There are lots of approaches to playing the banjo and plenty of banjo styles too. Here’s a photo of some of the participants at the banjo demonstration at Merlefest 2013. You’re looking at Ivy Sheppard, Randy Sheets, Riley Baugus, David Holt and Laura Boosinger. For an old time music freak like me who is trying to learn to play the banjo, this was golden.
Breaktime at the Saturday evening square dance at Merlefest 2013 meant waltzing to the music of the South Carolina Broadcasters.
We had two opportunities to learn square dancing at Merlefest. The first was an afternoon dance featuring The Sheets Family Band and third generation caller Uncle Ted.
With Uncle Ted
We had so much fun at this dance. Uncle Ted is a great caller and we were able to participate and learn a tremendous amount without the need for loads of experience. We did big circle mountain dancing as well as the elementary reel. One of the great things about this kind of dance is how inclusive it is. Ted explained that if you don’t include the kids and introduce them to the dance from a young age, the dance will be lost.
Here’s a very short video clip of one group going through the sequence for the elementary reel. After that, the band kicked in and we had to try it with the music.
Merlefest offered us quite a variety of music, with something like 90 acts and a dozen stages but we found ourselves spending lots of time at the Traditional Stage. For me, it was a great opportunity to enjoy performances by Riley Baugus and Kirk Sutphin, two of my favourite old time musicians.
Kirk Sutphin and Riley Baugus at Merlefest 2013
We had a chance to hear them perform at various workshops and even providing music for old time mountain dancing. Kirk Sutphin plays fiddle and banjo, including fretless banjo, and Riley Baugus plays banjo and guitar and is among the best singers we heard through the festival.
Back at the hotel after a 12 hour musical extravaganza. We started off at the Traditional stage with a fabulous group called the South Carolina Broadcasters – Old Time with very strong vocals and a spirit that reminded me of the Carter Family. Then we headed over to the Americana stage for some Texas style Western Swing and after that to the Creekside stage for the Kruger Brothers.
The Kruger Brothers have a career closely tied to Merlefest. After being invited to play the festival while living in Switzerland (one of them commented today, why were these people importing banjo and fiddle players?), they eventually moved to America -and North Carolina. They are “old time” yet very unique – and their playing is masterful.
After the Kruger Brothers, it was square dance time over at the dance tent. with the help of The Sheets Family Band, Third generation caller Uncle Ted got us dancing right away. He encouraged kids and adults to dance together. Uncle Ted explained that if you don’t involve the kids in the dance, it will be lost. We learned a lot and danced until my feet were getting sore. It was tremendous fun and we’re going to do some more tomorrow.
Next up was guitar picker and maker Wayne Henderson, along with Helen White, and then a real treat for the banjo freaks in the crowd. David Holt hosted a banjo demonstration featuring a variety od styles and great players including Riley Baugus, Pete Wernick, Steve Lewis and Randy Sheets. This was immediately followed by a set from Riley Baugus and Kirk Sutphin, who are carrying on a musical tradition learned from elders of North Carolina old time music, particularly from the Round Peak area. Seeing these guys perform was a highlight for me as a guy learning old time banjo.
We headed over to the Watson Stage where we had left our chairs set up, grabbed a bite to eat, and settled in for a spirited set of bluegrass from the Steep Canyon Rangers. The last show for us, also at the main stage, featured the Del McCoury Band together with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I thought pairing a traditional New Orleans Jazz band with a hot bluegrass band was going to be a strange combination but it seemed to invigorate all the players and the result was swinging and joyful.
The festival had yet more music to offer but we were exhausted and with another long day of music tomorrow, we decided to call it an evening. wow, what a great day.
I’m writing this post from a hotel room in Boone North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has been quite a day. We awoke after about 3 hours sleep to get the airport in time for an early flight to Washington-Dulles Airport. Our 6AM flight did’t take off until 6:30, arriving just in time for us to make our connection to Greensboro. From Greensboro, we drove west, higher and higher, to Boone, where we had some lunch and checked into our hotel. Then back in the car to Wilkesboro and the first afternoon and evening of Merlefest…after stopping off to buy a couple inexpensive camp chairs, some fruit and granola bars.
We caught a few bands…a surprise highlight was Rhonda Vincent and the Rage….but lack of sleep started catching up with us, so we called it an early evening….tomorrow, we’ll be at the festival from mid-morning to late evening and we’re even going to get a taste of clogging and square dancing. Time for bed!
Here are Kirk Sutphin and Riley Baugus, two excellent old time performers who will also both be playing at Merlefest, which starts tomorrow afternoon.
The South Carolina Broadcasters are one of the groups performing at the upcoming Merlefest. I found this performance of Let me Fall on the YouTube.
On the weekend we went to see a film called Olympus has Fallen. It was about a group of nasty terrorist types who took over the White House leaving a disgraced former secret service dude to save the day singlehandedly. Honest. We didn’t make it to the end, but we can imagine what happened plenty well enough. Amazingly, we were among very few people who bailed. Credit goes to those who stuck it out for the entirety of this turkey. For those who like to watch stuff get blown up and people killed, this movie has plenty of that. It features a really dumb and poorly written script which balances the acting, which also stunk. In fact, everything about this one stunk. Even Morgan Freeman stunk.
27th Street 