That's right folks after many long years, the VFMA will finally have the long anticipated Hall of Fame. Please plan to come a help us celebrate on June 11th from 3 to 7PM. The museum will be located within the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds. Bring along your own picnic and enjoy the day.
I wanted to share a few memories I have of early happenings at the VFMA. Of course you're aware that when VFMA first started having contests in which they name the official state sanctioned "Virginia State Champions" that there were 3 different contests. Way back then, the big daddy of the contests was the "Country Music Championships" held at the Hooper Park Pavilion in Crewe, VA. Yeah, back then Bluegrass was secondary to Country music. Why was that? Well, my understanding is that back in the mid-fifties there was a nationwide gathering of radio executives and during that meeting it was decided that Bluegrass did not add to radio listenership and therefore no revenue and was not considered economically a wise choice to be included in radio programming. Bluegrass could rarely be found on the airwaves and by that same token it was held as secondary within the VFMA. The Country Music contest was the big daddy. I hold no grudges about this, because though the instrumentation was with drums and electric guitars, it was good old Country music; what we've come to think of a "Classic Country." Back then it was fairly easy for a group of musicians to duplicate those country sounds, but today's country music calls for huge orchestras and super slick production. The old classic stuff fell into disfavor by the younger generation of country music fans until, finally, there was little or no participation in the Country category at the VFMA Country Music Championship in Crewe. That contest was dropped from the VFMA and you'll be hard pressed to even find a local Country band in Virginia these days.
I was always a Bluegrass fan and never even considered attending the Country music division contest at Crewe. Instead, I anxiously awaited the VFMA Bluegrass Championship held at the Southside Virginia Electric Cooperative Pavilion in Chase City, VA. In the days before I began attending I have been told there were so many participants in the Bluegrass Championships that it stretched over 2 days in order to allow all of those who wished to enter the contest to perform. I do remember my first visits to Chase City went from very early morning to well after dark that evening. Oh my, they were exciting days. Everyone who was anybody in Bluegrass from Virginia was there. It was much like a festival atmosphere as there were bands all around the grounds practicing their craft. To me, back then, the contest was secondary to hearing these groups jamming as hard as they could, because they wanted to be Virginia State Champions. There weren't many Bluegrass bands in Virginia who could call themselves "professional" bands, but they were good enough to have been so if they wished. To become a professional band is a big step as you must count on Bluegrass for your income alone. Not many people are willing to give up "day jobs" with life and health insurance and a steady paycheck to drive for hours upon hours to various gigs with low pay and sometimes no pay at all. Thing is, there has never been any restriction on who may participate in the VFMA Virginia State Bluegrass Championships other than being residents of Virginia. So, back then, everyone participated; the semi-pro bands along next to the truly amateur bands. Those were heady times and are very fond in my memories.
Yet, another contest was held at Hooper Park, the VFMA Gospel Music Competition. In the mid-Eighties I was a member of The Church Road Gospel Singers. We participated in this contest and won a few trophies. This contest mixed all types of Gospel music from Southern Gospel to Bluegrass Gospel. It was during this period that I was on the Board of Directors of the VFMA. I remember heated discussions as to whether to allow singers to sing behind recorded music. That is to simply play a tape and sing. The arguments became quite heated. Half of us, including me, came from the point of view that the organization was called the Virginia Folk Music Association and should require all groups to have live back up music, if they were to have any back up music at all. The others felt taped music was fine. We traditionalists lost the battle and taped music was allowed. Within a very few years, with most performers using taped background music, the interest in the contest diminished to the point that the contest was dropped completely. The argument for live backup music should have prevailed as can be proved by the very quick demise of the contest.
Then, once a year, the VFMA had a special show called "The Country Music Spectacular." It was during this special show that the induction the VFMA Country Music Hall of Fame was accomplished. I was there when Bill Emerson, Eddie Adcock, Tony Rice, Buck Ryan and several others I can't recall at this moment were inducted. The Country Music Spectacular was a day showcasing the winners of all of the previous year's contests who were invited to perform, ending with a special performance by the Hall of Fame inductee for that particular year. This was a well attended event, with folks staying to the very end to hear the inductee perform. I have a special and funny memory of when Tony Rice was inducted. He and his eclectic group of musicians began to perform and folks were enjoying their music. Then Tony elected to play a very extended version of his famous tribute to his guitar called "Me And My Guitar." I'll bet the song went on at least 15 minutes. People started leaving and by the time he finished the song there were less than 25 of us still sitting there! That was probably a bad choice, but Tony is Tony and he is gonna do what he wants.
I hope some of my memories have struck some sort of chord with you and will entice you to attend this very special event; the grand opening of The Virginia Folk Music Association Hall of Fame. By the way bands that will perform on this special day include: Lost & Found, Mitch Harrell & The Virginians, Adam McPeak, Thunder Road and Billie Sue and Bob Goff & Mill Run.
Sigrid Williams, the President of the VFMA has sent me some of her thought to include in this article. They are, "The Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame MUSEUM is a long awaited, historical event. Founded in 1947, the Virginia Folk Music Association was indeed a pioneer leading the way for all country, bluegrass and “hillbilly” music shows and festivals. Many famous music personalities hail from Virginia and many are members of the Virginia Country Music HALL OF FAME. Photos have been taken, movies made of parades and events and from as early as the 1960’s, there was much TV and radio coverage. However, even though all these history making events were taking place year after year, there was never a physical place established to display permanent records and memorabilia.
As multi-day festivals became more and more popular with folks being able to actually come for the whole weekend and camp over night, the VFMA started losing ground The VFMA continued to hold single day events through the 1980’s and into the 1990’s. In the mid 1990’s the association was at an all time low when a new board with new ideas was formed. In order to continue to fund the Hall of Fame and the Contests, the new Board of Directors felt the need to hold a multi-day festival.
It has been a struggle back, but after ten years of hard, persistent work by the Board, loyal supporters and the generosity of one VFMA supporter, a building has been acquired. A modest but welcoming building has been placed on the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds property which will be dedicated on June 11, 2011 as the “Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame MUSEUM.” The MUSEUM will house items of interest, pictures etc. either donated or placed on loan by Hall of Fame Members and other music lovers.
The Mission of the VFMA has always been and continues to be: To preserve and promote Virginia’s Heritage Music. The MUSEUM, a long time dream of, then new Directors, Lois Gaither and Sigrid Williams, means the VFMA will finally have a tangible place to offer Virginians, where they can actually visit to see a piece of Virginia’s music history as it unfolded. The goal is for others to be motivated to support, encourage and give of themselves to see their MUSEUM develop into a place of which every Virginian can be proud. Thus—Virginia’s Heritage music will continue to be preserved and promoted."
Sure hope you'll plan to join me on June 11th as we celebrate this great milestone.
"NUFF SAID!"
No comments:
Post a Comment