Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival - Wednesday & Thursday - Preview

This year's Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival, held in the Benton Sugar Shack Campground from August 2 - 5, began with a Wednesday evening band contest and ended on Saturday night with one of the strongest sets of closing acts we've ever seen. Even with a deluge suppressing the Saturday day crowd, the festival turned out to be the best edition of this festival we've attended. The site is varied and beautiful. The vibe is always welcoming. The jamming is varied and pervasive. In sum, this is one of the best. 

The Band Contest

The band contest, a new feature of a restructured and imagined Pemi Valley festival,  strongly suggested the vital quality of of the regional bands that have emerged in New England. The entire six state region is only marginally larger than the entire state of Indiana, yet produces first rate, entertaining bands coming from the grass roots as well as polished, superbly trained bluegrass bands from Boston, a jumping hive of musical experimentation. Currently popular touring bands like The Lonely Heartstring Band and Mile Twelve had their earliest performing experiences in band contests. This initial offering at Pemi Valley offered more seasoned local and regional bands, but, with a year to recruit, look for more range and different experiences next year.

Brock Hill Bluegrass

Brock Hill is a bluegrass band playing a range of the traditional repertoire. 

Mike Reynolds

Steve Finch

Steve Healey

Dave Choate

Kelly Burke 

Long Journey

A folky duo singing gospel and a variety of folk and bluegrass/country songs. 

Amrita Lash

Karl Mullen


Borderline 
Winner!

Winner of the first band competition at Pemi Valley, Borderline generated interest and excitement with its wide variety of song choices, fine singing featuring close harmonies, and strong instrumentals. As they emerge in the New England scene, they should increasingly brighten the stages of regional festivals and other events. 

Kate Greeley

Nora Kranis

John Kranis

Anthony Jaccorino

Bluegrass Revisited

Bluegrass Revisited comes from northern Vermont and sings mostly traditional bluegrass in a traditional fashion. 

Ernie Minetti

Larry Longley

Neal Brown

Allen Gratton

Band competitions add flavor to a bluegrass festival as well as giving new, or not well known bands the opportunity to perform before a festival audience. There are often pleasing surprises, such as the emergence here of Borderline. It's truly useful when bands, no matter how small or insignificant, are easy to access online. As bands move from the local jam scene into a more regional spotlight while beginning to seek more bookings in local events and regional festivals, it make sense to develop, at least, a Facebook Page to represent them and their work.

Skip Gorman and the Waddy Pals

Skip Gorman, who lives in Vermont, headed west to Utah for graduate school, where he began soaking up cowboy culture and music. Adding this component to his bluegrass roots, extending back to Bill Monroe. He also added story-telling to his music, making him an engaging link to two seemingly separate American folk cultures. Add to this his connections to Celtic music and culture, and you have a performer well worth listening to and learning from. He often performs as a single act at story-telling events. At Pemi Valley he was joined by his son Angus and two old friends to create a melange of musical experience. 

Skip Gorman

Angus Gorman

Kate McCloud

Ann Downey

Thursday

Micheele Canning

Michelle Cannning has been a familiar figure in the New England bluegrass scene for at least a decade. Many of us watched her grow up at festivals here, gaining experience as a performer and an emcee. Now, a graduate of the bluegrass and traditional music program at Moorehead State University in Kentucky, she has put together a solid band composed of former classmates. With solid singers and pickers her own age, the band is the most impressive she's led. 

Michelle Canning

 Samantha Cunningham

 Thomas Albert


Casie Glover

Karl Shifflett & Big Country

Karl Shifflett & Big Country re-create the look, feel, and sound of the early days of bluegrass barnstorming, when bands drove to small, rural radio stations to perform for half an hour at breakfast or lunch time advertising their live performance later that evening. Using the technology of the time, they spread bluegrass music throughout the south with their ceaseless travel to find audiences. 

