The play centers on the lives of four fictitious musicians and their relationship as members of a part-time bluegrass band.
The play not only focuses
on the four musicians but includes a mix of the period music leading up
to
the development of
a popular rural roots music genre of the early 1940’s and the various styles
and
directions this music
has taken since. A multimedia slide presentation underscores the
performances
with images of rural
America, where this music has long been an integral part of everyday life,
as-well-as highlighting
historical performers of what has now come to be called Bluegrass music.
For more information contact: Don at 540-209-3540.
NOTE:
The Show has been a great success!!!
Roots and Branches - the play bill
The songs for this
play have been selected for their historical significance. Songs
in the first act
represent the folk
and roots music popular in the rural areas of the Appalachian region from
Maine to Georgia. The songs in the second act represent in part the
bluegrass “canon”. Starting with Bill
Monroe in 1943
and continuing in chronological order, the songs highlight specific bands
and their
unique contributions
to the genre of what is now called bluegrass music. Today these songs and
a
several hundred
more are part of today’s bluegrass musician’s tune bag. Incidentally,
the term “bluegrass” was not used to describe the music until 1959 and
Music Index, a scholarly reference for
all music forms,
included bluegrass as a specific musical style in 1987.
The play provides the
audience with a glimpse into a day in the life of a bluegrass band.
The Bluegrass
Players have made
one more step towards all-important regional recognition. A good
showing in next
Friday’s bluegrass
talent showcase guarantees a spot to perform the warm-up show for the nationally
touring band performing
Saturday night. Tonight they are playing at the 34th Annual Tri-City
Founder’s Day Community
Dance.
The visual images accompanying the performances are selected for their representation of today’s rural life in Appalachia, its people, and their love for music. Also featured are historic photographs of the musicians who popularized the selected songs.
(A special note to the audience: We have not
used our real names for the character in the
play. The character however are fictional. The descriptions
of our characters are by
no means representative of who we are.)
Joe is the driving force behind The Bluegrass Players and as such is constantly striving for musical perfection. He quit his day job a few years ago to devote his life to music. During the day Joe teaches banjo, guitar, mandolin, Dobro, fiddle, autoharp, mountain dulcimer and bass-fiddle. With a small studio in town, he sees between 45 and 50 students a week. Joe is married to Margret and they have one child, Joey. Joe knows that, with his talent and hard work, it is only a matter of time before being asked to join one of the nationally touring bluegrass bands. Next Saturday may be his lucky day.
Margret - In an effort to spend more time with her husband, Nancy started playing the bass fiddle about four years ago. At first it seemed like a good idea. However, Joe soon started being more demanding and their life together became less settled as Joe push towards musical excellence. When little Joey came along, Margret chose to stay home and take care of the baby. Joey is now six months old and Margret is looking forward this evening's concert, making music once again with her husband and friends, and renewing her commitment to the music of her roots.
Buddy was the eighth child of Will and Allison Weaver. When he was eight months old Buddy's family moved from St. John's valley to Penobscot, Maine to seek financial advantages. Will started working at the local paper mill while Allison busied herself raising a family, tending her garden and Friday afternoon meetings with the local woman's club. As a mill-worker by day and a fiddler by night, Will could just make financial ends meet and life was good. Buddy showed an early interest in music and Will taught him all the old fiddle tunes as-well-as popular songs which caught his fancy. Buddy worked hard and by the age of twelve started playing the guitar to accompany his father's fiddle music. By the time he graduated from high school he was ready to take his place by his father in the mill and had learn to play the mandolin and fiddle as well. He continued to play music with his father until a tragic mill accident took Will's right hand and thus ended his music making. Buddy joined the BGP a little over a year ago and tonight his father will be in the audience for the first time since the accident.
Allen moved from a West Virginia coal town to escape life as a shaker and is a new comer to the area. His family has a musical tradition dating back to the early settlers. His fiddle playing great-great-great-great-great granddaddy was among the few, who braved the mountain passes in the early 1700's and settled what is now Greenbrier County, West Virginia. As an eighth generation musician, music has always been an important part of everyday life. Allen started his public music career at the age of eight, playing music with his family at dances, lawn parties, beer-joints, family reunions, and church socials. Coming from a culture where alcohol and child abuse are prevalent, Allen grew-up under the hard-hand of domineering alcoholic father who neither spared the rod nor spoiled the child. Allen is carrying on the family tradition. After his last binge, his wife left and took their daughter back home to West Virginia. Whether she coming back is not known.
ROOTS ACT 1 (1850s - 1943)
Practice Session - This very place two hours ago
The roots of bluegrass can be traced back to United States early Colonial
times and the Baroque era.
For example, some traditional Appalachian tunes are played with the fiddle
tuned to an antiquated
Baroque interval (DDA’D’). However, for this play we begin with songs traced
to the popular music
and traditional antebellum songs from the Mid 1800’s.
