Thursday, March 29, 2012

Bluegrass Anniversary

This last weekend Beth and I went to a cabin in the Smokey Mountains for an early 10th Anniversary getaway. It was a really great time to recalibrate our hearts with one another, and to be completely agenda-less.

The lowlight was that we somehow ended up at a mall.

The highlight started with a drive through rural Kentucky, looking for a place we'd read about that serves up live Bluegrass music every Saturday night. We had to call the place twice before we finally wound around the hilly countryside and found the rows of cars parked outside what looked to us like your basic barn. When we got inside, the man at the ticket booth asked if we were the ones who'd called. After we confirmed, he invited us to come in for free.

The inside of the barn had been converted to a countrified concert hall. The front of the hall held the stage with a few rows of seats in front. Behind the stage a sign read, "Bluegrass Music, made in Kentucky, USA, NOTt in China." At the back and sides of the hall, built-in stadium seating reached almost to the ceiling. The music and the crowd was good and enjoyable.

When one of the band members introduced a student of his, Colonel Andy Hunt, things started to get awesome. Colonel Andy is an unpolished banjo picker, a flat-foot tap dancer, and an all-around country entertainer. After Colonel Andy finished his first song on banjo, he announced to the crowd that he wanted to do some flat-footin for 'em on this next song. He  was hopin' a feller named Brother Long Legs would come and join him, if he was here. (The crowd applauded in approval of the idea).

From behind us, near the ceiling, a voice shouted out. "I'm rot here. I been listenin' the whole tom." And from in front, "Well come on down here and dance with Colonel Andy, wouldja Brother Long Legs?"

And here, my friends, is the rest...