Douglas Band will perform second on Friday. Douglas is currently touring in support of his new CD Glide, which has been attracting lots of attention, including an appearance on the XM radio Studio Special series with Kyle Cantrell. His appearance behind the Vincent band will allow those who won’t countenance drums with their bluegrass to leave early, while fans of more progressive music will be able to get their fill and Douglas can run over. For many fans, Jerry Douglas has defined the sound of contemporary Dobro play. It’s hard to document, or even conceive, Jerry Douglas’ influence on the Dobro and a much wider aspect of music. The database of his discography contains over 750 titles, but he has appeared on approximately 1600 recorded projects. A biographical essay by Daniel Menaker can be found here. Menaker refers to influences from bluegrass, jazz, Indian ragas, Celtic tunes, New Orleans jazz, gospel, blues and more. Douglas has won the IBMA Dobro player of the year award eight times, but recently his music has moved beyond the confines of traditional bluegrass. Other members of the Douglas band are Chad Melton on drums, Todd Parks on bass, Luke Bulla on violin, and Guthrie Trapp on mandolin and guitar. It’s particularly interesting that Bulla is listed as playing the “violin,” because this signals a departure from the “fiddle” of traditional bluegrass music. This band has the power and skill to extend any listener’s concept of what music sounds like. To the same extent that Bill Monroe took the musical genres of his own age and synthesized them into a new and thrilling sound, Douglas’ band brings together a range of influences to create sounds, often unfamiliar, that expand the horizons of his listeners.

On Saturday afternoon Upper Valley will offer a series of workshops in the AVA Gallery, a few steps around the town square in Lebanon from the Opera House. Four workshops about bluegrass music and its culture with a regional spin will run concurrently from 1:00 until 2:30 in the afternoon. Ford Daley will talk about the history of bluegrass while playing cuts from early first and second generation bands and introducing attendees to bluegrass culture. Steve Hennig, well-known local banjo player, will come out of the woods to examine the banjo world as only he can do it, with humor and sight but no curriculum. Rich Heepe will reproduce the festival scene while hosting a jam and discussion of whatever comes up. Rich Hamilton will conduct a fiddle workshop. From 3:00 until 4:00, The Grascals will be doing a lecture/demonstration, leaving time enough for their sound check. Last year’s visit with the Del McCoury Band set a high standard, which I’m sure The Grascals can at least approach.

The Grascals

Jamie Johnson

Terry Smith & Terry Eldridge

Danny Roberts

Kristin Scott Benson, Wayne Benson & Hogan

Kristin Scott Benson Accepts
IBMA Banjo Player of the Year

The evening opens with a performance by The Grascals. This relatively new group emerged from a group appearing at the fabled Station Inn in Nashville on Tuesday nights. Known as the Sidemen, this group consisted of Terry Eldridge, Jamie Johnson, Jimmy Mattingly, and Dave Talbot who later asked Terry Smith and Danny Roberts to join them. Some of the band had had experience with Bobby Osborne or with Dolly Parton, while Roberts had fronted his own bluegrass band. Their big break came when Dolly Parton asked the band to open for her on tour and to be her stage band. Their background explains a good deal about their music, which is often a fusion of bluegrass and country with an occasional rock beat to it. When Parton decided to let the band go, they re-emerged as The Grascals, cut a CD and were on their way. The band in less than four years has been recognized by both IBMA and SPBGMA as entertainer of the year as well as winning a number of other awards. Recently they have made a number of successful television appearances on late night and morning programs, and they appear regularly at the Grand Old Opry. Jeremy Abshire has replaced Mattingly on fiddle. Aaron McDaris has come and gone on banjo, after a successful run. The good news is that the Grascals have added Kristin Scott Benson to the band. Kristin won the 2008 Banjo Player of the Year award at IBMA, the second woman to achieve this distinction. She comes to The Grascals after several years with the Larry Stephenson Band. About her coming to the band, she says, “I'm extremely excited to be a part of The Grascals. I look forward to working with these guys and appreciate the opportunity. I've been in the business long enough to realize how rare it is to be in such a successful band and I feel blessed that they offered me a chance to be a part of what they've already established." The Grascals will certainly change with this addition. Her appearance with them at Lebanon will be her first, so it’s a great opportunity to view the newest version of this very fine band.