Karl Shifflett

Justin Harrison

Kris Shifflett & Danny Bureau

Billy Hurt 

Brennan Ernst

Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass

The Paisely family, with roots in Ashe County, North Carolina has lived in southeastern Pennsylvania for two generations, where they have made a name for themselves as a hard driving, raw sounding bluegrass band. The third performing generation is now represented by seventeen year old Ryan Paisely, who has taken his place as a virtuoso mandolin player who we remember as a seven year old chopping beside Donny Eldreth, who now plays bass in the band. T.J. Lundy, on fiddle this week was accompanied by his brother, Bobby Lundy on banjo, placing two of Ted Lundy's sons back in the band beside the two Paisley's, in a welcome reunion. Danny, who won the 2016 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Award was in fine form. 

Danny Paisley


Ryan Paisley


Bobby Lundy

T.J. Lundy

Donny Eldreth

Special Consensus

Special Consensus has been a successful touring band for over forty years under the leadership of Greg Cahill, who has also distinguished himself as a leader in the bluegrass industry and a strong advocate for getting bluegrass music into the schools. The band is the star here, but Cahill is a noted banjo stylist bringing a variety of musical styles to the instrument. They're always a strong band at any festival. 

Greg Cahill

Rick Faris

Nick Duman

Dan Eubanks

Rhonda Vincent & the Rage

Rhonda Vincent and the rage spent two days at Pemi Valley, playing four sets in which they never repeated a song. In addition, Rhonda visited around the campground, recorded a couple of videos, and, as usual, spent quality time with each person who wanted to chat with her. The unique element about a Rhonda Vincent visit to a festival is that she draws large crowds to her merch table, and takes the time to visit with each and every person in the line, taking special time with children and disabled people. When she's with a fan, she's locked on each one, never looking over their shoulder to see who's next. A Rhonda Vincent fan spending a minute with her feels like he or she has had her complete attention and made a friend. Other performers have much to learn from her. 

Rhonda Vincent

Aaron McDaris

Mickey Harris

Hunter Berry

Sally Berry 

Brent Burke

Josh Williams

Rhonda Playing Kim Vickery's Mandolin at the Vickery Campsite

with Scott Vickery on Guitar, Steve Abdu on Bass, and Todd Hutchinson on Guitar

The opening day of a band competition followed by a solid band offered a good day of entertainment as campers arrived, set up their sites, and got ready to spend a weekend listening to and making music as well as socializing - the stuff of a good bluegrass festival. Pemi Valley is augmented by having one of the most beautiful sites in all bluegrass. More coming in a day or so. 

Dumplin Valley Bluegrass Festival - Preview

Located just off Exit 407 along I-40 in Kodak, TN, Dumplin Valley Farm RV Park, home of the Dumplin Valley Bluegrass Festival sits between Nashville to the west and the home of bluegrass music, Appalachia, to the east. It sits in what is, perhaps, the most convenient location in the country for touring bands to get to. The Dumplin Valley Bluegrass Festival, which runs from September 14 - 16, is spread out under its signature three silos beside a re-purposed milking parlor that has become a sloped stage area seating 650 as well as an overflow tent. This year's lineup features five bands that have never been to Dumplin Valley before as well as some old favorites. There are also some new food vendors, including new managers of the fixed kitchen beside the pavilion.  

The Lineup

New Bands to Dumplin Valley

This year Dumplin Valley offers an unprecedented six bands never before seen at this festival. For people who have never seen any of these bands, there will be some pleasant surprises. For those familiar with them from other venues, you'll glad to see them here. 

Dry Branch Fire Squad

Ron Thomason is widely recognized for his humorous monologues and his connection to traditional bluegrass and gospel music. Beginning his long career with a stint with The Stanley Brothers, his band Dry Branch Fire Squad has been traveling the roads for over forty years. You won't want to miss them. 

Ron Thomason

Billy Droze

Billy Droze, with a new CD fresh off the presses, splits the difference between classic country and bluegrass with an ear and feel for both. He presents his material with genuine emotion and a good feel for the traditions of the music he sings. 

Malpass Brothers

I'm not generally a gret fan of tribute bands, but the Malpass Brothers, with their eerily on target impressions of classic country stars like Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard (for whom they opened for several years), Hank Williams and others, have found a home at bluegrass festivals for the country music they play and sing so well. I've long believed that many bluegrass fans chose bluegrass as the closest substitute for the country music they loved so well thirty years ago. This band fills the bill in spades. 

