Musicians

I must have been reading one thread and responded to a different one or something. I'm really interested in the festivals in Colorado. I would expect the crowd to be vastly different from what I see locally. Folks outside of Appalachia really do view the music in a different light.

Lots of the tricks by the guys you like are done by flat pickers all the time. Clarence White of the Byrds was the King of the Flat Pickers and probably did more to kick off the New Grass movement than anyone. Jerry Garcia was a pretty good flat picker and played in the Renfro Valley. The list goes on and on.

Whenever I have to play electric guitar, a Telecaster naturally, I generally come off sounding like some sort of Deadhead most times. Not surprising since I followed them around for a couple of years. Some times I'll drop into a more Reggae feel because it closely mirrors some of my bluegrass rhythm playing. Garcia, Joe Strummer, Johnny Ramone, and Buck Owens; those are my electric influences.

Go deep into the mountains of West Virginia and you'll hear Rockabilly and Bluegrass fused into a really weird kind of thing. It's not unusual to see a player from the region switch through several genres during their career path. And everyone has to play in the obligatory rock cover band at least for a while to feed their music habit. The trick is not getting hung up on one genre or style too much. Ever see a kid with mascara and spiked hair who makes six figures in a metal band playing an old standard on his old D28? I have, more than a few times. I've also seen an electric guitar used on the stage by Ralph Stanley's band. Round these parts the rules that most bluegrass aficionados live and die by are more a mild suggestion.

I'm just a simple hillbilly. And not a very smart one by most accounts. It's all about the scales and the theory, and oh how I hate playing scales. Oh, and learning to read standard notation. That's just a time consuming chore. But around here if you don't know your theory and can't read music you just painted yourself into a corner, musically speaking.

Sorry for rambling, I just get wrapped up in talking music some times.