Posted on 01/06/2023 9:29:35 AM PST by smokingfrog
We had a modest but enthusiastic bluegrass community here in western Washington (of all places!) but the coof killed it dead. All gone now and our efforts to revive it have failed.
It was fun while it lasted...
I live just North of Mountain View, Arkansas on HW14. I play at venues in Flippin and Bull Shoals and intermittently in Mountain View and can attest that there are pickers, fiddlers, banjo players, and dobro players around here that have talent that is as good as anywhere in the US. One egregious error in the article is the area in and around Branson, Missouri, (40 miles North of me) where there are many excellent musicians that are perfecting their chops at the venues in Branson.
***I think someone got abbreviation for arkansas and alaska mixed up.***
They always do. I have heard of Mountain View (AR, Arizona, AK, Alaska, and AR Arkansas.) all in reference to Arkansas towns.
I heard wokeness killed Asheville.
If Washington, DC is a Bluegrass town, then Mountain View, Alaska, a suburb of Anchorage, could very well be.
I can tell you one thing: The Asheville fanatics that I ran into are rabidly anti smoking. Smokers are treated like the unvaccinated. Like lepers. As if you can catch smoking.
Galax, Virginia. Even if it is only once a year!
—> But there are a lot of liberals up there.
Are you saying there’s a daily bag limit??
I went to a Bluegrass concert in Lyons, Co. It was filled up with coastal assholes trying to act country. It’s OK, I’m from Nashville so I can criticize.
I thought you had to smoke to be Bluegrass. Or at least chew tobacca
👍🏼👍🏼. Camped out there one weekend during the festival. Great times!
The festival is actually in Bean Blossom. About five miles north of Nashville.
Out here leftists form bluegrass bands. Mostly old guys who never played when young except mirror guitar.
They would be playing in the local church contemporary band if they were Christians.
The bluegrass group that I jam with in Houston lost quite a few people during Covid as well, but gained a couple of new people too. Seems like the last few months there are fewer people than normal. Some of the older folks don’t like to drive in the dark, or maybe it’s just my singing that drives them off. :)
There was a monthly jam at the senior center one town over. The fella that was running it really had his hands full and announced that he was going to discontinue it unless no one else was interested in hosting it.
Nobody else stepped up so my brother and I took the reins. He did the promotions and booked the bands (we featured local bands to present one or two sets of live music in addition to the jams) and I ran the sound (I already had a full PA from my rock band days). We ran it for six seasons.
The last performance of the sixth season I had a car fire on the way home that burned my van - holding all our gear - to the ground. I encountered zero interest from any of the players to setting up any promotions to generate money to replace the gear so my brother and I called it quits. The coof provided the death punch and it was done.
I’ve been playing in bands since jr. high school. I’m too old to do that anymore so the bluegrass filled the void.
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