I have been sitting on this unfinished article for a couple weeks, ever since I returned from yet another amazing music festival. Not sure why I was having trouble finishing it, but I think I’m ready now.
As everyone is no doubt aware, November 4, 2026, marked a new beginning in our great country, and I couldn’t be happier. Not only because the Democrats did so well (which I admit did make me very happy), but more because it wasn’t only Democrats who voted for that party’s candidates. After months/years of worry that democracy and the Constitution as we know it were on the chopping block, and that the American people were just a bunch of sheep whose voice didn’t matter anymore, I was gratified to see the outpouring of wrath against the disdain, disrespect, hubris, gratuitous cruelty, naked greed, corruption and violence toward families and children everywhere that simply was no longer going to be tolerated. People from all walks of life and political parties put their differences aside in the privacy of the voting booth and sent an unmistakable message to the power elites. The ballot was preserved as a sacred tool that serves as the voice of the people, and the fact that the sweep was so massive meant that there was no pathway to undo the result. There will not be another January 6. As a Democrat I hope that my party doesn’t now blow it and that we all move in a better direction together through legal, ethical and kind means. Time will tell.
So I could use this space to talk about the amazing poll workers at the polling places where I volunteered. Dedicated individuals who were experienced and knowledgeable and patiently worked 14+ hour shifts with barely any breaks. Their top priority was making sure that anyone who was eligible and wanted to vote could do so. The numerous checks and balances in place ensured that voters were who they said they were, that they were in the right place, and that all votes were counted. I volunteered in three different locations during the early voting period and on election day. I witnessed the ballots being locked up at the end into a sealed box to be delivered to the clerk, and watched the workers pore over their data to ensure that every voter and every ballot was accounted for and that the numbers matched. I left feeling confident that if my experience was typical, any problem that occurred after the election did not originate in the local offices that run our local, state and national elections.
Yes, I could talk more about that, but I’m feeling celebratory, so in the spirit of fostering more unification to follow up November 4, what better way to celebrate than to extol the virtues of one of the most unifying genres of music that I know? I’ve sprinkled a few videos here and there in lieu of my usual photographs so that you can hear and see what I’m talking about in the most direct way possible. If you can watch the videos on a computer rather than your phone, all the better. Each is fairly short, but guaranteed to bring you joy. I hope you choose to watch them, if not while reading this article, then later when you have the time to immerse yourself.
I do want to say at the outset that I enjoy many different music genres - classical, jazz, blues, classic rock, pop, world music and others. I’ve never been a much of a heavy metal or pure country fan, and while I don’t love rap, I find that genre to be an interesting way to express thoughts - kind of like a rhythmic, musical poetry slam. But bluegrass captures my spirit and my heart in a way that the others don’t. Why is that? I have some thoughts.
The Festival Experience
The most recent bluegrass festival I attended was in mid-October on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, almost within spitting distance of the famous Kitty Hawk, where in 1903 the Wright Brothers made themselves famous by flying an airplane for 12 seconds over a distance of 120 feet.
The festival was held in the lovely, coastal town of Manteo. This was my third time there, and the only disappointing thing that happened was that the third day got cancelled because of high winds and storm surge threats from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. Which meant that I missed out on seeing any of the bands that were scheduled that last day, including one of my favorites, The Punch Brothers. The video below will give you a flavor of these guys, who demonstrate what traditional bluegrass instruments can do when in the hands of cutting edge innovation. And they have fun doing it!
This was the second bluegrass festival I attended this year, the first being the annual ROMP festival held in June in Owensboro, Kentucky, a small, historic town situated on the Ohio River and home to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum. As it happened, the third day of that festival was also cancelled, this time due to torrential rain storms that made it impossible to perform and turned the park and campground into a sopping, muddy mess. Which meant that I had to miss Shadowgrass, another of my favorites. This video showcases one of my favorite songs of theirs. They have more of a traditional bluegrass approach to their songwriting, with performances that are as amazing and innovative as the Punch Brothers. These guys really tear up the stage!
No matter that two of my favorites got cancelled due to weather. What I experienced at both festivals was more than enough to satisfy my itch. At both I got to see The Infamous Stringdusters, who have been playing together for twenty years. Take a look. The video showcases a standard bluegrass tune originally made popular in the 1940s. Then this band put their own stamp on it and turned it into something truly unique. If you watch the whole thing, don’t let the occasional ads dissuade you from sticking with it. It is mesmerizing all the way to the end as you watch and appreciate what they do with their instruments.
I know that bluegrass music is not everyone’s cup of musical tea, and not everyone understands the attraction and draw to these festivals or this kind of music. So I thought I would use this space to share what it is that I love about it and what makes it special - to me at least. Here goes.
