OK, this is a day late, but there is a reason. I spent two days at the Milan Bluegrass Festival here in Michigan, and it was the first time I’ve been anywhere in two years!
I don’t get to attend too many bluegrass festivals, and since I’m skipping the AmericanaFest, I figured that I needed some musical escape. It was a blast for a number of reasons, and the best two days I have had in a long time.
- A great place to people watch. Every character that you can think of, you can usually find at a bluegrass festival, and they are all friendly.
- You can talk one-on-one with the artists. Any other genre of music, the performers are pretty hard to meet, let alone talk with. They are usually hiding backstage or away from the people, only coming out for the performance and maybe a few photo ops. No, bluegrass bands always stand at their merchandise tables after a show to meet-and-greet with the fans. They know a lot of people by their first names, talk about previous shows, and lots of non-bluegrass stuff like cooking, fishing, hunting, and people back home.
- You will make friends. People love to talk to each other about music and things in common. And lots of times band members come into the audience to watch another band. I spent a good hour with fiddler Hunter Berry (from Rhonda Vincent’s band) watching another band and talking some.
- The bands look out for each other. If someone needs to borrow a guitar for a song, another band is handing over its Martin acoustic.
- There is always greasy food to eat if you forget to bring your own. You can go back to eating healthy when you get back home. In the meantime, enjoy that order of fries or onion rings!
One thing that was missing at this festival that is at others is the parking lot jams. Most people here seemed to have come for the show and not to play. There were a few people walking around with instrument cases, but they all seemed to be interested more in either getting noticed or having an artist autograph the instrument. On a related note, I took some instruments to sell there, and did sell a mandolin to an older lady who wanted to learn to play it. I talked her into taking it to Rhonda Vincent to autograph, and Rhonda, the sweetheart that she is, took the woman aside and showed her a few chords to play. THAT is what makes a bluegrass festival special.
One of the main reasons that I went to Milan this year was to see the band High Fidelity. They are a younger group that is heavily influenced by the sound of Reno & Smiley, my personal favorite bluegrass band from the past. The fiddler Corrina Rose Logston is a ball of energy to say the least. The vocals are old-time Gospel-ish, and they are very personable on stage as well as off.
But the most important reason that I love this band is the bass player, Vickie Vaughn. We first met in 2014 at the IBMA Leadership Bluegrass conference and have stayed friends ever since via emails and Christmas cards. Our personal lives have paralleled a lot during this time, with fathers passing away and bouts with cancer, but we have both progressed. This was the first time that we have seen each other in over five years, so it meant a lot to be able to see her again. The band was supposed to play at the festival last year, but COVID cancelled that, so this was the first opportunity. It was a true blessing to see her again. I call her my “bluegrass kid sister,” and she totally agrees with the moniker. She will always be in my heart, and I am proud of the success that she has achieved. Plus she has a voice that would make any singer jealous! Thank you, Lord, for letting me see my kid sister again!
Let us hope that we can get back to bluegrass-festival normal like this again. Next year, the Milan Bluegrass Festival will be five days long! Ain’t no reason not to attend at least one day!
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 