The Seldom Scene
Dudley Connell
Ben Eldridge

Lou Reid

Ronnie Simpkins

Fred Travers

The Seldom Scene is one of the storied bands of bluegrass music’s second generation. The present group comprising The Seldom Scene contains only one of the founding group who so revolutionized bluegrass music when they first appeared – Ben Eldridge on banjo. Nevertheless, since the untimely death of the magnificent John Duffey in 1996, they have coalesced around Dudley Connell and Lou Reid to continue the band’s traditions. From their earliest work to the present, Seldom Scene has used contemporary music with bluegrass instruments and phrasing to add content and relevance to the music. They took music from James Taylor, The Grateful Dead, and Bob Dylan, gave it a bluegrass twist and opened bluegrass to a new sensibility. Seldom Scene earned its name in the early days when, at the behest of Duffy and John Starling, the band established a policy of traveling rarely and not far from their Washington, D.C. home, recording frequently, and maintaining the members’ day jobs. While we’ve seen the other three bands in the Upper Valley lineup frequently, this will be only the second time we’ve seen the Seldom Scene. Perhaps, because of this proclivity, their appearance in Lebanon is to be much anticipated. Other members of the current Seldom Scene are Fred Travers on Dobro and Ronnie Simpkins on bass. Along with The Country Gentlemen, Seldom Scene established what has become known at Washington style bluegrass. They are the house band at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA and have recently appeared several times at the White House. Their current CD, Scenechronized, typically contains songs by Steve Earle, John Fogerty, and Bob Dylan as well as more traditional fare as they keep to their habit of bringing new music into bluegrass.

The 2^nd Annual Upper Valley Bluegrass Festival should offer plenty of music carefully selected from a range of styles and approaches. Heather Clow, Executive Director of the Lebanon Opera House tells me that the remaining seats are all reserved and are good ones, too. Lebanon is just over two hours from Boston, and less than that from Burlington VT, and Concord, NH. The setting is first rate, the town square picturesque, and nearby shopping gives the advantage of New Hampshire’s absence of a sales tax. The music will be great.

Some Thoughts on Festivals - What Works

During 2008 we have attended nineteen festivals as well as seven other events with one of each coming between now and the end of the year. They’ve ranged geographically from New Hampshire to Florida and from the east coast to as far west as Nashville. The majority of events have occurred in New England and New York, North Carolina, and Florida with a few others spread out into Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. We’ve been to large, even mega-events as well as quite small ones. We’ve attended extremely successful events and others that hardly even got off the ground. We’ve seen some bands repeatedly and had only brief exposures to others. Attendees at events we took in have ranged from what appeared to be upper middle-class sophisticates to working class lovers of a good time, local bands, and regional culture.

We’ve entered into a period where a niche music like bluegrass is hanging on by its teeth because of the state of the economy. The music clearly emerged when Bill Monroe brought together a group of musicians and created an exciting new sound. He melded together the music he had grown up with in his rural home, black blues, rural white church music, radio-based popular music, and other influences into what soon became known as bluegrass music. Monroe was soon asked to join the Grand Old Opry, the home of Country music, where he became a fixture, even as country music itself was being battered by the influences of rock and roll as they entered the consciousness of American people. Almost since its beginning, what has become known as bluegrass has been devilled by a struggle between traditionalists wishing to keep it “pure” and innovators seeking to change its sound and content. Beginning in the late 1950’s with the emergence of The Country Gentlemen, new influences began coming into bluegrass. This move was accelerated when rock and roll, represented best by the New Grass Revival, began to influence the music. Since the very beginning, what we call “bluegrass” music has been riven by the competing influences of tradition, represented by Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Osborne Brothers and others and newer influences growing from young people’s exposure to rock, reggae, folk music, jazz, and more. My concern here is not to try to define what “bluegrass” is. Rather, I seek to explore what festival promoters, bands, and fans need to do to assure that acoustic music stay vital and alive in the festival scene, adding new fans while keeping the aging fan base happy. This is no mean trick, but successful festivals currently in existence suggest that it is possible.

