Tales from the Road Series
It starts with the squeal of horsehair pulled across the vibrating strings of an old fiddle, and the sharp ping of a Mandolin strike. The big bass doesn’t announce himself so much by the deep-throated sound, as the vibrations in the air. Somehow this mix of instruments doesn’t just make sounds but becomes a magic carpet that carries a part of you away. It imparts the ability to take yourself out of the equation, setting yourself aside while you ride the musical tones appearing and disappearing in each moment. These sounds stay though, in a part of the soul, even as note after note keeps coaxing you along, like a lover pulling you to the bedroom. Drop in the voices of 3 part tight harmony, just notes apart, to split the air, and your spirit soars. 
Simple instruments, simple tunes, and simple times roll in and out, as the stories flow from the soul to fingers, to spirits, and back to the soul. From Floyd Virginia, through the ridge of Blue Mountains, to the sharp-peaked Smokeys, simple music runs out and down from these hills, like a gushing river winding its way, following a path that only the music knows, and only the music can make. It can cut deep like running water as it makes its way to a destination where it’s needed most. Birthed from Appalachia in the 1940’s bluegrass music now has a worldwide reach.
Generation after generation have woven their lives out of these hard hills, each with their own flavor, their own taste of what’s grown from their souls, through the music in these lands. No longer just a ‘country’ thing, simple music like Bluegrass has moved to Nashville and sprouted a new generation of musicians, that from their early ages became saturated in the downpour of these tunes, to bring a spin of their own. Words rich with the struggles of life, the successes in life, and the ups and downs of love, roll with this new generation, bringing simple tunes and simple instruments to a new part of the world.
Bluegrass is more than just another type of music. It isn’t something one can just convert. It comes from a deep part of one’s inside. It doesn’t have to be mic’d, amplified, folded, and spun through modern recording equipment, it just bounces from one person to another. Sierra Hull, Sarah Watkins, Chis Thile, Alison Krauss all follow the greats, Bill Monroe, Flatts and Scruggs, Roland While, and Bobby Osborne, who paved the way.
Both today’s and yesterday’s bluegrass music can take you away from the moment and suspend the care of now, for a soul-ringing, foot-stomping beat. Today’s bluegrass pushes the boundaries of ‘simple’ as more and more complex harmonies, tunes, and music continues to grow and flow.
It’s amazing to feel the reaction when certain music strikes a part of your insides. It seems to call and harken you to that moment in time, and give expression and feeling through tone, harmony and energy. Add it to the lists of gifts that grew from a spark long ago… who knows… but if there is a place for you to sit and listen, take a few minutes to join the flow of music coming out of the mountains. It’s good for the soul.
As much as bluegrass music grows out of the people raised in the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, it makes me wonder if these hills, whose deep roots go beyond sight, might actually be where the music of this land came from…
Down deep in the roots of these hills.
Peace on your Journey this week.
