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Here is this year’s story in words and pictures of Ed Lowe’s adventure to Redlands:

REDLANDS  2010

Story: Ed Lowe

Pictures:Greg McGrath and Ed Lowe

A fairly sizeable contingent of seven West Aussies went to this year’s Redlands Bluegrass Convention in early July. Bluegrass Parkway were invited, the rest of us just showed up.

The Bluegrass Club of WA has just compiled a CD consisting of forty-four great bluegrass classics, in mp3 format. The project came about in response to members wanting to know more about songs and tunes they had heard being played at the club.
The compilation was arrived at by noting down popular songs being played over a few meetings and so is quite arbitrary. We hope it meets with approval.
There is also an accompanying list showing the songs’ names with the keys that they would normally be played in at the club.
The CD will be available free of charge, to all members, at the May the 11th meeting.

One of our main members and chief bass player (Stephen Loss) has recently returned from a business trip to the USA and managed to squeeze in time to see a bluegrass festival. Here’s what he had to say;

Earlier this year I organised a trip to Europe and the US. I was thinking of going to Nashville but when I realised the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival was on that weekend in Boston, I was quick to jump at the opportunity. Marshall Wilborn( currently with Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper and Longview) was giving a bass master class. I didn’t know too much about Joe Val but the festival line-up looked great.

As I discovered, Joe Val was born and raised in Boston and took an interest in bluegrass music, prompted by listening to Bill Monroe on radio and records at an early age. It didn’t matter that Joe was a short, skinny Italian from a blue-collar suburb and that his voice was tinted by a yankee inflection- Joe’s smooth, high tenor made him true to the bluegrass tradition. Like many bluegrass players he spent years working a day job and playing before becoming a full time musician. In the early 1980’s Joe was diagnosed with lymphona and eventually died in 1985.
The International Bluegrass Music Association posthumously presented Joe Val with an “IBMA Award of Merit” for his dedication and lifetime contributions to bluegrass music. Several fundraising events were held before his death and later a “Joe Val Day” memorial event was organised, which became an annual event and evolved into the “Joe Val Bluegrass Festival”. In 2006 the festival won the coveted “Event of the Year” award from the IBMA.
While I didn’t get a lot of new information from the bass master class on the Friday, it was great to meet Marshall Wilborn( who is a true gentleman) and many other bass players who befriended me for the weekend. I got to play a large range of basses including Marshall’s 1954 American Standard, which was a killer!
I also went to a couple of guitar workshops. One by Clay Hess was very good- I didn’t like his playing style much( too many notes……not enough melody) but he was very articulate about his approach to the instrument and the mechanics of how he played. Too often I’ve been to workshops where the presenter is an extremely talented musician but not the best communicator. What also impressed me about Clay was that during one performance on the main stage , he busted a string – a verse and a chorus later he had a new one on and tuned up without leaving the stage and went straight into a blistering solo!
On Friday night and Saturday I heard a lot of great bluegrass music and witnessed professional performances of the highest standard. For me the stand-outs were Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper,Doyle Lawson, Sierra Hull, Special Concensus and a Canadian group called The Spinny Brothers. The Josh Williams band were also good but Josh’s sunglasses, gold chains and attitude were a little too “Country” for my liking. Danny Paisley had a fill-in mandolin player as his fiddle player had jammed his finger in a door and was not able to play, so the band appeared a little unsettled. Unlike their performance at Harrietville a few years ago.
Thanks to a reference from Paul Duff, I introduced myself to one of the festival organisers who promptly took me backstage and introduced me to half a dozen performers. At least three of them owned one of Paul’s mandolins.
I also met up with a couple of guys from the Bluegrass Bass Place- an internet forum that I’ve been frequenting for a couple of years. Over the weekend I was invited to participate in a few jams. I felt a bit awkward about being an Aussie playing this style of traditional American music but people were really friendly and fascinated about the bluegrass scene in Australia. Making music with people from the other side of the world whom I’d only just met was a real joy.
On the Sunday morning I got to bed after 1am and got up at 5.30am to get my onward flight. It was a shame JD Crowe had to pull out of Saturday night due to a death in the family and I missed the Sunday acts including, 111rd Tyme Out and the Gibson Brothers. But I had my fill and got my money’s worth. All in all, it was a wonderful experience and heaps of fun.

Sierra Hull with Clay Hess

Here’s an article from Ed Lowe that might just get you fired up and ready for the festivals this year:

I’d like to encourage you to go to a bluegrass festival in 2010.

Four years ago I made a spur of the moment decision to go to the Harrietville Bluegrass Convention. I mentioned this idea to my friend Jeff White and he decided to go too. We had a great time and learned as much about playing bluegrass in four days as we normally did in a year of messing around at home.

Since then we’ve been back to Harrietville three times and last year we went to Redlands too. We’ve met a lot of great people, made friends of some of them and look forward to seeing them and playing with them again each year.

Redlands late afternoon jam-2009

Most festivals are a mix of the activities listed below. Each festival has its own character, which is determined by the particular mix of these elements, the size of the festival and the nature of the venue. You can get a good idea of what a festival is like by looking at images of previous festivals on the various websites. ( I’ve listed as many as I could find at the end of this article).

                Concerts;

                                  These are scheduled events featuring a mix of visiting and local artists and bands.

