Spaw, you really are a pretty decent guy, no matter what they say!

The bass player thing is tricky. Another member of our band was also asked to participate in that pick-up band, but he refused, since (he told them) his allegiance was with our band. The bassist was keeping all his options open. Might we have won 3rd if he hadn't played for them? Who knows? He did well, in any case.

As for the accompaniment, I've always had a mission to give recognition to people for what they do. In fact, "recognition and reward" were two of my personal issues in one of the re-engineering projects I worked on in my former corporate life. Nothing I did on guitar was spectacular, that's for sure. But I'm pretty sure the second place guy performed alone. Maybe that says something. I'm thinking that all the accompanists of all the winners should have been acknowledged.

One thing that troubled me most was the lack of the usual bluegrass camaraderie. I'm so used to folks picking tunes together, laughing, sharing songs, etc. This was like stepping onto another planet where music was serious business, and the jam next door was the competition.