THERE AIN’T NO NOTES ON A DULCIMER – YOU JUST PLAY IT!
– JOE CLARK, 1892
This little missal is going to be about several small things – all connected – so be patient. The beginning was like this:
PART ONE – LEE BRADY – What she was going to do
My wife (Lee, if you didn’t know) decided that for this year’s birthday, she would – as is usual for her – do something big and dramatic. That what she was planning made little sense to others did not bother her one little bit.
Now, before I get too specific, you have to know that Lee professes to. “Have absolutely no sense of music at all.” And, she frequently sets out to prove it.
Although she is an important member of our group, when our band gets together – at our house in San Francisco or at the Charles and Maureen Rooney Home in Sonoma – her importance, to music, she says, is that she prepares outlandishly good and unexpectedly different lunches! We all agree to that, and we all agree that she is the most important audience and critic, and a critically needed reminder to get back to it when our breaks exceed her limits.
And, although Lee’s plans for her birthdays and other special occasions run the gamut from The Grand Canyon to rural Oahu, I was not quite prepared for her plans for this year.
Her announcement, tentative at first, was that she was going to attend a one-week, authentic-sounding, Mountain Dulcimer workshop in Nancy, Kentucky, and that she did not need a driver or servant or minder (That would be me.) to tag along or to drive her there.
Then, she announced that the workshop was to be in Nancy, Kentucky! And thus, the “authentic.”
She signed up, paid her tuition, and then she secured airline tickets (traveling by way of Chicago and Lexington – “The Bluegrass Airport”), and reserved the rental car to be picked up in Lexington.
NOW, the family interaction – always the fun part of these happenings -began! Although our two sons and one daughter and I, knew what was going on – It’s called INDEPENDENCE – and KNEW that she could handle just about anything but the Bulls at Pamplona, certain other family members and good friends were aghast! The common complaint was, “You are going to LET HER (Ha! One does not “let” Lee do anything!) DO THAT? I patiently explained for a while and then I said, in effect, Shut up and wait and see!
PART TWO – Getting There
To arrive in Lexington during daytime and early enough for her to drive to Nancy, Lee had to leave at midnight o the day before. I took her to SFO at 10:30 PM and she got away on time. She waited in Chicago then on to Lexington and rental car and that is when REALITY SET IN. She set her Smartphone “Waze” AP and set off south on a two-lane road through mountains… and arrived at the site of the Dulcimer extravaganza – which was NOT at all in the tiny town of Nancy but was at a rural Kentucky FOUR H Campground, complete with beautiful buildings and a lake – FORTY MILES LATER! This location was closest to Jabez, Kentucky, which is not actually a town but rather a huge “General” store, – and I mean huge and I mean “general.”
It had everything, Lee found out from of the regulars in her group that the Big Store was where everyone in the area went to GET ANYTHING they needed, from truck tires to buttermilk. “Why,” proclaimed one of the participants, “the next closest store is Walmart, and that is 60 miles from here!”
Lee enjoyed the week and “learned to strum” and met some interesting people, and it was a GRAND experience for her. She did not worry too much about the finer points of actually playing the Dulcimer, but she loved her diploma upon leaving.
At our band’s next meeting, she told her tale and enjoyed doing so, and we enjoyed her telling (She is one great story-teller), and the rest of us were impressed.
PART THREE – Her Takeaway
I forgot to mention that Lee had taken along her own beautiful Mountain Dulcimer. Years ago, I ordered one from a craftsman in Kentucky who sent photos all along while making it, beginning with the particular piece of wood, why he had chosen it and then he followed up at each step until he shipped it to me. I had never intended to play it, but in the back of my mind, I knew that I would love it and SOMEBODY, someday, would put it to work. So, about a year ago, I presented the Dulcimer to her! For this trip, I tuned it, sent along a new set of strings, strumming picks, and such.
