January 24, 2007
Redgate Bluegrass Festival - 1977
After buying my first banjo and practicing very hard for about 8 months, I needed to go to a Bluegrass Festival. I looked in a Frets magazine and the closest BIG one to me at the time was the Redgate Bluegrass Festival in Knoxville, TN. I think that was in June, 1977. Listen to some of the music I recorded in the campground while you read the rest of this article:
[Stream MP3] [Download MP3] [Songlist]
I rented a pop-up-pull-behind trailer and I took off with my wife and 2 kids. We drove up from Charleston, SC not really knowing what to expect. It was well after midnite when we arrived, so we set up our camper and went to bed. The next day was to be one of those life altering events for me.
We woke up and had breakfast and then strolled up to the stage and planted our chairs. The crowd wasn't really there yet as the first band was just getting setup. I believe this was the very first year of this particular Bluegrass Festival. I remember the owner of the property, Mr. Jake Butcher, being introduced and kicking off the event. Once the music started, I was absolutely glued to my spot on the side of that naturally sloped amphitheater. Linda and the kids meandered around to eat and stuff like that. But, I was absolutely mesmerized by the pure talent that played all day long! Finally, the last band was leaving the stage and I started to head back towards the camper where Linda and the kids had already been for a couple hours. When leaving the stage area I happened to hear some music coming from somewhere back through the trees. I headed that way.
The closer I got the better it sounded. It was this totally sweet mixture of fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and bass fiddle. And there was NO amplification...how wonderful it sounded. So, I crouched down and sat there on the little hillside up at the edge of the trees about 20 feet away. There was a short, thin man playing the fiddle and he seemed to center himself and face whomever happened to be taking the lead as it was passed around. It didn't matter how slow or how fast, or whether it was a vocal or instrumental song, he seemed to pull out the harmony and music from every voice and instrument. The whole picture was made perfect by the fact that they were nestled around this small campfire giving off just a thin whisp of smoke. I'm telling you, I thought I had died and heaven had come to Earth! This music was much better than what I had just heard all day long up on stage.
The guitar player was facing my direction and after an hour or so he said for me to move on down where I could hear better. I gladly took him up on the offer. I thanked him and the others for being so kind and then I just got quiet and listened. I don't know exactly what time it was when they quit playing, but it wasn't until then that I went to bed. And the next morning I couldn't wait to head back for more. Sure enough, most all of them were there already and playing again. There was a different banjo picker with them, but it didn't seem to matter a lot. After a couple of hours they took a break. So, I took the opportunity to speak to the banjo picker.
His name was Junior Honeycutt and he told me that he had been playing about 17 years. I asked him for advice on what kind of banjo I should buy now that I felt I was ready to move up from my beginner's banjo. Then he did something that I will NEVER forget. He said, "Walk with me and we'll take a look around." Junior walked me through that entire bluegrass festival and we must have stopped at 20 campers where he knew the folks and he asked them to show me their banjos. I was flabbergasted that Junior, whom I had just met, would take a couple of hours like this to help me, a nobody, a beginner, and help me out. I soon found out that this friendly, unselfish attitude was a common trait amongst the Bluegrass musicians. It was a tradition that was being handed to me, and I have never forgotten that and I hope I never will.
We were just finishing our circle around the festival area. I asked Junior if he might help me with some lessons. He actually got embarassed and laughed. As he point ahead he said, "There's the man you should talk to about lessons. Heck, many folks have moved to Chattanooga just to take lessons from him." Junior said, "I take lessons from him too." I was floored. I couldn't believe that someone as good as Junior would be still taking lessons. Again he laughed and told me something that still rings true. He said, "You never get so good as to not learn something new." One more tidbit of wisdom that I have held onto.
As we approached the other banjo picker I recognized him as the man that had been playing the night before. He smiled and introduced himself as Ed Brown from Dunlap, Tennessee (near Chattanooga). I explained to Ed that I was still in the Navy in Charleston, SC. But, I would like to get some cassette tapes to help me practice. He agreed to send me some material for a very reasonable price. What a blessing it was to have come to THIS festival and met these terrific people!
I listened to these "campground" pickers as much as I could the rest of that festival. The following year I went back and found them again. Again I brought along a nice stereo tape recorder and with their gracious permission I recorded some of this timeless and beautiful music. (I will work up an MP3 of this music and add it to this post.) I took home those recordings and used it to keep fueling my interest in learning the banjo. In fact, I went back every year for ALL 7 festivals that they had there at Redgate...until they stopped only due to the unfortunate events resulting in Mr. Jake Butcher having to sell off his Redgate estate.