Country Current: The U.S. Navy Blugrass Band

If you've never seen the U.S. Navy's bluegrass band, you're in for a treat. Filled with bluegrass standards, songs written by members of the band plus retired band-master Wayne Taylor, and the most rousing presentation of the service hymns you've ever heard, this band is fast-paced and fun, as well as providing other bands who celebrate the services with a model for  how it's supposed to be done. 

Flashback

Flashback is composed of members who played with J.D. Crowe and the New South during that band's long and distinguished career. Stuart Wyrick, on banjo, doesn't pretend to be Crowe, and does a fine job on the signature instrument. 

 Po' Ramblin Boys

Founded just three years ago and veterans of two European tours as well as scheduled as a 2017 showcase band at IBMA just two weeks after Dumplin' Valley, the Po' Ramblin' Boys bring early an early bluegrass style featuring C.J. Lewandowski's (Carl Shifflet and James King's bands) Monroe Style mandolin play and Jerome Brown's Stanley style banjo to life again. Without seeking to imitate any particular early bluegrass band, they recreate the sound, look, and feel of the first generation bluegrass bands so many bluegrass fans like to hear. Such music belongs as a component of any well designed bluegrass festival seeking to provide the range of music bluegrass is capable of producing. I look forward to hearing them for the first time. The Po' Ramblin Boys are nominated for a Momentum award at IBMA this year. 

The Rest:
The Gibson Brothers - Leigh & Mike Barber

The Gibson Brothers, nominated for seven IBMA awards (including both of them for Male Vocalist of the Year, Best Album and Entertainer of the Year) are simply at the top of their game.  Their latest CD, In the Ground, containing twelve new songs written by the two brothers,  continues to lead or chart high. But what sets this duo apart from other bands is not only the excellence of their songs and singing, but the humor, warmth, and sometimes biting sharp wit of their between-the-songs patter. Jesse Brock, too, is nominated for an award as mandolin player of the year. This band always give the audience the complete package!

Eric

Rhonda Vincent & the Rage

Rhonda Vincent is a regular at Dummplin Valley. She brings her first rate show band composed containing standouts on every instrument. Rhonda's daughter Sally has joined her on stage to contribute harmonies and solid rhythm guitar. Brent Burke has become a standout on Dobro and is beginning to sing, too. One look at Rhonda's tour schedule tells you both how popular and how busy she and her band are.

Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice

Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice has come into its own as a band. They've been together for two or three years without a change in personnel. Jason Davis has been a standout on banjo with Ramblers Choice since 2010, and is the longest standing member of the band. Junior has been long recognized as a leading traditional tenor singer, one of the best in bluegrass. His renditions of Stanley Brothers songs are widely appreciated. Contemporary writers of traditional style music also like to contribute to his catalog, and have written several "gotcha" songs that Junior sings with gusto. When not on the road, Junior can often be found in the woods and fields around his Virginia home where he loves adding meat tot he freezer. 

Jimbo Whaley

Jimbo Whaley toured nationally with Pine Mountain Railroad for about ten years before returning to the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville area to spend more time with his family and go into business. 

Flatt Lonesome
Charli Robertson

 Flatt Lonesome has risen on its tight family harmonies, energy, and youth. We think we might have seen their first festival appearance at Newell Lodge in South Georgia about six years ago, when they were a bunch of enthusiastic kids from Callahan, FL singing mostly gospel songs. They've come a long way since then, worked hard, and continued to create new ways to express their faith, sing classic bluegrass, and combine it with old time country. 

Kelsi Robertson Harrigill

Paul Williams & The Victory Trio

It's always a treat to see Paul Williams take a rest from his retirement to perform at Dumplin Valley and a few other venues, either with Doyle Lawson as "Old Friends," or with his own band The Victory Trio. A veteran of bands back to Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys over fifty years ago, Paul made a commitment to singing only gospel music with his own band years ago. His pure tenor voice remains undiminished even as he continues into his eighties. Make sure to see, hear, and appreciate this bluegrass treasure. 

