Subject: Armuchee ('kinda' long)

Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 20:40:23 -0400

From: Bill Brown <bcbrown@earthlink.net>

To: BGRASS-L@LSV.UKY.EDU

 

Another great Armuchee Labor Day weekend bluegrass festival! Some of the

highlights for me included 1) arriving about sunset Friday and finding

Ed Wade and friends sharing Armuchee delicacies and stories. Then 2)

joining Ed, Tom and Aina Barnwell (and many others) in a jam session

using a borrowed banjo from Mr. 'Slim' Johnson. That Granada was mighty

fine! 3) socializing and listening to great music under an Armuchee full

moon for the rest of the evening. 4) going to a small motel (a pretty

good distance from the festival) where I had rented a room for $25 per

night and discovering that it had a mirror over the bed (for a somewhat

sheltered Tennessee Farm boy, that is a first!) and a sign outside that

read, "We are open 24 hours a day." (still trying to figure that out??)

It was right across from the 'Fantasy Tan and Mini Storage Bins' - all

painted dull pink...

 

Saturday - arrived at the festival a bit before noon and it was already

underway. And the highlights continued - 5) Tut Taylor's place was as

usual, one center for jamming. Tut brought along a "TUT-bro" that looked

somewhat like a dulcimer and he shared with me that he had finished it

about 2 weeks before the festival. It had a great sound with some

artwork...well, I will let him recount his 'stage-version' of how the

artwork came to be! 6) non stop jamming at Tut's with Hughie Wylie,

Roger Robinson, Gerry Hall, Lee and Wanda Taylor, David and Nancy

Anderson, Red Yates - and others. 7) SouthEastern Bluegrass Association

(SEBA) prez Lonetta Essary and others playing some great fiddle music -

"Angeline the Baker" - best I ever heard!

 

Probably the main highlight, however, had to be getting to sit and visit

with Mr. Mack and Ms. Evelyn Farley, Cricket Langley and others involved

in putting on this great 'Picker's Festival." What a joy - and Mr. Mack

and Ms. Evelyn will be celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary within

the next few days. I know all of us in the bluegrass community wish them

the best and many more.

 

To wind down my festival, I had the pleasure of socializing with members

of 'Georgia Bound' and listening to some great music for a couple of

hours in the evening. The Georgia moon seemed a bit brighter to me as I

listened to many outstanding vocals by Connie Morris, backed up with

great flat picking guitar by John Farley, beautiful harmonies (and lead)

by Tracy Burdette (also on mandolin) and Mike Patton (bass). In

addition, Bob Chappell added some excellent banjo work to the session.

What a way to end a festival!

 

As I drove back to Knoxville listening the music of 3TO "Live at the

MAC" (picked up from Mr. Carl Queen of Atteiram records at the festival)

I realized more than ever that days like these are to be savored - for

they are what make the memories, and the music, and especially the

people, so special.

 

Bill

Bill's Bluegrass Page

http://bcbrown.simplenet.com/bluegrass

 

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