Fred J Eaglesmith Picnic

Subject: Fred J Eaglesmith Picnic
From: GUEST,Bouzouki Bob
Date: 31 Aug 00 - 10:40 PM

For anyone interested in Fred Eaglesmith music, Fred hosts a weekend long picnic at a conservation area near Port Dover. Various performers are on stage from about 11:00am to 11:00pm, then the jamming starts, and runs into the wee hours. Camping is available on site. The performers this year included; Fred himself, Willy P Bennett, Washboard Hank, Wado Texas, Grievous Angles, Luther Wright & the Wrongs, and The Cruzeros. The latter is a bluegrass band who drove all the way from Kamloops B.C.! They really impressed me, with their harmonies, and mostly original material. I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who may have attended this year, or previous years.

Subject: RE: Fred J Eaglesmith Picnic
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 01 Sep 00 - 09:40 AM

Well I've never been, but it sounds like a blast. Reminds me a bit of the American Bluegrass Festivals I used to haunt a few years ago. Sometimes the night time pickin' sessions were truly magical.

Like the jazz sessions in Kansas City in the 40s, there was a curious kind of dynamic. You'd have a group of about fifteen folks, strumming away on the Bluegrass "hits" (Fox on the Run, Foggy Mtn. breakdown, even "The Beverly Hill Billies") and then all of a sudden it would pare down to four or five totally dedicated pickers who knew "the parts" (vocal and instrumental) and they'd play and sing the real old tunes.....suddenly as if from out of thin air, someone like Ralph Stanley or John Duffy or even Monroe himself would be standing there, instrument in hand.

Years later folks would talk about the night "they picked with Jimmie Martin", as one of the greatest moments of their life.

Rick