This is MY takeaway from what I interpreted was her takeaway:
Lee arrived home exhausted but absolutely proud that she had done it! She enjoyed the tiring trip, enjoyed telling the story of that drive from Lexington to Nancy and beyond, and she met (as she always) some interesting people with whom she will stay in touch. Lee says that the others were mostly experienced Dulcimer players who travel around the country and meet each other frequently at Dulcimer gatherings all over the country.
A bonus for Lee was her contact with an old friend, a well-known and popular Bay Area actor who had been in demand here for several years, almost made the top rung (appeared in a few movies) and had starring roles in major San Francisco Hoses. This friend, Ronnie Dee Blair, who never lost one gram of his pure Kentucky accent, loved Lee’s dialogue, appearing in several of her Bay Area plays. He was her best actor for Rural South roles.
Bending to the inevitable, Ronnie Dee saw that he was settled comfortably at the top of Bay Area Theater and decided to return home to Paintsville, Kentucky. He settled in there and soon married well and became again a Kentucky Gentleman.
Lee had a long talk with Ronnie Dee and his Wife and made plans for the two of us to visit Kentucky in the Spring of next year.
Lee and I have several places we want to visit when we hit the State. Kentucky has: the Home of Bluegrass, the Home of some early radio Country and Bluegrass broadcasts, Berea College, which is free to all needy applicants, the Hatfield and McCoy Legend….and a lot of mighty fine people with whom to talk. Ronnie Dee’s brother Wade, attended Berea College.
It seems that Wade Blair, the brother mentioned earlier, a traveling musician, had also decided to move home to Paintsville and settle down. Back home, Wade “found the love of his life” and settled on her acreage. Also according to Ronnie Dee, when she died suddenly, Wade “took to riding all over his land on his lawnmower…. .without any clothes.”
He and I have something in common. At dinner at our house one evening, I was telling about my having been on an evaluation team visiting the Religious of the Sacred Heart School in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. Wade spoke up and said he had been in love with a girl from Grand Coteau and had written a song titled, “Grand Coteau Waltz.” He then played his guitar and sang the song for us…..a danged fine tune!
Lee wants me to mention that as soon as the warden let her out of Dulcimer Heaven, she made her way to Berea and found a proper Coffee Shop (not a chain) where she had her first amazing latte in a week!
And THAT is the true story of Lee Brady’s journey into and back from Bluegrass Country. In years to come, in the telling and re-telling, this tale will grow and become the legend it deserves.
When I was trying to explain to the guys why I had bought the Dulcimer that I gave to Lee, I told them….”Listen for a moment. -That thing, just sitting there on the couch, is making more music than I will ever play.”
This is the PS Portion – NOT about Lee’s journey and that stuff, but about my poor planning for the same week.
While she was away, I thought it would be a good thing to take an introductory Claw Hammer class at Freight and Salvage – now that I’ve mastered the other stuff. I signed up, sent in my check and then noticed a little detail – it was to happen from 6:30 PM until 8:00 PM. Now, I live in San Francisco and Freight and Salvage is in Berkeley and from 6:30 to 8:00 PM is commute time from Hell.
Sure enough, I left at 4:30 and got to Berkeley at 6:00….ate a bite and went to the meeting place. I had already checked on the Teacher and knew she was A-plus…her own band and videos and stuff.
But the catch – after I had tip-toed for an hour and a half to get there –was not only was it a PRE- beginners class ( which was what I needed) but they were REAL beginners but our dear teacher was yanking out boxes and boxes of pre-ordered (by the beginners) of Deering Goodtimes, receiving checks and helping the mad rush of tuning and letting the guys get acquainted with their banjos.
After one lady broke a string and it was replaced, we got started, and darned if the teacher wasn’t fantastic. We got through a few things and I drove back the dark streets to home.
Next week, I made the same one and a half hour trip because I wanted to explain in person that I would not be completing her class. She was understanding, so I met with the guy who would be teaching Bluegrass Harmony in the Spring and told him I might just be seeing him, not that I needed any help in that area.
