I love bluegrass. There - I've said it. I own a mountain dulcimer, a mandolin, and I've owned a banjo. I've seen a handsaw "played" as special music in church. I've seen a guy use an old pair of strap on roller skates as a percussion instrument. I love to play my father in law's resonator guitar.
I've been trying for years to reject my roots. With all of the derogotory comments made about Arkansas, and southern culture in general by almost everyone I know, I guess my southern heritage hasn't been a source of pride for me. No more.
Sure, alot of the lyrics are simple. Much of old "mountain" gospel lyrics are based on horrible theology. But there is something real, earthy, about these songs. "Come and Dine" speaks of the table of the Lord, and how it's for the "hungry". "Rocky Top" speaks of a lost lifestyle and a longing for a place in the hills of Tennessee. These songs connect with something within me, at a visceral level, one that I can't ignore. My foot starts 'a tappin , and I find myself whistling along with the lyrics. Does that make me a hopelessly simpleminded redneck? Nah - just an guy whose a bit more comfortable in his own skin these days...
I have to admit - it's gotten a bit easier these days -some contemporary bluegrass musicians have revived the good old mountain music - Seldom Scene, Union Station, JD Crowe and the New South, etc, are the modern minstrels of this particular genre. This modern bluegrass revival of sorts has made it a bit easier to just be me...
