Bluegrass Fan

[irene l]

Hi All,

We will be getting our Surveyor 264 in August. Right now we are camping in an Outback 21RS. We are avid bluegrassers and wonder if there are any more like us out there. We are lucky enough to be able to go to about 15-20 festivals a year. My husband, Ted, has a blog in which he reviews and reports on festivals among other things. We have been able to meet lots of new people, especially musicians while pursuing our new hobby. We both are learning to play also. We'd like to hear from you and to know what festivals and/or groups you like.

Irene L.

[NWJeeper]

My father had a bluegrass band when I was growing up, I had lots of good times going to the festivals here in the Northwest. Folklife festival in Seattle, Old Time Fidlers convention in Wieser Idaho, Wintergrass in Tacoma Wa, etc. The banjo player for his band taught 5-string to Mark Oconnor when he was just a kid. My dad filled in for Bill Monroe's guitarist at Wintergrass just a few years before he (Bill Monroe) died. He had offered to sign my dad's rare and expensive guitar and he refused, I could have slapped him. Bill said he understood though. Boy what that guitar would have been worth today... Dang!

Stevenson Washington on the columbia river has a festival every year and our home town of Enumclaw is starting this year with it's first bluegrass festival.

[irene l]

Hi NWJeeper,

We haven't been to the northwest at all, unfortunately. Most of our travels are in the south and the east coast. What wonderful experiences you have had!! Do you play at all? Ted ( husband) plays banjo and I am trying to learn mandolin. We have a lot of fun, even if we aren't very accomplished. We picked up our 264 yesterday and are getting used to the new layout and trying to find out where to put all the "stuff" we had stored on the bunks in our old Outback 21. Good to hear from another person familiar with bluegrass.

[NWJeeper]

irene,

My father has given me 2 five strings one he built himself. The neck is all custom mother of pearl inlay work done by the guy who was the banjo player in his band. He found he could make a lot of money making guitar, mandolin, banjo, etc necks with all this delicate inlay work and does that full time now and is in demand all over the world. I started learning the 5 string but could only play about 2.5 basic different songs and not all that well. I think you have to be born with the musical ability to be good otherwise your doomed to a lifetime of frustration trying to learn. I am in the later group. I haven't picked up the banjo for a couple of years now. My step son plays guitar, violin, viola, piano and all by ear and he is really good, makes me mad and proud at the same time.

The mandolin player in my dad's band was a regular with the Seattle Symphony for many years but he really prefered playing bluegrass. He could look at sheet music for a song he had never played and just take off and play it flawlessly, what tallent. His wife thought he was wasting his time with bluegrass and made him quit it after several years, that's about when the band fell apart. They were good and I miss the music. Wished recording tecnology would have been better back in the 70's when they were playing. I would love to have some of their music now.

Because of the music we have friends all over now, even as far as Japan. We attended a bluegrass festival ouside of Osaka Japan in 2001, a lot of good pickers over there and some outstanding music but the singing is kinda funny though. Rocky Top sung by Japaneese in english just sounds wierd.

I could go on and on but it would be too long a read.

[irene l]

Hi again,

You have had some really interesting experiences!! We got into bluegrass about 2004 or so. My husband, Ted, has a blog which you can see if you google Tedbluegrass. His name is Ted Lehmann. Mostly he focuses on bluegrass, but sometimes writes reviews of books he has read and sometimes just things he is interested in. We have been fortunate to get to about 20 festivals a year, most of them in our trailer. Because of Ted's blog, we have also been fortunate to get to know many bluegrass musicians. We go to IBMA in Nashville TN where Ted is a presenter on a panel or two. Our playing is definitely for our own enjoyment--you only have to listen to us to understand why!! We do have fun, though. We don't have your fascinating history of performers in the family or band. Do you ever get to the eastern US? There is a ton of bluegrass here.

[trailraider]

Just listened to some blue grass the other day, and I loved it. Awesome camping music. We don't get alot of it in Calgary. But I will be downloading some from Itunes for sure.

[Willis]

Originally Posted by trailraider

Just listened to some blue grass the other day, and I loved it. Awesome camping music. We don't get alot of it in Calgary. But I will be downloading some from Itunes for sure.

Checkout Allison Kraus and Union Station for sure...

[cmhbob]

Alison Krauss & Shawn Colvin did a killer cover of "The Boxer" at the Paul Simon tribute concert.

YouTube - Alison Krauss - The Boxer

[skeeterbait8]

Huge Rhonda Vincent & The Rage fan! HUGE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIUU1zDW68g

If you ever see my truck you will know what my favorite Bluegrass Fan is... My tag reads "VA RAGER" YES I'm a fan! Somewhere here I've got a photo of Rhonda with my truck pointing to my tag!! And I've got a photo of Darrin with my truck too!