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I went to a bluegrass show tonight, and yes, I already know what you're thinking: "*snort* Bluegrass? Where exactly are you from? Did you wear overalls? Get a load of this Margaret-" and to you I say: "Hey- I like bluegrass, buddy."
Which is true. Usually. But when I sat tonight in the back room of World Of Strings, surrounded by double basses stacked wall-to-wall and folk music-hungry folks, watching Dan Crary's fingers slip and slide over a Taylor twelve string with a surgeon's delicate touch, I was mesmerized. Now I like to listen to music as much as the next blogger, but seeing this episode in person, hearing the trills and bends and the cracking joints (Dan is somewhere in his seventies), seeing the shadows flit around the muscles in his strumming arm is a whole 'nother story. To say he was good is quite an understatement. To say he was amazing is awkward. To say he was dazzlingly sly and mysterious is a closer fit to the truth.
A lot of folks like to knock bluegrass. I personally would rather knock country music (another song about your dog/tractor/crazy ex lover/need to identify yourself as a redneck woman ? No, Thanks). But when I jump to these conclusions I find myself wondering about those people I mentioned bagging on bluegrass. And I jump up to defend it, knocking over someone's beer in the process, because I feel that it's beautiful and that most people haven't seen or heard enough to make that decision; instead it is one fueled by stereotypes and those really awful CDs of "bluegrass" in the music section at Target (I promise it isn't really bluegrass! It's a trick!). And then I reflect on country music and my visceral reaction to it. And then I hang my head in shame.
Don't knock it until you sit in front of Dan Crary and watch lightning in is finger tips arc over the frets and strings. If you can do it after witnessing that religious experience, feel free.
My sincerest apologies, country music (your tractor is, indeed, sexy). Electronica- sorry, but you're still on my list.
My friend Ralph works at World of Strings! Small world.
ReplyDeletep.s. since there isn't really another place to add this: your subtitles are really nice. Hope that isn't weird. Hope your summer is going ..swimmingly.