David Davis

David Davis, from Alabama, is a fine practitioner of Monroe style mandolin, as well as Civil War songs and other material. We haven't seen him in several years. I particularly look forward to hearing his rendition of Chancellorsville, a heart rending song about the accidental shooting of Stonewall Jackson. 

Volume Five

Volume V from Mississippi has been a hard working band for several years under the capable leadership of Glenn Harrell. It's gratifying to see them earn a nod from the IBMA professional membership with a nomination for Emerging Band of the Year in 2017. They play a pleasing blend of traditional bluegrass tunes, gospel music, and newer songs chosen from a range of contemporary song writers. 

Lonesome River Band

Some bands are so popular and recognizable, they need only to be mentioned by their initials rather than by their whole name. LRB leads the list of such bands in bluegrass. Sammy Shelor has been named IBMA Banjo Player of the Year as well as having been the second winner of the prestigious and rewarding ($50,000) Steve Martin Prize Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. Lead singer and frequent contributor of his own fine songs Brandon Rickman has received to little recognition for his work. 

Brandon Rickman

This years lineup at Dumplin Valley presents a very satisfying set of fifteen bands from familiar old favorites to bands this audience may not have heard before that will now be added to their favorites. 

The Details

Dumplin Valley Bluegrass Festival is a first-rate medium sized festival conveniently located just north of I-40 in East Tennessee. Its strong lineup and friendly reputation draw visitors from abroad as well as from many states. It has a limited  number of electric/water or full hook-up sites, but lots of un-reserved rough camping. Check with promoter Mitzi Soward to see if any sites open, but know that you can usually find a space to camp. There are bathing and flush toilet facilities available. 

Camping and Other Accomodations: Currently there is a waiting list for sites. Call to reserve a site or see if one has opened up: 885-397-7942. Dumplin Valley is located just north of the Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg tourism region servicing the Great Smoky National Park. There are a number of nearby campgrounds and motels available within a few minutes drive of exit 407. If you can't get a camping spot at Dumplin Valley or would prefer to attend while staying off site, you have plenty of opportunities. 

Tickets: Prices at the Gate are $90 for  three days, $65 for a two day ticket, and $35 each for single day tickets. Day tickets bought in advance save $10. Call the number above for further information or to purchase tickets. 

Vendors: Several food vendors offer a variety of food choices. This year will feature a new operation in the permanent kitchen facility beside the pavilion. There are also craft vendors and, often, an instrument and gear vendor, too. Mitzi has written me that there are a broader range of choices available from vendors this year. 

Jamming: This is a very jam friendly festival, with jams of a huge variety of quality available and, largely, open to new members. Johnny Adams and his sidekick Lamar Moss traditionally lead a jam in the pavilion for early arrivals, which then continues in the shade of the iconic silos, which dominate the site. This enjoyable jam welcomes people of all abilities. Shows end early to accommodate jamming around the camp ground each night.

Johnny Adams' Jam 

Day

...and Night

How to Get to Dumplin Valley Bluegrass Festival
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For many people, Dumplin Valley has become a "don't miss" festival, well-known for both its strong selection of bands, plenty of jamming activity, and welcoming atmosphere accompanied by the usually moderate weather of early Fall in East Tennessee. We always look forward to this one. 

Mitzi & Joe Soward - Festival Promoters and Hosts

Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler by Barbara Martin Stephens - Book Review

Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler: My Life with Jimmy Martin, the King of Bluegrass (Music in American Life by Barbara Martin Stephens (University of Illinois Press, 2017, 240 pages, $19.93/17.96) is a tell-all memoir written in a chatty style by Martin's common-law wife of fourteen years. I've often yearned for tell-all books about bluegrass greats. Stephens has written one, driving me from at first wishing she hadn't to a deeper appreciation of the life and culture that contributed to Jimmy Martin's well-deserved reputation for womanizing, violence, and cheapness. While the book is as much about Stephens herself as it is about Martin, and should be read with a critical eye toward to high probability that it's designed to shed a positive light on the author, it will nevertheless stand as a useful first person account of Martin's difficulties and devils as well as the liveliness and vigor he brought to the early days of bluegrass music.