The festival environment is more than just about the music. It’s in the name. As my friend Bob Cook likes to say, “People at bluegrass festivals are there having fun.” Their toes tap, there are smiles on their faces. People dance, they make music themselves, they listen, they talk. People come to bluegrass and music festivals to spend a long weekend away from the trials and tribulations of the real world in a festive environment. Many of the festivals we attend are located in a semi-rural setting on a piece of land large enough to serve as a campground as well as a venue for delivering music. People drive in for a three or four day event in campers and RVs of all sizes. Many arrive several days early, set up compounds surrounding a central area where they play music, socialize, and generally have a good time. From time to time these people stroll down to the main stage to take in a band or two before returning to pick some more, play cards and enjoy the “scene.” Unfortunately, the population that can afford the time and money to spend the better part of a week at festivals is an aging one devoted to traditional bluegrass. The future of bluegrass music, including roots, old-time, and aspects of what’s becoming known as Americana lies with attracting a younger, more middle-class, more highly educated population than the current festival scene includes. The signal characteristic of successful large festivals like Merlefest, Grey Fox, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (from what I can see from Mike Melnyk’s wonderful photographs), and others is the diversity of the kinds of music they offer. Better still, there’s diversity in the audience they attract.

Diversity in music can take many forms. In a bluegrass festival it can range from presenting music representing the most traditional bluegrass music, or even old time bluegrass precursors, to progressive bluegrass in the tradition of New Grass Revival and including contemporary groups like The Infamous Stringdusters, Cadillac Sky, or The Punch Brothers. For me, sitting for six or ten hours to hear nothing but Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs covers and style quickly becomes just too much. I prefer a range of styles and forms within my music festivals. The differences keep me interested and open me to new musical ideas. Others, apparently, are perfectly happy to either respond to preconceptions or walk away from the performance area with the comment, “That ain’t bluegrass” whenever a band doesn’t have the conformation and sound of the first generation of performers, especially Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs. A look at the age and physical condition of those likely to walk should confirm the inadvisability of programming solely to the traditional audience.

There are at least two ways for bluegrass festivals and performers to preserve the traditional while seeking to make their own imprint on the music. I think I’ve told this story before in print, but it bears repeating. Years ago, in another life, I was chatting with a colleague about modern art. In discussing the work of Pablo Picasso, he commented, “I’d be much more willing to explore and accept cubism if Picasso would show me he knows how to draw a banana.” Even the most progressive bands can benefit from showing their audience they know how to draw a banana by paying tribute to the originators of bluegrass music. Think about how certain bands manage this. Sam Bush always plays “Uncle Pen” early in his sets. He starts it straight and then plays a variety of riffs on the theme. Cadillac Sky has a very good rendition of “How Mountain Girls Can Love” in their set. Unfortunately, they often wait to play it until after they’ve lost much of their audience. The Infamous Stringdusters use several traditional bluegrass songs in many of their sets. These gestures offer more than a mere nod to tradition; they acknowledge the huge debt contemporary performers owe to the founders. In a recent conversation, Ron Block emphasized the years he had spent studying Earl Scruggs, J.D. Crowe, and Don Reno along the way to developing his own style. Chris Pandolfi, one of the young Turks in contemporary bluegrass music, started in the progressive vein, but says, in the October issue of Banjo News Letter that he’s been soaking up the genius of Earl Scruggs. Musicians playing bluegrass need to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of the founders. Meanwhile, fans need to recognize the revolution wrought by Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jim & Jesse, Reno & Smiley and the others while admitting that without continual development, the music will become a museum piece or disappear.

Recently, several of the bluegrass events we’ve attended have included a wide variety of acoustic music under the rubric of bluegrass, although some of the festivals are now calling themselves “Music” festivals, advertising that they transcend narrow classifications. Some of these events are multi-day festivals, while others last for only a day. Many festivals include bands which play a proportion of “classic” country in bluegrass style or using bluegrass instruments. Songs by Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Cash, and others are staple fare of bluegrass bands, as well as others by Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and more. Since the emergence of The Country Gentlemen and Seldom Scene, these additions have become more than welcome, even now being seen as traditional. At the Mountain Song Festival in Brevard, NC this fall, Sam Bush with drums and electric instruments galore played on the same bill as the Cherryholmes and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Later this month, in Lebanon, NH at the Upper Valley Bluegrass Festival, Rhonda Vincent and Jerry Douglas share Friday night. This kind of creative programming sold out in Brevard (2100 people) and will fill the Lebanon Opera House.