It was my 4th year at Redgate when I finally let them talk me into getting my banjo out of the case and play along with them. I was no where near their level but they made me play a few anyway. They were amazed that I had been studying from their material all these years. I assured them that my having stumbled across them and their music was the main thing that kept me working so hard to play the banjo. I remember every trip to the Redgate Festival there just outside Knoxville, TN. I remember the pickers, their names and the stories they shared with each other and me from year to year. Their music will always be a part of me. Below are the names of a few of the people I recorded back in 1977 and 1978 in the campgrounds at the Redgate Bluegrass Festival:
Billy Womack - Fiddle
Ed Brown - Banjo
Junior Honeycutt - Banjo
Jack Hatfield - Banjo
Charlie Cobble - Banjo (Whoa Mule Whoa only)
Mose Herron - Guitar
Doyle Sowers - Mandolin
Hoot Whitehead - Mandolin
Posted by banjonut at 9:27 AM | Comments (6)
June 1, 2006
Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival
Don't miss the Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival. I'm hoping on being there Wednesday evening through Friday evening, June 28-30.
Posted by banjonut at 9:20 PM
December 13, 2005
Redgate Bluegrass Festival - 1977
This story (of the Redgate Bluegrass Festival - 1977) is very interesting to me. My son gave me the web address and when I read it I literally went back in time!
I am Aaron's Mom, Hoot{Bruce} Whitehead's youngest daughter. Not only was I there, so was Aaron. He was a little tot, still in a stroller. I, too, was biten by the banjo bug! As a stay-at-home Mom, I decided to get a banjo and take lessons. My husband spent a lot of time at the stock car races, so I packed up my 2 babies and went to festivals and other "pickin's" with my parents.
I have known all these pickers and craved to hear their great music again. Those were the days! Billy Womack and Mose Herron have gone on to that great picking in Heaven. They are both sadly missed, especially Mose, he was my Dad's best friend for many years, and the finest guitar rhythm picker ever. His knowledge of bluegrass, and his relationships with the professional artists went deep into the heart of the bluegrass community.
If you happened to see a lady playing the bass around the camp gathering, it was probably my Mom, Carrie Lou. She bought a very good sounding bass at a festival in Bean Blossum, IN from a "hippie" who needed gas money to get home! She not only still plays this bass regularly, but sings as well with Dad in a group called 'Back in Tyme.' Last year they recorded a CD and have sold it at shows where they played and it has been a good seller. People have reported radio stations have played their music as far away as Texas and Alaska. They still pick 2 or more nights a week, and do shows at festivals and other venues.
My Dad has been known to pick his mandolin for an hour or so in the bed before his feet even hit the floor in the morning. When he gets a song on his mind, he goes into another zone until he has perfected it.
I have spent my formative years at local TV and radio stations, other shows, and in private homes listening and hearing their music, and would not trade these memories for anything. So I bought myself a beginner's banjo and starting taking lessons from Billy Wayne Chambers{now deceased and sadly missed}. I've spent many days watching my children at play while I picked until I had SORE fingers! I never had aspirations of getting on stage, I just wanted to entertain myself mostly. I love the music!
After having child 3 and 4, This musical interest was passed on to a new generation. Three of my four children play an instrument. My son, Yancy, is a very good guitarist, Jordan{the youngest} plays the mandolin, and my daughter, Candace, is a semi-retired banjo picker.
As a small child, she always cried to pick my banjo, so when she was about 11 or 12 we got her one at a pawn shop as a Christmas present. By then we were living in north GA, and my husband drove her and Jordan over the mountain to Dunlap, TN for music lessons from Ed Brown. He is an excellent teacher, and she has a natural talent for banjo. Show her something once and she can play it!
We entered them both in contests in Smithville, TN and they did well. Jordan was a bit shy and had some stage fright, but Candace stood in front of hundreds of people and entertained as though she was born on stage. She won money 2 years in a row, but her interest faded in favor of other things that teenagers are interested in.
She got a call from Mike Snider{a Nashville banjo picker}, who invited her to play with him and some other banjo pickers from Nashville on a CBS Christmas special called "Christmas at Opryland. She was 12 years old and received union scale for participating, not only that year, but for the next year when CBS re-ran the program. The following year CBS sold the program to the Family Channel and they played it, but she no longer got paid for it. She has made a small bundle playing her banjo, but it now has cob-webs on it.
She now has a 2 year-old son{Elijah}, who cries to play her banjo! I pray that my parents live to see him carrying on their love of music and the tradition that they have started.
For me it started early, and really blossomed as I experienced my first festival. I would go the their motorhome to get in bed, and would hear a campsite group playing something that sounded so great that I would jump up and go over to listen. Can't get no sleep at a festival, the music is so good!
Sherry Patterson
Posted by banjonut at 9:21 AM
December 12, 2005
Redgate Bluegrass Festival - 1977
Hello. I was surfing the web and came across your blog. I am Hoot Whitehead's grandson. I really enjoyed the music that you had recorded and was wondering if you have anymore available.
Thanks
Aaron
Posted by banjonut at 9:24 AM