I've been away from blogging recently as someone pointed out (I didn't know people ever checked!) and will try to get back to it. This past month has been one of great upheaval for me, and out of respect for my reading audience (as I now know I have) I'll get back on track to the terribly interesting world of my life.
Over the 4th of July weekend I drove down to Memphis, TN, which, while surreal and sad (recent breakup) I was able to focus on things music related, and Memphis has more than its share. I met a friend of mine there, a fellow ethnomusicologist, and we spent some good days visiting the local sights and talking about the importance of Memphis both to music (Sun Records, Stax Records, and uggg... Graceland) and also for the larger picture of American history since Dr. King was shot there. Something I was not aware of was how significant that event was to Memphis specifically, and how it basically closed the book on Stax Records, who's policy of a color-free studio came under great pressure in the wake of Dr. King's death.
For those who don't know much about Stax, it was the soul music label that gave rise to Otis Redding, the Staples Singers, and perhaps most famously its house band, Booker T. & The MGs (which served basically as the backing back for the film The Blues Brothers) with the Memphis horns, an integrated band if there every was one.
Oh, and as you may have noticed, I bought a hat in Memphis.
Before that I went to two music festivals in Indiana. The slightly famous and slightly odd Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival, which showcased some moderate to weak bluegrass acts, but the highlight was the MC, who kept announcing things to be the best in a very limited way.
"Isn't that the best bluegrass you ever heard tonight at the Bean Blossom Festival."
or,
"Go get some kettle corn, it's the best kettle corn to be had at the top of the hill at the Bean Blossom fest here in Indiana." Really dude, sounds more like a dig!
Also? I'm pretty sure Aaron didn't know who Lester Flatt was.I also went to the Indiana Fiddler's Gathering, which was worth the trip simply for the short time I got to talk to two of the Flat Mountain Girls.
Now I'm waiting for the Jug Band Jubilee in Louisville at the end of August, and of course to head back down to Nashville to see my favorite band in the world, The Old Crow Medicine Show play at the Ryman Auditorium in October.