                Blackboard concerts;

                                   These are opportunities for “unknown” bands and scratch ensembles to play to an audience. An MC will take down the names of those people who want to play and put them on.

                Workshops;

                                     These are essentially group lessons on a particular topic,e.g. Harmony singing, beginning the banjo, Eskimo nose flute etc.

                Informal jamming sessions;

                                     Good festival organisers try to encourage these sessions by providing suitable areas for them to happen but they’re always ad hoc. Take your instrument with you and carry it around!

Jamming at Harrietville. Geoff Bridgeland (banjo) and Lindsay Clapperton

Some people have a schedule of concerts and events that they plan to see which makes the D-Day  invasion plans look half-baked. On the other hand,it’s quite possible to attend a festival, have a great time,play all weekend and not see a single organised event.

The Bing Brothers with Charlie Walden. Concert at Harrietville 2008

Festival tips;

Make a plan;

Decide where you are going to go and start planning to get there. It gives you something to look forward to during hard days at work.

Accommodation;

This can be tricky in some places. Check the festival’s website early and be prepared to book early. Some festivals, such as Yarra Junction have fairly primitive accommodation. Do some research!

Travel;

You’ll probably want to fly. Watch out for specials on  the airline websites. If you’re travelling with someone else you’ll need to agree on an airline and flight times. Don’t forget to allow for the time you’ll need to drive between the airport and the festival site. Harrietville has a concert on the Thursday night before the festival programme starts. We get there early enough for that and get in some extra jamming time.

In most cases you’ll want to hire a car. If you share with someone else you can save a lot on this. Tip: Get low-cost travel insurance that includes “Hire-Car Excess” cover. Then you can get the hire car at the cheapest rate.

You can usually carry a mandolin or fiddle onto a plane but you’ll have to check everything else in as “oversize” luggage. Do some research on how to best pack your instrument for flying. Watch out for weight limits. Qantas has a 23kg limit for economy passengers. If 13kgs of that is a banjo you’re going to have to pack light to stay under the limit. Consider instrument insurance.

Join in;

If you play an instrument, take it with you and carry it around. If you find a jam that you might fit into, screw up your courage and have a go.

The author (mandolin) having a good time at Redlands-2009

Websites:

As well as the sites listed below I suggest that you look at the Australian Bluegrass Blog for updates, reviews and lots of photographs.

Here is a link to the blog’s festival page.

http://australianbluegrass.com.com/?page_id=2193

Dates                                          Events

Jan 2010                                      Girgarre Moosic Muster

                                                         http://girgarremusic.blogspot.com/

April 2010                                  Mt. Beauty Music Muster

                                                         http://www.musicmuster.org.au/

April 2010                                  Yarra Junction Fiddler’s Convention

July 2010                                   Redlands Bluegrass Convention

                                                        http://www.redlandscountry.asn.au/bg.htm#intro

August 2010                              Kelly Country Pick ( Beechworth)

                                                         http://www.kellycountrypick.org/

Sept 2010                                   Guildford Banjo Jamboree

                                                        http://www.banjojamboree.org/

October 2010                         Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival

                                                http://www.dorrigofolkbluegrass.com.au/

Nov 2010                Harrietville Bluegrass and Old Timey Music Convention

                                       http://bluegrass.org.au/index.cfm?pid=111727

Jan 2011                           Australian Banjo Conference

                                         http://www.bellbirdbanjos.com/banjo_camp.php

Thanks to the Italian Club and all the Bluegrass Club members, family and friends, the EOYC was a great success. Apart from all those that performed for us, it was gratifying that everyone pitched in to help with the setting up of chairs and tables etc. and the removal of them at the end. Without such willing help the afternoon could not have happened so smoothly.

The following is a record, in the order that they appeared,of all those that performed ;

The Magi, consisting of Lindsay Cullen, Mark Staer and Bruce who sang some gospel songs;

Next, Loss Trios came on made up of Sabine on fiddle, Sheelagh and Stephen Loss, bass being provided by Maria Duff.

After that came The Faithful Hearts with Peter and Helen Anthony;

Cahoots were next with Cajun music consisting of Dave Cornwell, Peter Devlin, Madge on fiddle and Bill Devlin;

Goin’ up country were Stagecoach, Neil Fullwood was on pedal steel, Terry Fullwood singing, Gary Swain on bass, Paul Fullwood and Anita Webb on fiddle;

Kitchen Grass came on next made up of Jeff White, Ed Lowe, Bob White, Phil Jones and Stephen Loss;

The less said about the next act the better, The Pigswill Boys appeared with Peter Devlin, Hilary! and Dave Corwell;

The final band was the famous Bluegrass Parkway with Mick O’Neil, Paul Duff, Maria Duff and Guy Paris;

There was a finale where everyone who wanted to play got on stage to give a rendition of Will The Circle Be Unbroken;

It was a great finish to a great concert and a great year. Thank you to all that took part in whatever way you did.

Rod Jones of the Bluegrass and Traditional Country Music Society of Australia sent us all a message about the Harrietville experience of last weekend of the 19th to 22nd November 2009.
” For you WA people. Harrietville wonderful.Hungry Hill superb.Maybe they can get to WA in the future-fantastic harmony workshops! Rod.
Thanks Rod for your message, some of our crowd did attend and we look forward to their reports and pictures of the event which will be published here.