Bluegrass Mecca

Banjoes and fiddles and gee-tars, oh my! I'm immersing myself into this Southern US culture, a little bit at a time. But I got a HUGE dose last week when my parents were visiting friends in Tennessee from Idaho and talked me into driving up and meeting them. Their purpose of the visit was to drive from Eastern TN to Wilkesboro NC to attend this big bluegrass festival called "MerleFest".

I thought, Merle Haggard? But no, after a little research I learned it was named after Merle Watson. Who?? Maybe all you bluegrass fans out there have heard of this name, but I as a transplant from the west had no clue.

It turns out Merle was the son of a blind bluegrass legend, Doc Watson. At the age of 36, Merle was killed when he rolled the family tractor on a steep hill near their home in western North Carolina. The accident cut short his career as a talented guitar "picker" and muscian. In his honor a year or so later they held a short concert. That tradition has continued and now, nearly 20 years later it's turned into this kind of red-neck, hippie music festival with close to 100 thousand people in attendance. And right there, smack dab in the middle of them was me. I wore a Napa Auto Parts baseball cap and sat in a Nascar fold-up camping chair, just so I fit in.

A few highlights:

The Laura Love Band One song was called something like, "I want you gone". Just when you think she's singing about a boyfriend gone bad, you realize she's singing about George Bush. Gasp! Quite a risky move, considering the audience. The shockwaves through the crowd were palpable. But I think the hippies outnumbered the rednecks so there wasn't a throw down. And then she started making wise cracks about singing at Salt Lake City Gay Pride and how all two attendees at her concert loved her. Ha! I've been to Gay Pride in SLC. There were 10 people there, not 2. =)

John Cowan This guy was actually pretty good. I bought a CD. Damn, I'm expanding my music collection to include bluegrass? What is this world coming to!?

Rush Limbaugh He wasn't there, but his presense was felt. His lawyers reached an agreement with prosecutors in Florida on charges related to misuse of prescription drugs. My father's Tennessee friends, dyed-in-the-wool republicans, were convinced the liberals were gunning for him and were relieved he won't see jail time. And besides, if he did, King George would pardon him anyway, wouldn't he?

Drunk woman with Merlot-stained teeth at Doolies Bar & Grill, Wilkesboro NC We didn't notice her at first, but pretty soon her drunken utterances caught our attention. Sitting alone on a bar stool, stairing into the air above our heads, at least as it seemed, she spoke quite often to...herself? Anyone who would listen? And then she caught the eye of the wife of my father's friend. This happened just as drunk lady barked like a dog or something similarly startling. She staggared toward our table, locking eyes with Tracy and proceeded to apologize for scaring her. This is when I noticed the teeth. Deep purple. Merlot? Perhaps cabernet? Couldn't tell. But the odd thing was the stare-down. Standing only a few feet away, she locked eyes with Tracy. 10, 15 seconds pass, no words, just staring. Then, "I'm sorry if I scared you. I would never hurt anyone..." Staring continues. "I would NEVER hurt anyone." Then her tone darkens, "I've thought about it, but I'd never do it." Enter bartender, stage right. She was escorted back to her glass of vino and we all breathed a sigh of relief that Tracy didn't have to bitch-slap her. Actually, I would have loved to see that, but oh well.