Barbara Stephens was born in 1935 in Memphis, TN, where her parents owned a mattress factory located in the back lot of their home. Her grandparents owned a mattress factory in Nashville. She was brought up in relative comfort for the time when many fewer women were encouraged to get an education, beginning to work early in life even to the extent of opening a lemonade stand to sell “soft drinks to employees.” She was lovingly overindulged, while still learning many of the business skills and work ethic to which she attributes her later success as Martin's manager and as a booking agent for a number of bluegrass and country artists.

While working as a waitress in Nashville, Barbara met Bessie Lee Mauldin, Bill Monroe's girl friend, and through her the side men in Monroe's band, including Martin. At that time, Monroe was well established as a major star of the Grand Ole Opry. She first met Jimmy Martin as a customer in the restaurant where she worked, and he commenced to pursue her almost immediately, although it took a while for them to consummate the relationship. The chatty style, loaded with names and events, is never quite in a straight line, but always leads, inevitably, to Martin's lack of taste, coarse behavior, heaving drinking, battering, and womanizing. Stephens appears to have been both attracted and repelled by the combination, but, in the end, finds Martin to be fatally attractive.

Jimmy Martin, seven years older than Barbara, was born in the East Tennessee town of Sneedville, a small town of roughly 1300 people lying just south of the Virginia border. The town is isolated in an area with few roads and what appear to be a line of rugged hills running from northeast to southwest, the geographical and cultural heart of Appalachia. Seldom have two such culturally separated people met and built a career together. Martin's education did not, apparently, extend beyond grammar school, and he could barely write his name until Barbara taught him how.

Despite Martin's lack of formal education, Stephens often asserts his intelligence and savvy, however untrained. In contrast, his partner was quick with numbers, gregarious, pretty...and young. She was always able to find work from waiting table to office work where she was a keypunch operator who later became computer literate. Martin, however, always kept a tight chain on the money and her relationships. He kept her from having access to money, was viciously possessive, and controlling, using physical violence to exert and maintain control. Nevertheless, Barbara frequently holds that there were good times, and defends her love for him, always coming back after she had left until she left for the last time, as Martin's behavior continued to deteriorate.

Perhaps in defense as well as to express her own independence and capability, Barbara began to book Jimmy Martin as well as a series of other bluegrass and country artists while bearing four children that were their own. Martin seems to have had a not completely accounted for number of children with other women. Meanwhile, Barbara engaged in several affairs herself, including a long-term relationship with Bobby Osborne. She also provides extensive detail about why the greatest failure in Jimmy Martin's life, not ever being asked to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, was the result of flaws in his own character unacceptable to Opry management, and, more specifically, a vendetta against him by Bill Monroe. The book contains significant detail about the law suits over Martin's estate after his death in 2005.

Barbara Martin Stephens

The Foreward to Don't Give Your Heart to a Stranger, written by Murphy Hicks Henry, the author of the signature book on women in bluegrass, Pretty Good for a Girl, comments on the bravery it took to write a book that reveals “the feet of clay” Jimmy Martin surely possessed. But, in addition to brave, Barbara Martin Stephens shows herself to be a more than a survivor. She uses the adversities in her life and her own native intelligence to forge a life for herself, first as a booking agent for Martin and many other performers, and later in life as a para-legal in Florida as well as to enter into a long and successful marriage. She never loses her love for pretty clothes, showy cars, lovely homes, good friends, and plenty of laughter. She always maintains those qualities the small minded and vindictive Martin tried unsuccessfully to extinguish.

In Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler: My Life with Jimmy Martin, the King of Bluegrass, (University of Illinois Press, 2017, 240 pages, $19.93/17.96) Barbara Martin Stephens has written a sometimes harsh portrait of her long-term “marriage” to Jimmy Martin, during which she endured significant pain and suffering at his hand. The book also sheds light on the lives of women in America generally, and in Tennessee particularly, during the 1950's and 60's. Her style is chatty, emphasizing many of the people she met and places she went. Nevertheless, she forged a successful and happy life, while regaining contact with her family after Martin's death. The book stands as a testament to survival, the will to persist, and the importance of choices in forging a life. I was provided the book by the publisher through Net Galley. I read it on my Kindle app.

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