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ON THE SCENE: Bluegrass blows back into town

Hot Day at the Zoo’s Jed Rosen poses with state Olympic Regional Development Authority staff Katie Million, right, and Jennifer McKeever. (Photo — Naj Wikoff)

My introduction to bluegrass music was two-fold. We were taught traditional bluegrass songs in elementary school, many so stuck in my head they will be with me until my dying day, and the other most profoundly by traveling out to Art Jubin’s farm in Swastika after the annual Jaycee Memorial Day Canoe Race from the Iron Bridge to the Monument along the West Branch of the Ausable River.

Oh, I heard Doc Otis many a time before that, but at Jubin’s kegs of beer would be stacked in the well, racks of chickens grilled over a big pit, and these musicians would come out of the woodwork playing their fiddles, banjos and guitars singing till dawn in sort of a keening way.

It was a slice of Appalachia. Some of those people, I mean they were living a hardscrabble existence. It was just raw. Some didn’t have much, but boy could they sing and play. Cars were lined up forever. To me, that’s when summer really began, and we put winter definitely to bed. The seeds were in the ground. There was a mix of people hunkered down together that you just don’t hardly see anymore, much is the pity. They were drawn together by the music, by having made it through another winter.

It just don’t get any better than that.

My father always described the Adirondacks as culturally a part of Appalachia, and of any part most kin to those of West Virginia where they knew mountains, mining and moonshine as many here did. Hunting wasn’t a sport; it was putting meat away for the winter. The woods were filled with illegal hunting camps. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a still a few operating out the end of Averyville. Added to this was that Adirondack accent so prevalent then, hardly heard now, and a way of talking almost intimate in how close people would stand to each other when sharing opinions like a secret passed. Of course, people had today what we would call nicknames, perhaps then someone’s handle, like Trader Al or Brownie. It was just how you were called.

Dave Plumley and Eric Gibson. (Photo — Naj Wikoff)

The Bluegrass Jam at the arena Saturday, Oct. 25 was kin to that music. Yes, here musicians were all dressed up in what many then would consider their Sunday best, but the music took me right back, especially Del McCoury as he had echoes of that way of singing, and because you can still feel the farm in the Gibson Brothers. It was a very tight show. What a deal. Nearly 12 hours of nonstop music. When one band finished, the next immediately launched into their first song on the adjourning stage. There was not a weak act. From 52 Pick-Up to Sam Bush, the king of Newgrass, it just never let up.

Many people have been reintroduced or introduced the first time to Bluegrass through the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” movie. Bluegrass is a subset of country. Its roots go back to the music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, brought over in the 18th century where it took root, and in some places stayed so pure that centuries later musicologists would come from the United Kingdom to record songs from their own past that had been lost.

The lyrics are basically narrative ballads, but different from country is the improv that takes place around the melody throughout the performance led by one or more of the instrumentalists, so in that way bluegrass sits in a place between country and jazz. During these breakouts, the musicians demonstrate an ability that can take your breath away, an experience of the highest order Saturday as many winners of “best of the year” were on stage spread through several bands, which resulted in an electric experience. The range of accomplished musicians was stunning from Del, age 75, down to the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, the youngest at 12 years old. Young but still accomplished. Plus, you had all the strands: traditional, progressive (aka newgrass) and a bit of gospel.

Behind all this was Katie Million, state Olympic Regional Development Authority director of events, aided and abetted by Denny Allen, Olympic Center manager, and many others on the ORDA team, reflecting an impressive step back into presenting music. The numbers were respectable, not as high as desired and needed, but an excellent start for an event put together in extremely short time.

“I started out on fiddle for our family band, but we needed a mandolin player so I asked my sister to teach me three chords, how to chop, and I took it from there,” said Jesse Brock, 2009 International Bluegrass Music Association Mandolin Player of the Year and newest member of the Gibson Brothers band. “I try to play from my heart with taste, tone and timing. Bluegrass is true music, true American music, one of the last American art forms left aside from jazz.”

From left are the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Tommy, Jonny and Robbie Mizzone. (Photo — Naj Wikoff)

“My dad and mom carried the memory of the ‘Don Messer’s Jubilee’ show that was broadcast by WCAX, and there was a bit of a holdover on the ‘Tommy Hunter Show,’ which we would see,” said Leigh Gibson about his introduction to bluegrass. “As early as I was hearing bluegrass and country, I was hearing Peter, Paul and Mary and the Clancy Brothers, and there was a mix of Canadian Celtic music coming out of the Maritimes or Gordon Lightfoot or Bob Dylan. We were learning these instruments at 8 or 9 years old where there was a lot of things coming at us, but it was the early stuff that stuck. My father would sing. He was a farmer, and my grandfather and uncle were known for their singing within the 2-mile radius of our community.”

“The thing about bluegrass is that it is direct and honest,” said Gibson. “You can’t fake your way around it. You can tell the difference between somebody who is just learning, like I was 20 years ago, same chord progression, but then you watch Del McCoury. It’s not any more complicated; it’s just the command he has of what he is doing. Once you internalize that, the music becomes a part of you, part of your identity. It’s very simple but very hard to authenticate without really feeling it. I’ve learned to trust my instincts a lot. When it comes to music, you have to trust what you believe and what you hear.”

“These are all top-notch acts, every single one of them,” said Dave Plumley of Wilmington, who plays the banjo. “I’ve watch the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys since they first started, and that wasn’t that long ago, and now they are ripping. You can’t beat what the Gibson Brothers have been doing for years. They rock the crowd.”

“If Eric Gibson were to walk up, what would you ask him?” I said, seeing over Plumley’s shoulder Eric heading our way.

“I think I’d be speechless. I wouldn’t know what to say. But after I got over being speechless, I’d ask him what’s the best banjo tip he could give me,” said Plumley.

Jesse Brock of the Gibson Brothers (Photo — Naj Wikoff)

“Eric Gibson, this is my friend Dave. He’s been playing the banjo for a couple years, and he has a question he’d like to ask you,” I said.

“Sure, Dave, pleased to meet you. What’s your question?” said Gibson, extending his hand.

After he recovered, Plumley asked, “How do you get to the next level? I’m missing something here. I can do the mechanics on tab and all that, but I don’t know. I’m missing something.”

“I always go back to Earl Scruggs and J.D. Crowe because I listened to them 30 years ago, but I listened to them with a different perspective than I have now,” said Gibson. “Now when I go back, things that I thought I had down pat I don’t have even now, and I’ve been playing for 30 some years and I don’t have it as down pat as I thought I did. It can be just a simple little thing, a tap, a hammer on it, a slide, and the whole timing of their rolls, things that I thought I had that and I can now move on. Sometimes it’s good to go right back to the basics.”

“Yeah, even on the upper neck patterns,” said Dave. “The second break is killing me. Every time I go from a simple homeland position, everything changes, nine, 10, 11 up to 14. How do you keep that going? Is that just practice?”

“I think it is, that and going back to what sparked you in the first place,” said Eric. “I do that. I go listen to Earl, and I think, ‘God, did he ever do anything wrong?'”

The Lake Placid Bluegrass Jam was like that, great honest music, the musicians were accessible, and everybody had a good time just as they did back on Jubin’s farm. When it comes around again, don’t miss it.

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