Bluegrass, Oldtime Country Jamboree coming to Carbonear
By LILLIAN SIMMONS - The Compass - May26, 2004
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Everyone else in Canada has a bluegrass music festival, so why don't we? That's the question Frank Davis asked himself a couple of years ago.
"I've been interested in bluegrass and old time country music for years," the former Carbonear resident told the Compass last week. "After I retired I noticed Newfoundland is the only province in Canada without a bluegrass music society or festival." Davis says he and some like-minded musicians are aiming for both. "A group of friends and myself got together after the folk festival in St. John's last year to organize. We started really, really small and had a public jam session in October (2003)." The session was held at the Masonic Temple in St. John's.

A lot of fun

"We had a lot of fun," Davis said. "We were blown away when 60 people came out. You get to meet people and find out there's a lot of talented people out there who are dying to get up and perform." Then at another jam at the Topsail SUF Hall in January about 80 people turned out. And in February, during the ECMA weekend, "we had one of the bands, Birch Mountain Bluegrass, an ECMA nominee, play at our concert, our first organized event." About 300 people showed up for the non-ECMA concert. "Since the February concert we've been thinking how we could keep it going. Lots of people from Conception Bay North came in to the concert (in St. John's), so we decided to do it out here." Two events are planned for Carbonear, one in June and another in July. Davis explained bluegrass as "music that evolved out of the 1920s and 30s and even before. "It came out of Appalachia, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky...bluegrass evolved out of Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys of Kentucky. They refined and developed the style and it went on from there."

OldTime Country Music

He said old time country music is a little different but both are mainly identified by all acoustical instrumentation: guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and acoustic bass. "One microphone for vocals - it's a simple music in terms of its message. At the same time it's one of the hardest types of music to play properly. Many of the songs have just three chords, so you have to play variations of those chords." The association has a website (www.bluegrass-nl.ca) and a mailing list of about 200 people all over the province, many of them from Carbonear, Victoria, Bay Roberts and Whitbourne. "I bet you here in this area you could fill an auditorium with people who can play and sing," Davis said. "We were surprised in a way (at the interest), but at the same time we said this makes sense. A lot of people like country music and we blend the two into our events. The main rule is all acoustic." Davis suggests bluegrass and old time country music has risen in popularity since the making of the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" "It had a lot of this type of music and it awakened a younger generation of people to it and I guess it's catching fire all over North America."

Five groups will play at the jamboree scheduled for the Sheila NaGeira Theatre, Carbonear June 5. Crooked Stovepipe, features Ted Rowe and Neil Rosenberg, "who have been playing bluegrass for about 30 years". Mollie and Clayton Kennedy make up Ryman Country. "She sings Patsy Cline and Kitty Wells," Davis said. Bart and the Breadpicks, is a high school bluegrass group from St. John's. "They're in their late teens, early twenties and are really talented. Some of them play with the Newfoundland Symphony." Tundra Trio is another old time country and bluegrass band that will be on hand for the event. As will Davis' band Avalon Ramblers.

Jimmy Linegar

"We coalesced after the first jam session," he explained. "The band features Newfoundland's legendary country singer Jimmy Linegar, who started playing on the radio in the early 50s, first when he was 14 years old. He's come out of semi-retirement to play with the Avalon Ramblers."

The non-profit ("not quite full-fledged") association is also holding a public jam session at the Lions Den in Carbonear July 18 at 2 p.m. "People can come along and bring their acoustic instruments. If people don't want to play they can come and listen." The association is trying to drum up enough interest to hold a bluegrass and old time country music festival in 2005. And they hope to hold it in Conception Bay North. "We'd like to see more bands forming. Small bands - even if they're just two people - can practise some tunes so they can come out and play. We'll need about 10 to 15 different groups to have a bluegrass festival next year," Davis said, "so we want to hear about more bands." The association would also like to bring in some groups from outside the province for the festival. "But that will cost money and we need to know we have the support of people to attend. It would run over a couple of days, hopefully in C.B.N. somewhere." He said if the Carbonear jamboree is successful "there's no reason why we couldn't do it every year in Carbonear. The theatre is interested and we are too. If the general public is there, maybe we can do it over two days." While the association is not for profit, Davis says they must charge a minimum fee to cover costs. Should there be a profit, "it will go back into the music".
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