The bluegrass audience is essentially small-c conservative. Fans have accepted multiple microphones, limited use of electric basses, although still preferring the standup variety, and guitars with pickups. On the other hand, drums on stage and keyboards are still off limits. Except…gospel bands with keyboards seem acceptable even in quite traditional settings. Last winter I needled Norman Adams, whose festivals are models of traditional music, about the Isaacs appearing with a percussionist playing the cajon, an Afro-Peruvian percussion instrument. He grumbled something about its not being a drum, only a box. Nevertheless, the argument about “what is bluegrass” will continue, no matter how irrelevant it may be. Many successful festivals work around the problem by calling their music “Americana,” “World Music,” or simply “Music” festivals. By doing so, they label themselves as more diverse and inclusive, attracting a younger and more affluent audience.

Meanwhile, other festivals, often smaller or more marginal, seem to be making a series of mistakes that hurt rather than help. We’ve been to several festivals in the past year that appear to be betting the farm by using too large a portion of their budget to hire what they consider to be a top draw. Bands like Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, The Del McCoury Band, Dan Tyminski, and IIIrd Tyme Out are showcased, sometimes in weak positions, in order to try to draw a crowd. One festival made attendees sit through seven hours of local and regional bluegrass bands, several pretty mediocre, in order to get to four back to back sets by the Gibson Brothers and IIIrd Tyme Out. Another festival opened with Rhonda Vincent on Thursday and offered a money wasting fireworks festival on Saturday night. Still another just couldn’t meet its advertised obligations and ended up not attracting fans and presenting a mostly mediocre lineup. I’ll have more to say about using technology effectively to attract and hold an audience in a few weeks. Meanwhile, festivals programming for a balance between headliners, other national bands, a good selection of quality local and regional bands as well as showcases for unknowns provides good programming and seems to attract customers.

Festivals, in order to succeed, need to reach out to a wider and more diverse audience. Varying the kinds of music, even within the label bluegrass, will help to create a more welcoming and interesting environment. Reaching out to a younger and more culturally diverse audience will increase the size and enthusiasm of audiences. Establishing clear guidelines for audiences in terms of smoking, drinking, dancing, and other behaviors and then ENFORCING them will pay off big time. Much of the festival environment is still attractive and will continue to entertain a wide variety of visitors. Camping, field picking, visiting with old friends, a range of vendors, exciting music, and a festive atmosphere all yield a good time. Thoughtful promoters will find ways to continue the traditional elements making up successful festivals while attracting new audiences through creatively altering their programs and formats.

Weston Playhouse Bluegrass Show - Nov. 1, 2008

Weston, Vermont is a too precious by half Vermont tourist destination serving as home for the pricy and magnetic Vermont Country Store as well as other “quaint” shops and restaurants clustered along Route 100 in the central part of the state. A lovely town square borders the highway with a fetching gazebo in its center. The Weston Playhouse, boasts a storied history as Vermont’s oldest summer theater, looks like exactly what it is, a former Congregational church turned into a local theater and cultural center that hosts mostly “legitimate” theater. For the past twenty-eight years it has also been the location of a series of bluegrass shows promoted by Fernan Parker. On Saturday we attended what may be one of the last of these shows as the increasing price of renting the Weston Playhouse may have made such events too costly to produce. On this chilly mid-fall afternoon, almost all the leaves have fallen and the sought after color is mostly gone along with the tourist crowds. It’s a perfect day for bluegrass in the Green Mountains.

Fernan Parker - Promotor

We arrived in Weston a few minutes after the scheduled noon start amazed to see almost every parking space around the square taken by cars from most states in New England as well as New York. The Weston Playhouse, true to its heritage and location, is a handsome white, clapboard building. We entered through the front door, picked up our tickets, and walked into the former sanctuary, now a small and well-lit stage. The room itself was so dark we couldn’t easily find two seats in the nearly filled room.

