Mountain Tyme -- Thanks. I DO know all that. I apologize if I sounded like a little snot. And I HAVE been to bluegrass festivals, and certainly Wyoming is full of just the people you describe, and my own roots are, at least in some part, those of bluegrass people -- Scot-Irish from the hills of Tennessee. I guess my personal tastes run to more synthesis of styles and less adherence to tradition. I'm not discounting the music, nor the people, but I find it a little irksome that it's quite such a closed system.

But again, that's why bluegrass isn't my genre of choice. I like it, love some of the songs, but I prefer the freer give and take of other musical forms. And I know that's strictly a matter of personal preference.

ww