Bobbe's Newsletter: Steel Players, Traditional Country Music

[Dave Mudgett]

Lots of very cool bluegrass fests in this neck of the woods. Of course, there's the big one in Gettysburg, but also a bunch of other more regional ones all over the place. We have local guys who put on shows about once a month at a Grange hall. And a weekly jam in a church in town. "Brother" opened up the scene quite a bit, but the basics have been ongoing for the 20 years I've been here. My sense is that there's a pretty vibrant bluegrass scene throughout a good chunk of the eastern US. Probably not everywhere, but I think Bobbe's right that it is doing very well indeed.

Yeah, Jim - I understand the rigidity you're talking about. Even at some jams now, if I'm playing b@njo I get a solo, if I'm playing guitar I don't. But they're not all like that. Like I said, some of these guys are even very happy to see a pedal steel. But some wouldn't let me in the door with one.

Perhaps some traditional country people would insist that everything be played exactly like the original, but I haven't generally found these folks to be so rigid. I've been in bands of other styles that expected everything to be exactly like the original - blues, rockabilly, classic rock, you name it. Some people are rigid, others aren't. I don't think anybody or any style owns a monopoly on that.

I guess my earlier point was that the rigidity can be both a blessing and a curse. Some is needed to forge a distinct identity, but too much can mummify the form.