MG-

I'll take the lack-o-malice comment and accept it...

But, let me change my mind and say I lied about turning comments around:

A. It's so damn repetitious, the songs seem to go on forever. I keep wondering, "is this the last time we are going to play it through?"

A.1. Question: Is the use of the word "damn" nice-spirited or mean-spirited?

A.2. Most JAMS that I'm involved with are with people who are just learning the tune, so there is an effort to play a tune long enough to make sure someone who doesn't know it can pick it up well enough to remember it. We try to avoid tunes that have been literally beat into the ground (like Old Joe Clark).

A.3. I've never been to an old-time CONCERT that was "so damn repetitious". Have you ever been to an old-time CONCERT? The Big Medicine concert in West Chester, PA last weekend was phenomenal. Perhaps you're choosing to form an opinion just based upon some JAMS with some old-time starters. Have you ever stood in the shadows of a crowd observing Bruce Molsky in a JAM? David Bass? Rayna Gellert? Rich Hartness? Richard Bowman? My wife, Palmer? There are many more I could list and I'm sorry if I've offended anyone by not including them (that's why I included my wife...).

B. It lacks any edge

Refer to A.3. above. Bluegrass has become too predictable, too formulaic (if that's a word), too rule-driven...and I think bluegrass has lost any semblance of subtlety. The rhythmic subtlety of old-time is perhaps its strongest attraction for me.

C. It usually is played without a bass rendering it somewhat hollow for me.

Maybe this is the olive-branch bridge I can toss to you...There are many excellent bass players in old-time music who have eschewed bluegrass, or continue to maintain a high-regard for bluegrass...but, having said that, there needs to be more bass players in old-time. At a good old-time festival like Clifftop, I would say that good bass players are the most sought-after musicians, followed by guitar players. The principle instruments are fiddle and banjo. Bass in old-time is not glamorous, but if really good, is the heart of the band. I've observed some bluegrass bass players who get into an old-time jam start slapping the bass or otherwise start trying to draw attention to themselves, which distracts from the point. That's a major difference between old-time and bluegrass...the point is to contribute and not show that everyone is a virtuoso.

On the other hand, a lot of old-time is done without a bass. With you being a bass player, I will duplicitously assert that this could be a sticking point for a bass player, but hope you could pick up a guitar, banjo or fiddle, too...

I was just re-reading the liner notes to Gail Gillespie's TRAVELING SHOES CD today and there's a paragraph about my friend, Tolly Tollefson, and her playing with the New Southern Broadcasters:

After spending most of her musical years as a fiddler she has recently found a calling with the stand-up-bass. A multi-talented musician, Tolly enjoys contributing to the music on whatever instrument she happens to have in her hands. As she says, "Playing old-time music is what is fun, the instrument you play it on is secondary."

D. The newest song seems to be Old Joe Clark

Refer to A.3. above. There exists a short list of fiddle tunes that have worked their way into the bluegrass repertoire that is so stagnant that it has never ceased to amaze me (Bill Cheatum (sp), Old Joe Clark, Sally Goodin, Devil's Dream, not to mention the show tunes like Orange Blossom Special, Listen to the Mockingbird, etc.) that the literally THOUSANDS of other great fiddle tunes are so painstakingly ignored so that points like your D. point prevail. A suggestion: get your band to learn Ed Haley's BLUEGRASS MEADOWS. It's completely different from the hackneed, typical BG repertoire, and it's got BLUEGRASS in the title!!

E. It lacks flashy and flambouyant leads

No it doesn't. In a JAM, the fiddle has the lead and the banjo is right there with it. It lacks slick ("LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO") all-about-ME showiness because the heart of the music is not the individual, but the whole group, or JAM. Most typically, a JAM sounds a whole lot different, rhythmically and intensively (?) at the end than at the beginning, because it builds each time around. Geez, fiddlers like Bruce Molsky get criticized for being too flashy. Of course while singing SONGS while performing in a CONCERT, the vocals have the lead and there are some over-the-top singers today (and of course, in the past)...Ginny Hawker, Carol Elizabeth Jones, Beverly Smith & Carl Jones...Big Medicine's vocals are incredible...so vital...

F. Every one always plays at the same volume as there seems to be a lack of dynamics.

Having no individual breaks cannot be equivalenced with a lack of dynamics. After so many years of listening to it and playing it, I find the formulaic break-taking of bluegrass one instrument at-a-time to be boringly predictable and lacking in dynamics. To hear a rhythmic groove of fiddle, banjo, guitar and (if we're lucky) bass raising the roof higher and higher as the dynamic intensity increases is one of the things I live for.



Martin Gibson,

I'm not trying to be adversarial here, but on the other hand, I can't passively sit by and take your comments about the music I love and have spent so much time working on, without reacting. No malice on my part intended. Just give old-time a real listen...I know a lot of over-the-top bluegrass musicians who have come around to old-time.

Look out. My mission is to convert you...you're doomed...

-Greg