A Little Cultural Background
Bluegrass as we know it originated in the 1940s in and around the Blue Ridge mountains that run from northern Georgia into North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. It is part of the Appalachian mountain chain that divides the eastern states from the Midwest and west. (If you ever have a chance to drive along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, take it!) It is a uniquely American musical brand whose roots originated in Europe and Africa hundreds of years ago. The areas that gave birth to mid-20th century bluegrass are associated historically with coal mining, slavery and its aftermath, poverty, low education, high infant mortality rates, and blue collar working class families. In other words, a population easy to look down upon by wealthy, educated, urban elites.
That said, some of the most famous tunes are etched in the brains of baby boomers all along the economic ladder, who grew up during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, when bluegrass burst onto the big stage and enjoyed wide-spread popularity. I think it was the advent of the television that probably accelerated the genre’s popularity by bringing it out of the hills and into homes across the country. Those were the days of black and white TV, no cable, and only three main channels to watch, if you were lucky. Did you know that Flatt and Scruggs played Carnegie Hall?
Sadly, that popularity came at a price because the music became associated almost exclusively with rural, white, good ole boys who were uneducated, poor, kind of stupid, loved hunting and had bad grammar and strong “hillbilly” accents. This was not actually the reality, but movies like Deliverance and TV shows like The Beverly Hillbillies (Flatt and Scruggs wrote the theme song for this show, by the way), Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and the variety show Hee Haw only exacerbated those stereotypes. The shows and performers were popular but the music became synonymous with that backwoods, uneducated, hillbilly image. As a northern professional myself, I’ve been acutely aware of the box that this music has been put in by so many. I’m happy to say that thanks to the persistence and creativity and innovation of the crop of musicians and performers that have emerged over the last 15-20 years, it has experienced a rebirth that is no longer tied only to those dehumanizing tropes. Bluegrass comes from authentic, human experiences that most everyone can connect to at some level.
As an aside, and although she was known more as a country star than a bluegrass performer, Dolly Parton epitomizes for me the contradiction between the value and quality of the music and how it can get lost in the class wars of our nation. When she died everyone across class and party lines tried to claim her as their beloved musical heroine who did so much good in the world. Everything that was said about her was true of course, but I also remember not that long ago when she was perceived by many as a party joke and not much more. People who had wealth and education and lived in more urban areas in the north and on the coasts did not take her seriously and saw her as a caricature to be made fun of. Because of her refusal to compromise herself, she was an easy target. I was privileged to see her in a live performance at the Ohio State Fair in the 1970’s, and witnessed her embracing the disrespect and mocking by throwing it back with humor and grace, teaching us all how to behave in the face of gratuitous unkindness. Her performance that day was full of joy and life, and she was not about to be cowed or let herself feel judged or unworthy.
While it is true that most of the audience and performers at a bluegrass festival are White (and men, for that matter), that is not exclusively the case. In fact, the banjo came originally from Africa, imported into the country along with the people who were brought over to be enslaved as forced labor in the newly formed United States. Black Africans and Americans have always played this instrument (and many others) but were not always included in the opportunities to perform on the big stage in front of mass audiences during the pre-Civil Rights period. Happily that is changing. Check out this performance by one of my instructors at the banjo camp I attended last June.
Bluegrass is Accessible to Everyone
There is a repertoire of songs that all beginning bluegrass musicians and wannabees learn regardless of the instrument you start out on. No matter if you go on to become a world class performer like Bela Fleck, or stay in the musical closet like me, everyone learns the same list of songs made popular in the 1940s up through the 1960s and 70s. Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers, Doc and Merle Watson are just a few of the musical heroes that immediately come to mind. The songs they wrote, played and sang are etched in every bluegrass fan’s or musician’s heart and soul, and all the contemporary bluegrass performers grew up with those songs as their baseline.
The universality of that musical foundation makes it possible for anyone to play with anyone else. Hence the joy of jamming! (and my unquenchable desire to summon up the courage to join my local jam…) Total strangers who love to play music can sit down in a circle and immediately find tunes they all know. And the tunes they don’t know usually involve fairly simple chord progressions, which makes most songs pretty easy to pick up (or fake your way through).
In this kind of musical environment, it is very easy for a young child to pick up an instrument and, with fairly minimal instruction, quickly learn how to play some tunes, just by listening and practicing. From there that child may develop a passion to learn more and develop skills that take them beyond the weekend occasional jammer to someone who is comfortable performing in front of people and sharing their joy of the instrument with an audience. Here is an example of what I’m talking about. The Biscuit Eaters live in North Carolina and have a large following. The kids compete in competitions and jam regularly with old-timers and professionals. I’ve been following them on FaceBook for a couple of years and enjoy watching their clips as they grow up and get better and better.
