Howdy Readers! I have had quite a month! Last week I schemed and squirmed my way to the International Bluegrass Music Association’s week long World of/ Wide Open Bluegrass Extravaganza! The last time I went was back in Nashville, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. An unexpected surprise was the weather. The Hurricane did make the festival portion move outside, but the damage was minimal and the festivities rolled on. There were many acts that I enjoyed at the festival, some were more surprising than others. I made sure to check out Danny Paisley and Bradford Lee Folk because those two are some of the best singers in bluegrass, and their shows did not disappoint. Each of them played some of their slow heart breaking favorites including “Shackles and Chains” for Danny, and “ A little bit of Everything” by Bradford, which if you haven’t heard you need to. Another one of the best performances of the festival was none other than the Kids on Bluegrass Portion, especially our California Grown Talent. I could not explain the surreal experience of seeing Josh and John and Jake Gooding somehow hang on to the hectic pace they set up for themselves. Well played boys.
IBMA remembered
Now the way I measure the enjoyment as a festival is how many jams I can find; and that had its highs and lows. Some people who were involved in some of the multiple highs were my old friend Molly Tuttle and my new friend Nicky sanders. For 3 hours plus we relentlessly played instrumentals including a funky “Back up and Push” in F and a banjo tune written by Bill Monroe. Later on in the jam T.J Doerful showed up to add the banjo dimension to the jam. I thought this would be the peak Until I run into another super Jam at 1 A.M on a Friday night. This jam included Andy Hall, Andy Falco, and Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters. And to top it off was Robert Greer of Town Mountain and Adam Chaffins of Rockin Acoustic Circus and the Deadly Gentlemen. Because of m history with the dusters I was able to make my way into the jam which was full of drive of brilliance. The full band sound created by these guys reminded me what the next level is for me, and it was very inspiring.
Now while they’re were a lot of highs, there was a lot of distance between good jams, and the reason of this is very obvious. Back in Nashville every association around the world who watnted a suite could have one and host jams and concerts in their room. But the Northcarlinian hotels want to make this a more non-musician visitor friendly by making most james quiet floors and making suites for these accociations. The only association that exists is the CBA which was packed every night. Which is great for the association, but not for me when I’m trying to get inside. This has made me legitimately decide that Nashville was a better musiician for myself, but probably not for the IBMA. Unlike Nashville, Raleigh cherishes this event and shuts down the center of town in order to accomodate the thousands of people that walk through the convention center. The IBMA has created a more successful event for the masses in Raleigh, but that has come at a price. The accommodation for day time listeners and not night time pickers has made the event less of a festival and more of an event. In the end, that is what this is about. It is a convention made for meeting new artists and established studio managers and festival bookers. IBMA has become what it has always wanted to be, and people like me have to accept that.
