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Bluegrass is back

By Mary Jane Holt
Contributing Writer

My first thought was that she had to be the bravest woman on the premises. “What do you mean?” was the question I read from the raised eyebrow gaze she leveled at me when I commented about her wearing “a Pink Floyd T-shirt to a bluegrass gathering of this magnitude.”

A few hours later I saw her again. She was wearing a plain, though quite flattering, maroon top. You would think I would have learned by now. But, no, “stuff” still just tumbles off my tongue far too spontaneously. Clearly she forgave me because we talked at length later. And laughed!ÊI was glad.

Of course, that same impromptu mouth of mine got me an interview with Gary Waldrep while I was at “The Third Annual Gary Waldrep is Georgia Bound” weeklong Blue Grass Festival at Hoofer’s Gospel in LaGrange last week.

In recent years, bluegrass music has been hot and getting hotter. The same can be said for Gary Waldrep. This extraordinarily talented Alabama musician has a huge and ever-growing fan club that follows him everywhere. (Look out Grand Ole Opry, he’s a-coming!)

“Everywhere” means he and his band are on the road between 200 and 250 days with about 80 concert dates a year. Donna Townsel on the bass, Bill Everett on the mandolin, Stan Wilemon with the guitar, and Fayette County’s own Mark Squires playing the fiddle are all strong talents in their own right. Their appearances regularly take them as far north as Connecticut and west to Texas.Ê

A rare “dropped thumb” banjo picker, Gary also is mesmerizing on the piano. He credits his Grandmother Maurice McCullough, a gospel piano player, for the influence that old time gospel and country music have had in his life.

As he talked so fondly, almost reverently, of his upbringing and the past, I asked if there was anything he would change. At 41, he says, “I’d still play music, but I would have pursued it at a hotter pace than I did; I would have pushed myself harder as a solo artist when I was younger.”

As I observed him throughout the day and evening, I wondered about him going solo with anything. What a love he seems to have for the people! A giver. A humble sharer of the limelight. No kidding! This guy’s generosity of heart and willingness to share the stage impressed me!

Gary and I talked about how pot, drugs and alcohol were so prevalent among bluegrass performers and fans back in the 1960-70’s. Eventually those folks moved in the direction of rock ’n roll, he said, leaving bluegrass to flounder for a short while.

Today baby boomers and avid RV’ers flock, and I do mean FLOCK, to events all over the United States. Seldom is a bluegrass concert a one-day happening. Three days to a week is a must for these fans from all four corners of this country. And, thankfully, drugs and alcohol are now gone from the scene.

At this most recent Hoofers event, with more than a dozen bands in concert, there were entertainers and fans visiting from Ireland, as well. Hoofers draws thousands of fans several times a year. Not everybody comes in an RV. Two hotels in LaGrange were full last week. The mall was more crowded. What a treat for businesses in LaGrange and surrounding cities!

Donnie Lee, of Newnan, with Bullsboro (who just released a new CD), has hosted the Hoofers events for five years and does a mighty fine job of it! For those interested in the new Bullsboro CD, the group will, of course, be performing again at the annual Powers Crossroads Fair in Coweta county on Labor Day weekend.

LaGrange will host “The Best in Traditional Bluegrass” October 14-16, and The Fourth Annual “A Touch of Virginia in Georgia” will take place February 24-26, 2005. You can check out all the Hoofers events (yeah, it’s a very nicely refurbished old cattle auction barn!) at www.hoofers.com or call 800-844-6737.

I promise if I ever run into you there and you are wearing a Pink Floyd shirt I will refrain from commenting!

Oh, and check out www.garywaldrepband.com for information about the “Ninth Annual Homecoming on the Farm” that Gary hosts just out from Boaz, Alabama. The back porch of his log cabin is the stage and the two day event is open to one and all! (He said I could invite you!)