Bully of the Town - a popular string band song
Red Haired Boy - a spritly fiddle tune from the British Isles
All the Pretty Little Horses - an old Afro-American lullaby
Wish I was a Single Girl Again - Housewife’s lament
Bill Cheatum - an old Appalachian fiddle tune
Cherokee Shuffle - deep from the heart of Texas
Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky - a lover’s goodbye
Leather Breeches - another old Appalachian fiddle tune
Carter Family Medley - My Flower, Sunny Side of Life, Wildwood Flower, & Foggy Mountain Top
Cincinnati Hornpipe - French Canadian fiddle tune
June Apple - a time worn tune with Appalachian roots
Maiden’s Prayer and Faded Love - Songs from the Texas SWing Era
Dobro Medley - Fireball Mail & Wheel Hoss
Long Black Veil - Two can keep a secret...
Old Cross Roads - these words ring clear even to this day
Cripple Creek - an old prospector song from the mid-1800’s
INTERMISSION
Starting in 1943
this act will trace the various branches bluegrass music has taken over
the last fifty
years. Various
musicians and bands which shape the sound of bluegrass today include: The
father of
Bluegrass Music,
Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys; Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs and
the Foggy
Mountain Boys;
Ralph & Carter Stanley and Clich Mountain Boys; Don Reno, Red Smiley
and the
Tennessee Cutups;
The Osbourne Bothers; Jimmy Martin; Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys
and The
Country Gentlemen.
ACT 2 – Branches (1943 – now)
34th Annual Tri-City Founder’s Day Community Dance
St. Anne’s Reel - a popular New England style fiddle tune
Bill Monroe Medley -Roanoke, Gold Rush, & Raw Hide
Use to be - a Bill Monroe Classic
Foggy Mt. Special and Earl’s Breakdown - Earl’s banjo style at its best
Black Jack County Chain - When things look bad... they can get worse
Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Earl’s most popular tune, recorded in 1949
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - Going home - a common theme in bluegrass
Clinch Mt. Back Step - a banjo tune defining Ralph Stanley’s style
Little Maggie - a popular song from the Appalachian Mountains
Limehouse Blues & Follow the Leader - Reno breaks the 3-chord rule
I Know You’re Married but I Love You Still - a popular Reno song
Good Woman’s Love - a bluegrass favorite by Ralph Stanley
Swing Low - Another contribution from the Africian-American tradition
Better Times a Comin’ - Jim & Jesse favorite
Bringing Mary Home - Country Gentlemen’s most popular song
Slewfoot, Dooley, Rocky Top - a medley every bluegrass player knows
THE BLUEGRASS PLAYERS (WHO WE REALLY ARE)
These musicians are
not strangers to anyone following New England bluegrass. They can be found
on
the stage as featured
performers at any number of New England bluegrass festivals or just as
likely you
will find them in
the inner circle of some late night jam session swapping licks, trading
tunes with fellow
pickers, and keeping
up the tradition of music making.
Nancy
Merrill aspired to be a musician from an early age. Invited
to attend a picking-party, she was
initiated into the
world of bluegrass music. With a little encouragement from friends,
over the years
Nancy has become a
rock-solid acoustic bass player. Her bass adds the bottom to the
music and holds
the tempo in check
when the band starts cranking up the speed.
Bill
Thibodeau (BT) continues the Franco-American cultural tradition
as a music maker. His father, Sam
Tidwell, is a founding
member of the legendary Kennebec Valley Boys. BT is best known as
a member
of Bluegrass Supply
Company and for his zestful mandolin and guitar styles and his traditional
fiddling. His
straight-ahead singing is from the heart and carries with it the essence
of the
high-lonesome bluegrass
sound.
Bill
Smith has been playing and singing bluegrass music for 20 years.
A member for 15 years of the
popular Maine band,
Bluegrass Supply Company, his playing of the banjo, Dobro and mandolin
is
highly respected by
fellow musicians and fans alike. Bill’s singing, whether lead, tenor,
or baritone is
always striving for
that perfect bluegrass sound. Bill also performs with Northstar,
his family bluegrass
band. When not
playing bluegrass, Bill ties flys commercially and is a professional Maine
guide. NOTE: Bill died unexpectedly in 2006 and the Maine Bluegrass Community suffered a great loss..
Don
DePoy is a 5th generation musician originally from Virginia’s Shenandoah
Valley. At age eight he became a regular member of his father’s band
The Mountain Music Makers and continues to play the
music of his roots as an
Appalachian music maker. He was the executive producer for Mainely
Bluegrass, a 26-part TV series
airing over public television in New England. He holds a Ph.D.
in Popular Culture and American Music, writes on the subject of bluegrass
music and is on faculty at The New England School of Communications.