Not too long ago I was up in Oregon at my pickin’ buddy’s five acre, pine tree studded sanctuary. One of the television stations he watches is RFD-TV. Among others, that station televises re-runs of Hee-Haw, and the Marty Stuart Show. Prior to my aforementioned visit I had no knowledge of RFD-TV.
Arriving back in California, I attempted to find RFD-TV on my own cable network, and YOWZA, I found it! I not only located Hee-Haw, and Marty’s show, but also stumbled onto “The Cumberland Highlanders” show. If you don’t already know about it, this show presents traditional bluegrass music, played by folks that many of you may not have heard or seen. These bluegrass players and singers probably never graced the stage of the Letterman TV Show, or got to back-up Steve Martin playing his banjo, but they are making a significant contribution to the preservation of traditional bluegrass music.
The Cumberland Highlanders TV show comes from different locations in Kentucky, but many of the shows are from outdoor festivals held at Jerusalem Ridge. You know, the Jerusalem Ridge where Bill Monroe and the Monroe family resided since 1801, overlooking Rosine, Kentucky. The “Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration,” is the name of the festival that has been kicking-it for years now, actually held in the shadow of Jerusalem Ridge.
This television series is produced by “Doc” Campbell Mercer, who reportedly left a career as a veterinarian in 2001 to jump head-long into the business of making a TV show and bluegrass festival happen, and continue to happen. Mercer formed and became the executive director of the “Bill Monroe Bluegrass Music Foundation.” You can see Doc Mercer on TV, picking his mandolin on the big wooden stage, surrounded by a mob of bluegrass singers and pickers. Even so, Mercer is not intimated. Why should he be? After all, he is the producer of the show. But why would Doc leave a doggone good veterinarian practice to become involved in the precarious world of making a living at bluegrass music? Perhaps he received the gift of desperation.
This show’s series often features Wayne Lewis, who many of you know was with Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys. Wayne was the guitarist and lead singer with Monroe for ten years. Wayne is living proof that there is life after being a “Bluegrass Boy.”
Also frequently featured is Joe Isaacs, father of “The Isaacs,” the gospel band that includes mom (Lilly), two sisters (Becky & Sonya), and a son (Ben). Unmatched vocals and harmonies are found in this gospel band. Although Joe is not a member of the Isaacs (band), he has found his own niche, on a road less traveled to Jerusalem Ridge.
And then there are the guests who frequent the show/festival.
It’s not unusual to see and hear a dozen or more bluegrass singers and pickers all at once on stage, most of whom haven’t been brought to mass public attention by the media. No “hot rod” entities like you’ll find at Hardly-Strickly Bluegrass events in San Francisco, but the bluegrass pickers you’ll encounter at Jerusalem Ridge are just as good (this writer’s opinion).
If you like traditional bluegrass, then the “Cumberland Highlanders” TV show is for you. Granted, the TV show is not as good as actually going to these bluegrass festivals in person, but when you get right down to it, you don’t have to get off the couch and drive all the way from California to Kentucky. Of course if you want to, the next Jerusalem Ridge Festival is scheduled for September 14-16, 2016, just outside of Rosine, Kentucky.