Some Unique Features of Bluegrass
Most bluegrass bands have anywhere from 3 to 5 or 6 performers, and involve all or a combination of the following: fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, upright bass, dobro. You almost never see a drum set or percussion instruments on the stage, although that is less true than it used to be as these instruments are stretched far beyond their humble beginnings by the current crop of young innovators. One of the things that sets bluegrass apart from country and other genres is the ubiquitous presence of a fiddle or banjo, usually both. Those two instruments are built for speed playing, and they are the backbone of most bluegrass bands. Even where the banjo is not the featured instrument (guitars, mandolins and fiddles have a tendency to be showcased more frequently and more prominently), it is an integral part of the driving rhythm that pulses through many bluegrass tunes. It also may be the most difficult of the bluegrass instruments to learn (and I’m not just saying that as an aspiring banjo picker. It is a complicated instrument to play well.)
Usually only one of those instruments is represented on stage. It is rare to see two fiddles, for example, or two guitars. Never two banjos (I’ll refrain from telling any banjo jokes…). The exception is when a member from another band is invited to join the band on the stage. When that happens the audience gets to witness an impromptu jam by the best of the best and watch them having a blast together. When that happens everyone benefits and it is really special.
Bluegrass is all acoustic, and involves only stringed instruments. In classic bluegrass performances the players trade off doing solos, or “breaks.” Going from playing a supportive role to the starring role happens over and over. The same thing happens in informal jam sessions. Every player in the jam circle is given a chance to pick a song and lead the way, singing the verses and sharing their break, then turning it over to others in the group to share theirs. People like me who have trouble keeping up with the tempo and no confidence to take the lead, can nevertheless participate by staying in the background and “vamping” the rhythm. It’s fun and a good experience either way.
Unlike in a classical ensemble or orchestra performance, in bluegrass you will never see the musicians using written music (unless someone in a jam needs the lyrics to a song, or the basic chord progression for a song they are unfamiliar with). In fact, many if not most of these high level performers grew up learning the traditional bluegrass standards by ear. They spent untold hours slowing down the old recordings by the original masters so they could hear each note being played. Then they practiced playing and learning with others in living rooms, back porches, picnics, family gatherings, and local jams. The more you listen and practice, the more you learn to play based on what your brain is absorbing, without reliance on a sheet of paper to guide you. Learning bluegrass music isn’t about memorizing, it is about internalizing the music until it becomes a part of you. Yes, there is a way to capture the notes on paper, and it is common to teach new songs using these “tabs,” but I would say that the paper - if it is used at all - is discarded as soon as possible so that the music enters into your soul and doesn’t leave.
The complexity and coordination of the different voices and instruments on the stage, and the accuracy with which they perform as one cohesive unit, is stunning when you think about the amount of technical skill that is required. If you watch closely, you can see the band members communicating with each other constantly as they perform. Subtle nonverbal cues include making eye contact, adjusting the foot pedals, slightly lifting a foot or waving an elbow or briefly nodding in someone’s direction to indicate the shift from one soloist or phase of the song to the next. They also may walk around on stage from one performer to another while in mid-song. I find it fascinating to watch them listening and supporting and even talking to each other while they are in the middle of performing such complex musical numbers.
When Something Goes Wrong They Fix It and Keep Going
While every performer wants things to go perfectly once they step on the stage, that isn’t reality when you are touring around the country and performing in front of a live audience several times a week. Things happen and when they do, the professionals just take it in stride and keep on going. A guitar string breaks. The sound stops working just as the star performer starts to play. A key member of the band misses a flight and has to drive 11 hours to get to the venue, missing their scheduled 90 minute slot and creating a significant prime time gap in the schedule. What do you do then? All of these things happened at the festival I just attended, and the overall fan experience never suffered. What was amazing was how seamlessly they took these mishaps in stride, fixed them, and went on to perform. When the 90 minute slot opened up, the emcee simply pivoted. First, she explained what had happened to the hundreds of waiting fans, then she put out a call to several performers who were still nearby, and in just a few minutes the stage was full of various musicians discussing in real time what songs they could do, who would sing, and what keys they would play in. Without skipping a beat they launched into song, jamming and riffing off of each other in the most beautiful way possible. For 90 minutes. Completely unplanned and completely amazing. When the tardy band member finally arrived hours later, the emcee tacked on their set to occur at the end of the night. So the crowd got a bonus set from a stellar band that had been in danger of missing the festival completely. It was incredible!
