Quest For Music In A Small Town (Long)

[usedtajump 1]

Not much to discuss here folks but just thought I'd describe our fun filled quest for live music in a very small country town.

I have been playing with a band lately here in lets just call it "Hooterville", KY. Larry, one of the band members, who has turned me on to several unusual local venues for live music with very good results, suggested we meet him on a Sunday afternoon at a Holiness Church for a Sunday afternoon music event (hey, you get your music where you find it here). Well, not being what you'd call a regular churchgoer, I reluctantly agreed, what the heck, I've never been to a "Holy Roller" church and thought it might be interesting.

The day of the event, we followed Larry's rather general directions to the church and of course, there was nothing that even resembled a church in that area. However, we had passed an Assembly of God church about five miles back who's parking lot was overflowing and we decided that must be the place, turned around and went there. I entered the church lobby and low and behold, there was a gospel choir just tearing it up on stage. It sounded exactly like what I was expecting so I waived at Suzanne to come on in, this is it!!!

Well......upon entering the church proper, we were greeted by a lady who brought two chairs for us to sit in behind the back pew of the already overflowing auditorium. I smiled, thanked her and gave her my heartiest congratulations on the "great turnout". I sat down and was really enjoying the performance when Suzanne joined me. She whispered in my ear that she had been asked to sign the registry and that we were actually at a memorial service for some dear departed. After the choir finished, we slunk out to the parking lot fully expecting to be struck dead on the spot. The first thing that popped into my head was the Southwest Airlines commercial "wanna get away?".

Undaunted, we continued our search for the correct church but were still having no luck. Just as we gave up and being simi lost, we stumbled upon the proper venue. There were quite a few people standing outside the church and by that time we thought we'd missed the music but the pastor assured us that we were there in plenty of time. Seemed he'd really gotten the spirit and the morning service ran quite long. We found Larry and his wife and sat by them, not really knowing what to expect next.

Folks, what I witnessed that afternoon was a combination of musical amazement and fear that this event would eventually develop into snake handling, arsinec drinking and possibly dolling out grape cool aid. Most of the time, during the musical numbers,there were people dancing up and down the aisles waiving their hands above their heads and speaking in tounges. Between songs, different folks would take the pulpit and deliver rather loud and impassioned testimonies that were every bit as "interesting" as the music was good. I can't express how excellent the musical performances were and there was no way that you could stay seated it was so upbeat. They had drums, fiddles, banjos, organs, pianos, guitars, bass guitar, mandolin and I'm pretty sure there was a hammer dulcimer and an autoharp in the mix at one time or another. It was just incredible. If you ever find yourself with the opportunity to experience an event of this kind, do treat yourself.

We stayed there for two hours but had to leave for another musical program that evening at the Methodist Church here in "Hooterville" where Suzanne and Larry sing in the choir. There were Methodists from all over the county there and about ten performances were scheduled. Well, after our earlier Asseymbly of God and Holiness musical experience, the Methodist musical evening had the prospect of being rather pale in comparison and sure enough, it lived up to that expectation rather grandly. After Suzanne and Larry's choir set, we hurriedly snuck out of there and laughed ourselves silly on the way home recounting the day's unfolding.

Don't mean to offend anyone's religious preferences here, everyone we encountered couldn't have been nicer to us. Just wanted to share "a day that will live in musical infamy".

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[NWFlyer 2]

Sounds like a heck of a day! I'm also not religious myself, but I've always maintained that some of the best and worst music in history has been made to honor God. Sounds like you found the good side.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[livendive 8]

The title of this thread put John Cougar Mellancamp in my head, and I was going to post something nasty in return for that. But the rest of the post was about one of my favorite things...gospel singers. I don't care what the message is, I can't help but smile when there's southern baptist type "holy roller" music playing.
Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[SpeedRacer 1]

it's interesting to note that the roots of much of American music (blues, country, etc.) came mostly from religious music (early American gospel).

The attraction of American (& American-style) music is its passion & feeling. That fervor originally manifested itself as passion for God expressed in gospel music.

Speed Racer
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[AggieDave 6]

I grew up in Assembly of God churches. Infact that's where I first started to learn how to play completely by ear on the trumpet and how to play improv. It helped me become a decent jazz musician.

Anyways, be careful, they seem nice to new comers, then they're just like other churches...lots of back stabbing, gossip, etc.

As a side note, I was even in Royal Rangers through high school as well. Earned the Gold Medal of Achievement, which is the RR version of the Eagle Scout. Still an "interesting" group of people though.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[usedtajump 1]

One player made the comment that "its real hard playing in front of Holiness people because everyone you're playing for is lt least as good or better than you are".

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[2fat2fly 0]

Quote

The title of this thread put John Cougar Mellancamp in my head

Man. I hope that you don't spend the rest of the day singing "Little Pink Houses (for you and me)" to yourself. That would be terrible.

I've always been fond of gospel quartets. I grew up with the Kingsmen and Cathedrals in my tape case beside the Hendrix, Crue, and AC/DC

I am not the man. But the man knows my name...and he's worried

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

I've always been fond of gospel quartets. I grew up with the Kingsmen and Cathedrals in my tape case beside the Hendrix, Crue, and AC/DC

Good choices, but I'd rather have the gospel recordings of Ricky Skaggs, Monroe, etc. Something about old gospel bluegrass that's really good.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[usedtajump 1]

We played at a local music festival a few weeks ago and were supposed to go on next to last but the band that was supposed to go last had to leave early so we swapped with them. They turned out to be a gospel bluegrass band that had been together since the early 70s and were the tightest, most polished band I've never heard of. Talk about a tough act to follow, before we took the stage, I wanted to set fire to my guitar and leave.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[AggieDave 6]

I can only imagine. I'm a new-ish guitar player, having been playing guitar for about 4 years. Only recently I've begun to try to learn how to play bluegrass...this is a process that will take me a while.

There are some incredible players out there that no one has ever heard of, they have no record deal and they play for themselves or for small venues simply for the love of playing.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[usedtajump 1]

Dave, if you've never heard of a bluegrass band named "Mountain Heart" you need to give them a listen!!!! Saw them about three weeks ago at the community college in Paducah and "it ain't your daddys bluegrass". They have a CD titled "Wide Open" that's amazing. www.mountainheart.com/

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[AggieDave 6]

Not bad for new style/modern bluegrass (just listened to the clips on their website). I'm still more of a fan of the old bluegrass. Artists like Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Ralph Stanley, etc. That's just personal preference, though. Part of it is that a majority of modern bluegrass recordings are produced well and don't have that "on the front porch" sound to the quality of the sound of the recording.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."