The Long Road to TN Bluegrass and Back to MT

We had a quick trip to Tennessee, and as you can tell by my previous post, we left Montana with snow on the ground and arrived to a beautiful Tennessee fall day.  Actually, it was  after midnight by the time we got to Nashville.

I had an unused leg on a round-trip flight, which I used on this trip and Jim got a roundtrip ticket on another airline.  We were to meet in Nashville within 1 hour of each other.  It's been said.... "the best laid plans...", and stormy weather across the midwest made for a rather eventful day!  My flight from Bozeman to Chicago was on again, off again, then on again because of ground delays in Chicago.  Then the flight to Nashville was delayed, delayed, delayed.  Meanwhile, Jim was in Minneapolis delayed, delayed, delayed.

I got to Nashville at 10 pm, tired and totally starved only to find all restaurants in the Nashville airport closed.  All I can say is thank God for Hooters!!  At midnight, I was wolfing down a burger and onion rings watching a hula contest between some beer-drinking guys and the Hooters waitresses.  Long way from Montana!!!

Jim's flight finally got in at 12:45 a.m. and we got to Monteagle at 3 a.m.  Whew!!  Our goal the next day was the  Three Sisters Festival in Chattanooga.  Sponsored by the Fletcher Bright Company, and true to champion fiddler Flethcer Bright's legacy, this is an all bluegrass event and we couldn't wait to take our grandson Will, who, at the age of 6, is already a huge bluegrass fan.  But, more about grandchildren later!

The first band we heard on Friday was Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper.  What a treat!!!  Michael Cleveland is 29 years old and is the current and 7-time winner of the IBMA Fiddler of the Year award.  Why had I not heard of this guy before?  He gets sounds out of a fiddle that others only dream of.  I happened to see him the next day, sitting with his dad on a park bench.  I asked him when he learned to play the fiddle - he started taking Suzuki violin when he was 4 years old, then began listening to bluegrass fiddlers who lived around him.  Did I mention that Michael is blind?  He is surrounded by an amazing band including the IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year and Bass Player of the Year  PLUS the band won the Bluegrass Band of the Year award.  Well deserved, I say, for this original and authentic group of musicians.

Infamous Stringdusters were next to take the stage, followed by the Grascals.  Stringdusters are relatively new on the scene and the Grascals band members are real bluegrass veterans, and both bands I would pay to see in a solo show - that's how good they are. Both bands play lots of original music, mixed with some country and bluegrass traditional favorites.  The newest Grascal is IBMA Banjo Picker of the Year Kristin Scott Benson, the only female member of the band in a predominately male industry.  She is so understated, smiles sparingly, but picks the strings off a banjo!!  Their award-winning original song, Me and John and Paul, brought me to tears.  Before they sang it, they asked all veterans in the audience to stand and be recognized.  Read the lyrics...  you'll understand the emotion I felt.

On Saturday, we picked up the grandchildren, Will and Miles and Camille (Soeung is their mother), and headed back down to Ross's Landing for day two of the Three Sisters Festival.  The kids were more interested in the playground and the "box hill" than they were in the bluegrass bands, but they were within hearing distance, so I'm sure they soaked in some of the music.

We got there just in time to hear John Reischman and the Jaybirds.  They are from Vancouver and we have heard them on several occasions here in Montana.  The first time I met them, the guitar player Jim Nunally told me that he and the banjo player had made a Flatt & Scruggs pilgrimage to Sparta, TN, my hometown!  I have been a fan ever since and try to go to their gigs whenever they are close by.  All of them can sing and write wonderful original songs, but the bass player Tricia Gagnon simply has one of the most soulful voices in bluegrass today!  At the end of their set, they invited Fletcher Bright up to the stage to fiddle a few songs with their fiddler Greg Spatz.  What a treat!

After a fabulous spaghetti dinner with Jimmy, Soeung (Soeung makes one of the best spaghetti sauces I have ever had anywhere!) and the kids, the festival was topped off by the Kruger Brothers and the Del McCoury Band. Jens and Uwe Kruger were born in Switzerland and for the last 10 years have been living in North Carolina.  I had never heard these guys before, and their style defies description - country, jazz, classical - it's all there.  I could have listened to them a lot longer than they played.  At the end of their set, they invited Michael Cleveland on stage to fiddle a few tunes with them. He stood between the banjo and the guitar and went back and forth "Deliverance" style for a good 10 minutes - simply amazing!!

Del McCoury and his band were the last to take the stage.  One of the most popular acts in bluegrass, this band never disappoints.  It had been a long day, however, and Will just couldn't stay awake any longer and Miles and Camille were struggling to keep it together.  So, we left about half way through their set.  It was a beautiful weekend with great bluegrass and family all around!