I was at a Bela Fleck concert once when they were playing a particularly difficult, complex and syncopated rhythm pattern that shifted from one instrument to the other note by note (again, no music was anywhere on the stage), and it was being played incredibly fast. Apparently someone missed a cue which threw the whole thing off (I’m sure the audience noticed nothing. I know I didn’t). Bela stopped everyone and the number ground to a halt in the middle of the performance. In a matter of seconds they picked up just before where the mistake happened, got through it flawlessly and then went on to play the rest of the song. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, but to Bela it was so important to get it right that he was willing to stop in the middle of a full auditorium and try it again, not settling for mediocre and determined to show the audience what it was supposed to be. Respect! The audience didn’t mind one bit.
Pursuit of excellence is its own reward
I often wonder how performers who go out on stage night after night for energetic shows that have to be both mentally and physically exhausting, manage to keep their own interest and passion at a high enough level to play so beautifully every time. I have a theory that I have not checked out with any actual musician, but it is based on my own personal experience of learning (trying to) the banjo. I believe that there is a certain “high” that is experienced when one is “in the zone” and playing an instrument to perfection. The solos can be complicated and difficult, and the coordination between the different musicians requires a high degree of accuracy and precision.
I know that when I am learning and practicing a song on the banjo, I get an enormous sense of personal satisfaction if I am able to play it without any errors. Of course, at my level of playing we are talking about a glacially slow rendition of Banjo in the Hollow or Cripple Creek, but I’m thinking that maybe my own version of “high” for playing something well at a very slow pace, only gets magnified the higher up one goes on the performance and playing continuum. For the professionals who are at the top of their game, I imagine them striving for perfection at every performance and when they achieve that pinnacle it must be magic even if they’ve done it a thousand times. In fact, you can sometimes see it in the way they hold the instrument, becoming one with it and shifting into a trance as they play and immerse themselves in the music, eyes closed. Yoyo Ma is famous for this trance-like posture when he is deep into his cello. Bluegrass musicians are no different and, I would argue, are all the more impressive given the frequency and sheer number of times they are called upon to reach this highest pinnacle of performing, all in coordination with the other players who share the stage.
Many of us can relate to the hard work it takes to master a skill. We can all appreciate the pat on the back we give ourselves when we know we’ve done a great job. And the pats that others give us. Achieving success and joy when you get it right can be highly motivating. The drudgery of building the skill and mastering the next goal all becomes worth it when we successfully achieve the vision we had created for ourselves. The link below features my banjo hero Bela Fleck with two younger rising stars on mandolin and guitar. This one is fun to watch because Bela the master quietly controls who is doing what just by glancing in someone’s direction.
Bluegrass Fosters Community
We all know that music of any genre brings people together, simple as that. Politics don’t play a part in who gets to enjoy it. Class is irrelevant. And while many bluegrass songs come from Protestant religious roots, particularly gospel tunes, I would argue that the tunes underlying the lyrics still have universal appeal. Many popular singers and songwriters come from religious traditions (think Aretha Franklin, for example), using what they learned singing and playing in church choirs as a baseline to reach new musical heights. And while many of the lyrics of bluegrass songs talk about death and murder, hardships and poverty, sometimes it is hard to tell that because the songs are played fast and happy. There is joy in the tune that overlays the misery embedded in the lyrics. Yes, I said that.
Bluegrass offers a big tent not only for people who just want to soak it up from the sidelines but also those who want to be in the middle of it. Everyone is invited in to experience peace, joy, fellowship and purpose in whatever way suits them best.
Enough said! Now you know why I love it so much. I’ll get off my soapbox.
Next Steps
If you made it this far, thanks for hanging in there with my meandering thoughts. I hope you enjoy the links I chose, and perhaps someday we can share music together!
On other fronts as we head into the holiday season, barreling toward the end of the year, I’ve been pretty sporadic in my writing, both in this blog and on the book I continue to keep in front of me. I’ve started private banjo lessons and have already begun planning for which banjo camps I want to go to in 2027 (woohoo!). I’m also continuing to dabble with drawing and painting, and am trying to figure out an easy and affordable way to maybe, eventually, perhaps, who knows, sell notecard prints of my work from this website. Too complicated for me to spend much time on at the moment, but could be interesting if I could pull it off and see if there is any interest out there in cyberspace.
Stay tuned!
(I leave you with one more video, this one of Sierra Hull - who was playing the mandolin with Bela Fleck in the video above. I saw her at the Outer Banks festival and she was a real treat. Beautiful singer and songwriter, and a wicked good mandolin player)
