Georgetown's Ol' Time Fiddlin' Fair 2004

Sometimes it takes a little live music to realize what you have.

After spending a good day in the studio working on tracks for Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales, I went up to Georgetown, Texas to visit my folks and catch some music. The Ol' Time Fiddlin Fair is happening this weekend. It's a pretty small little fest, but man, there was some great talent in the mere four hours I spent there. In that short time, I really got a neat inspiring perspective on music.

The music was all bluegrass. It brought back memories of growing up. My dad used to drag me to all these bluegrass and folk music performances while growing up in Maryland and San Antonio. I never would've suspected that I'd love the music as much as I do now.

I only got to see three bands from a pretty cool lineup. Hard To Make A Living was there. I first heard about them through my Texas music and Texas musicians website. I loved the name... or the acronym at least, HTML. Three years or so after that I saw them at the Austin Farmer's Market. They're a heckuva lot of fun. Just some straight up great bluegrass from four guys who have fun with the genre. Definitely worth checking out if ye have a chance.

But it's the next two bands that I really want to talk about: The Lonestar Bluegrass Band out of Houston, and Austin's award-winning, high-energy acoustic, bluegrass fiends, The Greencards.

The Lonestar Bluegrass Band vs. The Greencards

The Lonestar Bluegrass Band have played bluegrass for over twenty years. The banjo player was just amazing. At the beginning of the show, my dad was joking, "Who plays the banjo that low?" The banjo player, Chris Hirsch, looked a Grunge Rocker with it hanging down below his waist. It did look kinda funny. Any joking disappeared when the man started playing. He was amazing!

The music lead by that killer banjo combined with a stand-up bass, guitar, and raging fiddle was tight. But best of all, you could tell the guys were having a lot of fun. The jabbed, played around, while still sharing some of the best rockin' bluegrass music I've heard in a while.

Oh! And their performance of "Dueling BanjO" was spectacular. Chris did both parts. I couldn't help but admire how well this band worked together as a team. It was brilliant.

The headliners for the evening were The Greencards. I first heard this band on probably the nations best, most-ecletic radio program, Eklektikos with host John Aielli. They've played there a few times. And everytime, it's breath-taking. The mandolin player, Kym Warner, is a God! He played fiddle tunes so fast, they had to remove any flammable objects for the saftey's sake.

I could see why The Greencards were voted the 'Best New Band' of Austin. Originally from Australia, the trio with Carol Young on electric bass and Eamon McLoughlin on fiddle put on a good show. They were as tight as a band can be and moved effortlessly between songs.

Seeing those two bands gave me an interesting perspective on things though. I saw phenomenal talent and a phenomenal fun. And I realized what I like. I like the fun one. Yes, The Lonestar Bluegrass Band, IMHO, blew The Greencards out of the water.

Sure, it looked to me like The Greencards were tired. They went through the motions, making those same old stereotypical, big stage comments, "You're a beautiful audience." "We love you [insert your town's name]." But the passion wasn't there. Maybe they were tired? I'll give 'em that. But there was something missing from their performance--honest, fun.

Yeah, they obviously love playing music. The bassist bounced stood bouncing back and forth like a reggae version of Gollum. The songs were more New Grass, contemporary songwriting, mediocre. The tunes of course kicked major arse. Yet, that let's have fun. Let's make the audience a part of us and not just watching us. It wasn't there.

The Lonestar Bluegrass Band, on the other hand, was all about interacting with the audience, while still playing great music... great and fun.

I guess what struck me so hard was that I still think The Greencards are phenomenal musicians. I still want to buy their CD, Movin' Along because I've heard cuts, and the performance is amazing. But I prefer the fun stuff. I'll own The Lonestar Bluegrass Band's CD before I buy The Greencards'. You see, The Lonestar Bluegrass Band reminds me more of the Brobdingnagian Bards. We like to have fun. That's what Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales is all about. It's a CD of fun songs with that live performance feeling.

Seeing the show tonight helped me to appreciate what we have all the more. Sure, we have a long way to becoming the caliber of musician of either of those bands. We have fun and do our best to help our audience have fun too. As the King once said, "You have to put on a show to draw a crowd."

But even that's not enough. You have to love what you do. You have to share it with all the love your heart can spare and then some. Man, do I love live music!