spidermonky 0 #1 February 19, 2005 Every Friday night in Maryville, TN a bunch of people get together in an old school house at the edge of the Smoky Mountains to play bluegrass. I played there regularly a few years ago but hadn't been back in at least a year. It's divided up into about 6 rooms and a gymnasium that anyone with an acoustic instrument can join in with others playing bluegrass and gospel. It's as authentic as it gets. Most rooms have people playing guitars, violins, banjos, mandolins, dobros, stand up basses, and of course someone playing the spoons. Some of it is improvised but most of it is music that the regulars have learned over time. The thing that surprises me most is that everytime I go the most talented people playing are still in grade school. Last Friday I recorded some of the playing, including a kid (probably 10-12 yrs old) on banjo who was amazing. Usually the groups are bigger but I hit an off night. http://www.bitterstrength.org/~dmain/lj/bluegrass.wmv 8MB, Enjoy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snowwhite 0 #2 February 19, 2005 We have a group of folks that get together on Sundays at our State Park when the weather is decent. It's really cool, nice big bonfire, folks gathered around picking. Then there is the lodge that some of the ladies lay out a bunch of munchies in, and if the weather isn't so great, the picking moves indoors. Same thing, all accoustic, lots of little guys showing off their stuff. I hope that parents keep encouraging kids to take part in this kind of activity, but unfortunately the numbers of players has been declining in recent years due to video and computer games.skydiveTaylorville.org freefallbeth@yahoo.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
