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1979 Blue Ridge Mountain Grass Bluegrass Band - 3-Page Vintage Article

$ 7.91

Availability: 91 in stock
  • Industry: Music
  • Genre: Country
  • Condition: Original, vintage magazine article; Good Condition.

    Description

    1979 Blue Ridge Mountain Grass Bluegrass Band - 3-Page Vintage Article
    Original, vintage magazine article
    Page Size: Approx 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
    Condition: Good
    John Cheney, Virgil Harrison, Bill Wells, Bobby Kay, Andy Cartoun.
    Blue Ridge
    Mountain Grass
    I first had the opportunity to hear the
    Blue Ridge Mountain Grass perform at a
    concert for the veterans at the Naval
    Hospital at Great Lakes, Illinois (near
    Chicago) in late summer of 1977. Bill
    Wells, the co-founder and manager of the
    group (which at that time was known as
    Lake County Bluegrass Friends) is a re-
    tired Navy man himself and we struck up
    a discussion about the “art” of bluegrass
    music. That was my initial real exposure
    to bluegrass music - regretably because I
    wish had been sooner - but none-the-less
    the beginning of my love affair with the
    old style mountain music they call blue-
    grass, and more precisely, with the
    enticing sounds of the Blue Ridge
    Mountain Grass. Later on when I had the
    opportunity to interview the group I
    jumped at the chance, almost as eagerly
    as the group recently jumped at the
    chance to be on the same bill with Ralph
    Stanley at the Old Old House in
    Whitewater, Wisconsin. Bill recalls the
    memorable event. “We got a call late
    Friday asking if we were booked this
    weekend, I said, ‘No we weren’t we had
    an open date.’ Then I was asked if
    we’d like to come up and do the warm-up
    and intro for Ralph Stanley who was going
    to be in Whitewater this weekend.
    I really couldn’t believe what I was hear-
    ing, so we took ’em up on the offer. We
    had an opportunity to get in on the open-
    ing of Bill Monroe’s Brown County
    Jamboree Park in Bean Blossom, Indiana
    this year. The weather was awful that
    night, it was raining and sleeting and
    colder than all get out, and they were pre-
    dicting more of the same for the whole
    weekend, but I’d drive through a dozen
    sleet storms to play with Bill Monroe.
    That was definitely the thrill of a
    lifetime for me - for all of us!” Indeed,
    since their organization three years ago,
    this group’s fame and popularity in the
    Midwest has really rocketed! For the first
    three months of their inception, their
    only live performing was practicing three
    nights a week in the basement of Bill’s
    home in Lake Villa, Illinois, (a peaceful,
    residential community about 50 minutes
    or so north of Chicago). In 1977 they
    participated in three bluegrass festivals,
    through the first six months of this year
    they’ve participated in five festivals in
    Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and
    Virginia, and that’s not including the fact
    that already in 1978 they have
    appeared with Lester Flatt’s Nashville
    Grass, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch
    Mountain Boys and Bill Monroe and The
    Blue Grass Boys.
    My interview took place at Bill’s house
    one night shortly before the group started
    rehearsing for an upcoming engagement
    in Wisconsin. He spoke of his start in
    bluegrass.
    “I’ve always enjoyed bluegrass, ever
    since I was growing up back home in
    Hiltons, Virginia...” (Bill was born in
    Cromona, Kentucky, the son of a Baptist...
    14586-AL-7901-34