Beartracks

Tom Venn

Julie Hogan

Junior Barber

We took our seats just as the first group, Beartracks, was introduced. This trio, consisting of brother-sister duo TomVenn and Julie Hogan along with legendary Dobro player Junior Barber offers an enjoyable mix of bluegrass, old time country music, and more recent songs. Barber is perhaps best known as the Dobro player in the early Gibson Brothers CDs and as father of their bass player Mike, but his experience is wide and deep, his playing both tasteful and vigorous. He’s really one of the best, even though he has chosen to remain off the road and out of major studio work for some years. Tom and Julie’s voices mix well and their personalities project enthusiasm and energy. Julie is particularly animated on stage and plays a solid bass, while Tom’s singing and rhythm guitar are very good. They have consistently proven themselves to be a quality opening act at festivals and small events in the region. They’ve recently released a new CD, “Together to the End” which I plan on reviewing soon. It’s available at the store on their web site here. This is an enjoyable band worthy of your attention.

The Seth Sawyer Band

Seth Sawyer

Candi Sawyer

Joe Singleton

Rob Ravlin

Freeman Cory

Gary Darling

Adam Sawyer

The Seth Sawyer Band, in its newest configuration, followed. With long-time band mates Dave Shaw and Dave Orlomoski playing for Bear Bridge later in the day and facing scheduling problems, Sawyer has changed the makeup of his band. Seth’s bands always feature his strong tenor voice and fine rhythm guitar playing. Both as a songwriter and singer, Seth Sawyer deserves a much wider voice in bluegrass music. His songs have been recorded by the Gibson Brothers as well as other bands. Check out this version of his song “Long Forgotten Dream” here. His song “Green Mountain Girl” is a regional favorite written for his wife Candi that deserves wider recognition. His new configuration highlights the very able Freeman Cory on fiddle, often seen with Big Spike, a well-known Vermont band. Joe Singleton added his fine high tenor voice and very solid guitar to the mix. Rob Ravlin, new to the banjo but an experienced country guitar picker and singer, played creditable banjo both picking some breaks and providing strong back-up and fills. Gary Darling played mandolin with the group and Candi Sawyer sang and played bass. The Sawyer’s twelve year old son Adam contributed a song as well as some strong harmony. Seth and Candi Sawyer have lots of friends in New England who love to hear his songs and singing. The rest of the country deserves to be exposed to them.

Bear Bridge

Robert Fraker

Lillian Fraker

Dave Orlomoski

Dave Shaw

Robert and Lillian Fraker are well-known throughout the region. Bear Bridge is one of the several manifestations their band takes, and they performed two enjoyable and musical sets on Saturday. Highlighting long-time friend and band-mate Dave Shaw on banjo, a good banjo player with a very nice tenor voice, and Dave Orlomoski on Guitar and vocals, Bear Bridge offers a mixture of Bill Monroe songs, other older pieces, and new work by Robert Fraker, who plays mandolin for the band. His new song about a walk through a grave yard was particularly evocative. Valerie Smith & Becky Buller have recently recorded Robert’s song “I Got a Letter” on their soon to be released CD “Here’s a Little Song.” Lillian Fraker is a fine bass player and sings strong harmonies in several different voices. Bear Bridge and the Fraker’s other manifestations as Old Time Bluegrass Band as well as Orlomoski and Shaw as Bear Minimum perform at festivals and events throughout New England. Watch for them.

Grand Jam

It would truly be a shame of The Weston Playhouse has priced itself out of the bluegrass event business, because central Vermont supports bluegrass and reasonably priced, small, theater style events draw well here. While The Lebanon Opera House in Lebanon, NH and the Flynn Theater will both be presenting major touring artists within the next few weeks or months, such events carry a price tag not reachable by all bluegrass fans. Events such as those sponsored by Fernan Parker in Weston or Dave Helman in the Hadley/.Northampton area in Massachusetts fill the need to maintain a visible presence for bluegrass music in the region. Watch the web site of the Boston Bluegrass Union for news of New England events. Meanwhile, New Englanders can point toward the coming short summer of superlative bluegrass events.

Mr. and Mrs. Fernan Parker

Brenda Mathews and Candi Sawyer

Wrapt Fan

Alice Waters - #1 Fan