The universal culture of bluegrass
To the Editor,
At the risk of back-seat writing, I wanted to share what I think bluegrass is all about.
I tripped over it in the late '70s. I had just started college and was listening to punk rock, blues, opera, and folk (anything but disco). A friend took me to a bluegrass festival where I witnessed people from disparate walks of life all sharing in the same experience. There was no culture gap, no generation gap-nothing but talent and community. No one cared about anything but the song being played. Where in the world can something like this exist? I admit that the music seemed a bit too twangy, but I liked the feeling so much it started to grow on me.
There are hundreds of bluegrass tunes (heck, thousands of 'em), and everyone in the community seems to know them. I remember the time a guy from the Milan Bluegrass Association showed up at a festival. He didn't speak a word of English, but he knew every song phonetically.
Over the years I've set up my humble tent at hundreds of bluegrass festivals; a woman with nothing but a guitar, some gear and a batch of homemade cookies to share with strangers. Each time I was welcomed as an old friend in music. Over time I've run into familiar faces and we've enjoyed happy reminiscences of festivals past.Twenty or 30 years ago, my motto was, "You can sleep when you're old." After all this mileage, my new motto is, "You can sleep when you're dead." There's pickin' to do.
See you next year at the festival
Della Perry
Eugene, Oregon
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