I have many things to write about today, that my guess is I will surely forget a couple of things I meant to say. To keep from having so many entries in the blog I'll skip a space and type in sub-titles in bold print.
Grave's Mountain Festival of Music
That's right, coming up this weekend, May 28th, 29th & 30th, 2009 is the 17th annual Graves Mountain Festival of Music. As best as I can recall this is the first time that at least one day of the festival did not fall in June. I'm not gonna list every band here, but I want to touch on the highlights. On Thursday we'll get to hear the wonderful voice of Junior Sisk as Junior Sisk & Rambler's Choice perform. Also, Larry Cordle the great Bluegrass and Country songwriter ("Murder on Music Row") will be at Graves with his band Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time. Wrapping up the day on Thursday is the great family band that refuses to call itself a family band, Cherryholmes.
Friday has so much going on that I'm gonna have to tell you about almost all of it. First up on Friday is a little known band called Next Best Thing. This band has both of Rhonda Vincent's daughters, making them the 5th generation of the Vincent family to perform Bluegrass music. Next up is the great Navy Bluegrass band founded by Bill Emerson, Country Current. If you like your Bluegrass from the heart and traditional then look no farther than The James King Band. Sammy Shelor has kept the brand alive by keeping The Lonesome River Band staffed with top notch musicians; one listen and you'll agree. Next up will be Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, serving up some of the clearest tenor lead singing you're likely to hear and great high harmonies. Probably the highlight of the weekend, for me, will be the second re-union of The Heights of Grass, featuring Don Grubb, Billy Lux, Vernon Hughes, Richard Ward and several other "Heights" alumni (Sammy Shelor was one!).
Saturday gets underway with hard driving traditional sounds of The Bluegrass Brothers. Follow that up with the annual appearance of The Mark Newton Band and you've got Saturday going with gusto. Next up is a great new name in Bluegrass, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain. Carrie will blow you away with her strong vocals. Next up is a new contemporary band, The SteelDrivers. These guys have always performed their own music and, to my knowledge, have never performed a "cover" of anyone else's music. There's nothing I can say by way of superlatives other than also on Saturday The Seldom Scene and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage will appear. Things will wrap up on Saturday with an all-star Bluegrass jam featuring the imminent Carl Jackson along with Mark Newton and many others. I'll be heading towards Graves on Wednesday. Sure hope I see a lot of you there!
My Weekend at The Central Virginia Family Bluegrass Music Festival
Along with at least a couple thousand others I enjoyed a wonderful weekend at what is lovingly called the Amelia Festival by most of us. There were heavy downpours of rain in all directions, but for some reason Amelia was not the usual "rain-magnet" as in years past. We enjoyed a beautiful weather and many hours of great Bluegrass. The jamming was everywhere and at times a bit boisterous, but always lots of fun. I am counting the days until August 14th, 15th & 16th when the summer edition of Amelia Bluegrass will continue the great times in Amelia. I have to believe this festival was the most successful with the largest crowd of any other held at the Amelia Family Campground.
Great Times at PreddyFest
I drove down to Franklinton, NC this past Saturday to enjoy a few hours at PreddyFest. Rodney Preddy, who presents the festival, has been wrestling with choosing the best dates to have it. The first years were held on the first weekend of August. All that could be said about that weekend was , hot, hot, hot. Then last year he chose to move it to the weekend vacated by the closing of The Christopher Run Bluegrass Festival. Wow! Last year that weekend was the hottest weekend of all of 2008. This year, not wishing to compete with any other event, and after learning the The Bass Mountain Bluegrass Festvial was ended, Rodney chose to have PreddyFest on Memorial Day Weekend. Even though the festival at Bass Mountain was revived, PreddyFest was a huge success, blessed with great weather and many great bands. I think that two festivals could occur the same weekend less than 75 miles apart, and each achieve the success desired, attests to the strong and growing fan base of Bluegrass.
Donnie Mason Scheduled for Gastric Bypass June 15th, 2009
Donnie Mason of the band In The Tradition wanted me to tell all you that his health insurance company has finally agreed to allow his gastric bypass surgery. It is scheduled for June 15th. Donnie again wanted to express his heartfelt thanks to all who contributed toward this great day that will finally happen. To write Donnie with your best wishes you may contact him via email by clicking here.
Christopher Run Campground to host "A Bluegrass Weekend" June 5th & 6th, 2009
Once again this year the Christopher Run Campground will host another "camp & pick" at the campgrounds this June 5th & 6th. They will open up the old Bluegrass festival camping area with electric and water in that area costing $15 per night. Remember camping on the "fence row?" There'll be no bands on stage, and for that matter there'll be no stage, but there'll be a great chance to get together with old friends and to tell a few lies and pick and sing together. For details and information on reservations, etc, click here.
JULY meeting of The Virginia Bluegrass Family will be moved to July 14th, Second Tuesday.
Due to a conflict with Jahnke Road Baptist Church's "Vacation Bible School" we will not be able to have our meeting on the 1st Tuesday of July. Instead we will meet on the second Tuesday, which is July 14th. I will make every effort to get this information to everyone at the June meeting which will be on June 2nd.
Well I don't want to wear you out, so I'll wrap up this edition of the Bluegrass Ramble by saying......
'NUFF SAID!
