Last weekend, I played live on a radio show, with a bluegrass band. It’s exciting, because radio is integral to the history of bluegrass, as much as front porch pickin’, barn dances and hayrides.
That indelible visual image of a bluegrass band gathered around a single mic is a result of the early days of sound reinforcement and, in large part, how radio brought bluegrass to the masses. And radio was enormously important in building a band’s reputation in the old days before the record business got going. Folks near and far could hear a variety of acts, plying their trade and singing the sponsors’ jingles.
When I first got into bluegrass, I had no idea there’d be a chance to play it on the radio. I first encountered this connection at the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass festival. I was picking with some friends, pretty late at night, and someone said, “Hey, let’s go play on the radio!”. What a weird thing to day, it seemed. I chalked it up to whiskey talk, but what do you know, there was a tent by the stage that was a little radio station, set up to broadcast within the festival, mainly.
We piled into the tent and played into the mic. I was thrilled. I never heard how it sounded (probably not too good that late at night and that deep into our cups), nor did anyone else ever say they heard us. It didn’t matter! I was on the air, man! That signal is still wending its way towards a distant galaxy and may someday form some alien civilization’s first impression of Earthlings!
Eventually I learned that there were a number of full-time radio stations (in real buildings with real roofs) that had bluegrass programming and regularly featured local bands. Over something like 20 years in various bands, I got the chance to play at a number of stations, and it’s always been enjoyable.
The DJs for these local shows are legends of bluegrass erudition – Peter Thompson of KALW, Tom Diamant and Ray Edlin of KPFA, and many many more. These people, and people like them, and these stations keep the homefires of bluegrass radio burning in California, and they have loyal followings. There’s something seriously righteous that even in this tech-drenched part of the world, you can still tune a radio and get bluegrass programming, including (yay!) live acts!
I don’t think we ever all played around one big ribbon mic, like the old days. But there is always a sense of being a part of the real fabric of bluegrass, to be pickin’ and singin’, crammed into a little studio, surrounded by shelves and shelves of LPs and reel-to-reel tapes. I hope I never get so jaded that I don’t feel that thrill.
In case you’re interested in listening, the Whiskey Brothers were on Tom Diamant’s “Panhandle Country” show on KPFA, last Sunday, June 5th. The show is archived at www.kpfa.org.
