I should say, "has been held," because I learned that the IBMA big show will be in Raleigh the next three years. We've already warned Mike and Karen that we may be dropping on them next September.
The Convention Center is right across the street from the historic Ryman auditorium, the 'mother church' of country music and the site where Bill Monroe introduced bluegrass music to the world.
One of my favorite bluegrass groups is Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, who performed in Nashville. In fact, Doyle Lawson was a headliner - he was inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame this year. This group does a lot of gospel music, which I like. I first heard them about 30 years ago at a festival in upstate NY Of course, the band members have changed over the years. Here's one of my favorite numbers. Much more on youtube for your listening enjoyment.
The IBMA works hard at encouraging and showcasing young performers - keeping the traditions alive. One young phenom who performed this year is 10-year old banjo-whiz Johnny Mizzone, from New Jersey Appalachia. This video from two years ago went viral on youtube with over 2.6 million hits so far. First time I ever saw a bluegrass video recorded in a bedroom.
One former phenom, now an adult with his own band, is the outstanding fiddler, a frequent winner of the IBMA's best fiddler award, Michael Cleveland. He's blind, which makes his skill even more remarkable. His group played a set at FanFest. Check out this youtube video, Sally Goodin
One group that caught my attention was a string band from Dublin, Ireland, called I Draw Slow. (I don't know what the name means.) The two folks in hats are brother and sister.
They write and perform music that sounds like it came from Appalachia, which makes sense because a lot of Appalachian music originated in England and Ireland. Here's a sample.
During one break in the action I took a walk across a pedestrian/bicycle bridge across the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. Here are a couple of views. That's the stadium where the Tennessee Titans play.
We desert rats are always impressed by big rivers, which are no big deal back here east of the Mississippi.
Mandi and Paul, who used to live in Nashville, twice, and who now live in NYC, joined us for the weekend.
Susie and Mandi got in some serious shopping while I was bluegrassing and Paul got together with a good friend here with whom he has worked in producing his (Paul's) music and videos. Paul and Mandi also checked out their old stomping grounds. We managed to include several Cracker Barrel meals - not yet available in New York City. Wednesday for chicken pot pie and Sunday for fried chicken are two favorites. For RVers Cracker Barrel can usually be relied on for ample RV parking and access.
For variety, we went to Waffle House for one breakfast.
On Monday I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Main draw, since I've seen the permanent exhibits before, was a temporary exhibit on Patsy Cline. It was interesting and sad, because of her tragically cut-short life, but it mostly consisted of comments by Brenda Lee and a couple of other people who knew her well, plus several recordings of her songs, played while showing a video of Patsy singing other songs. A little strange.
Here's a link to I Fall to Pieces, her song that got me interested in country music. Up til then, it had just been something my Dad liked, so how could I?
Here is her Hall of Fame plaque.
And, of course:
The Hall of Fame has some nice exhibits and opportunities to listen to old and classic country music, so I had a couple of fine hours of entertainment.
We left Tuesday morning, heading for State College for a Penn State U Homecoming weekend with Joyce and Jay Rush (Joyce is Susie's sister-in-law in the Hinkle family). They're both PSU alums and bought a home in nearby Boalsburg about a year ago. They still travel with their RV to Habitat for Humanity projects, about which we've written and where we've crossed paths with them on previous travels. Jay is in the middle of a Habitat project in Henryville, IN, site of a major tornado last spring, but he drove to Penn State for homecoming weekend. Several years ago, in Tuzigoot I, we journeyed together in our RVs from their farm west of Pittsburgh to State College for a football weekend.
We kept up the country music theme by stopping Tuesday night in Renfro Valley, KY. They have theatres there that have country music shows year-round, but not on Tuesdays, unfortunately. We did get a sample of Kentucky country music by touring the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Here's a portrait of Bill Monroe.
Some others on the Kentucky Honor Roll: Loretta Lynn, Rosemary Clooney, The Everly Brothers, Tom T. Hall, Grandpa Jones.
The next day we let the GPS guide us along backroads through KY and into Ohio and a KOA at Buckeye Lake, just east of Columbus. These roads were well-paved, but narrow, undulating, twisting, with drop-offs where shoulders should be. But, lots of beautiful farm country and quite a bit of early fall foliage.
The only moment of concern was in Maysville, KY, on the banks of the Old Ohio. At a right turn onto the bridge I quickly read the load limits and thought, We're too heavy, so I proceeded across the intersection instead of crossing the bridge, but as I did the numbers mentally, I decided we were OK. (There were several limits posted, depending on type of vehicle, so it wasn't straightforward.) So, I decided to go around the block, showing on the GPS map, and cross the bridge when I came to it. At one corner it seemed to me that the right thing to do was to turn left, but Miss GPS said turn right - down an alley. She doesn't know the difference between a 38 ft. motor home and a PT Cruiser and we're both! I disobeyed her, but successfully negotiated the narrow streets and tight corners to get back on the bridge approach and cross that bridge when we came to it. Turned out that a couple miles down the road there was another newer, stronger bridge and that apparently was what Miss GPS was steering us toward.
Here's the bridge. Leaving KY.
Approaching OH.
The KOA at Buckeye Lake was one of the nicest we've seen. Very clean and well-maintained, friendly staff, good layout, well-positioned hookups, etc. If you're ever in the area, stop in. I went walking Thursday morning looking for the lake. Where we were, though, as is the case for many of these Midwest lakes, the lake was lined with summer cottages and you couldn't see through them to the lake. But, I'm sure it's a nice lake.
As we've worked our way north, we're seeing more fall colors and looking forward to more and more.
From Buckeye Lake we drove on Thursday to the Bellefonte (pronounced Bell-Font, not Belafonte) KOA, which is about 15 miles from State College, PA. More scenic back roads. The main excitement occurred at the junction of two highways. We had driven US 22 across SE Ohio, then turned north at the state line on highway 7, running along the west bank of the Ohio River. There was a hump in the pavement that caused Tuzi to rock severely from side to side. Nothing came out of the cabinets, but their contents really banged around. About a mile up the road I glanced in the right mirror. The right-side slide-out was sticking out about a foot. I quickly pulled onto the shoulder and stopped. Fortunately, the slide-out retracted as it should. Never had that happen before.
Rest of the trip to Bellefonte went fine. I-80 across NW PA has some spectacular high bridges with low railings spanning narrow valleys.
Next report: Penn State Homecoming.
Rob and Susie
No comments:
Post a Comment