People who are more athletic than I (in other words, everyone on Earth) seems to have fond memories of pickup basketball games with their friends. Some of these games (I am told) feature some very skilled players, and I have also heard tell of organized pickup basketball leagues, which would seem to defeat the whole purpose of a pickup game.
Well, I’ve never played in a pickup game of basketball, and at this point, it seems like I never will. But you can keep your pickup basketball brother, because I have something better: Pickup bands!
If you’re in a bluegrass band (and I assume you are), playing parties is a pretty common gig. The pay is not often real good, but playing music you love with people you love and getting a few bucks, a few beers and some BBQ is pretty fun thing to do.
Here’s a situation that arises pretty regularly – someone in a bluegrass band has a friendwho’s best friend from college, a big bluegrass fan, is coming to visit in the summer. Wouldn’t it be cool if there could be a big fun barbecue party with a bluegrass band? The friend who’s in the bluegrass band feels a natural obligation to help a friend and checks with his or her band to see if they mind doing a really fun party, for a bit of money, some cash and dinner.
Fairly often, it turns out not everyone in the band can do this gig. Sometimes, it’s a money issue, but just as often there are other obligations on a fine summer night. Is the whole thing going to fal apart? Is the old college friend going to be denied some killer bluegrass at this summer soiree! Au contraire! Enter the Pickup Band!
How did this happen? It’s simple – some phone calls are made and players are recruited to fill in for the regular band members who can’t or won’t play the party gig. Will this diminish the musical experience for the Old College Friend? Not very likely.
As militant as I can be about musicians being paid appropriately, I enjoy playing in pickup bands in odd gigs during the year. The same everyone-on-vacation-in-the-summer dynamic means a lot of fine musicians are available and truth be told, it’s fun to play for a few hours with some good pickers and make good music on the fly.
Bluegrass lends itself to this practice more than most musical genres. It’s a folk music, after all, and there are dozens and dozens of songs that even a band full of perfect strangers will know. This type of gig is fun for the audience, too. I love it when people say “Hey you guys are good! How long have you been playing together?”
To which I reply “What time is it? I never even met most of these folks until this evening!”
