Thanks Pat!

Apr 18, 2020 | Welcome Column

A commonality exists in bluegrass, not necessarily for specific songs but for a broad range of interpretations that make up bluegrass music.  The draw to the music also includes the camaraderie of those who make up bluegrassers (Pickers and grinners).

I first became aware of the magnitude of the bluegrass community when a friend invited me to join him at a festival in Parker Arizona in 2002 or 2003.  What a party that was!  I wanted to be a part of that.

I had a banjo pieced together out of parts and some other instruments (reeds) that I used in a popular band in LA for 8 years; those particular instruments were generally (sometimes emphatically) not accepted at bluegrass jams.  I guess my banjo playing at the time could be described as a cross between a plectrum style and a bastard form of claw hammer.  Again not generally accepted in jams.  I was raised on the Kingston Trio* style of folk music which was pretty much comprised of easily followed three or four chord progressions.

After Parker I attended another festival in Plymouth, Ca. where I heard a jam which had an accordion and a lady singing “Lilly Dale”.  What a voice!  An accordion?  
Of course it was Pat Calhoun who was so instrumental through her encouragement that started me playing in jams.  She was so inclusive and patient with everyone.  She would not allow me to play in the background outside the circle.  Eventually I joined in the circle, bought a couple of books on how to play bluegrass banjo, bought a Deering banjo that actually stayed in tune, practiced sparingly, and I could at last be a part of this wonderful bluegrass community.

I owe Pat a great deal of gratitude for encouraging  and including me in her jams.  Countless others are undoubtedly as grateful as I for the same reasons.

Steve Tilden

*   – My band had a month-long gig at a then popular cowboy bar, The Palomino, in North Hollywood.  One night the owner told us we would have another band front us for an hour.  It was the Kingston Trio (2 of the original).  My eyes got leaky when I was asked to perform along with them.

Read about: