Pick-up pickin'
We went to the Everett Brothers Bluegrass Music Barn last night in Suwannee, about five miles north of here. We live in the southernmost part of North Georgia, north of Atlanta. To get to the Everetts', take Peachtree Industrial north to Suwannee Dam Road, right, quick right on Stoneycypher Road and you are there, one of the hottest bluegrass venues south of Nashville.
The Everetts have been playing since 1964. Though I live seven or eight minutes away, my sister Carol from Miami found them in the The New York Times. Carol, Mary, and I got a group together and enjoyed a night of bluegrass at the barn over a year ago. They play every Saturday night, hosting bands on big buses from all around the country and anybody else who shows up with an instrument. The only rules are no cutoffs, tank tops, and absolutely no alcohol on the premises.
Here's a story about the Everetts: http://www.ibluegrass.com/bg_bands2.cfm?b__i=7
And The Brothers' own website: http://www.everettbrothers.com/default.asp
You'll see pick-up pickers gathered under trees. I took pictures and QuickTime movies of impromptu jams under oak trees, leaning against a blue van in the parking lot, alongside the restroom building.
The Everett Brothers played on the stage in the barn, along with many other groups. It was an all day fest. Some of my favorite lines and songs:
"I'd rather be alone and dream of you only, than be in your arms and never in your heart.
Roger Everett, self-styled "brains of the outfit," killed me with his fiddle work on Tommy hawk.
Brian Stephens, acoustic guitar and vocals, closes with Nine Pound Hammer and blows me away. Makes us all laugh, too, when he bids us to buy the CD's to "support the cause. 'Cause we need the money." The cause is really to keep the tradition alive and the players everywhere are doing a great job of that.
Admission is paid into a fishbowl, and you can drop in what you wish.
Last night the twentieth anniversary celebration of the Southeastern Bluegrass Association http://www.sebabluegrass.org/ took place at the barn. They always seem to pack in the fans. There must have been a couple of thousand people coming in and out.
