Bluegrass Music Jam

Last night my buddy Systemic and I attended the Bluegrass Music Jam in Marion, North Carolina. This is a weekly event that takes place every Thursday and runs all year long. Marion is about an hour's drive northeast of our starting point in Hendersonville. Mapquest.com gave me two options for getting to Marion. One was to take an out and back route that was primarily Interstate and was suppose to be slightly quicker, and the other was a direct shot that avoided the Interstates as much as possible and shot through the mountains. Since we still had a little daylight left at the start of our trip I opted for the mountain route in order to enjoy the scenery and experience the drive.

Initially, I wasn't disappointed at all. It was beautiful driving with wonderfully "local" scenery. As we continued the road became more and more curvy while simultaneously becoming more and more up and down. I realized this might not be easy on a passenger so I asked Systemic if he ever gets car sick. He gave me a short reply of, "yes" and I felt bad for even planting the seed of car sickness in his head in the first place. I soon noticed that he was becoming quieter and quieter and that his breathing was a little more labored and sporadic. As someone who suffers from occasional motion sickness myself I immediately knew the signs. I felt really bad for him and tried to smooth my driving as much as possible.

About a mile down the road I suddenly realized that I was feeling a bit nauseous as well. A bit nauseous soon turned into super nauseous. It's the first time in my life I've actually made myself car sick while driving. Before last night I would have said it wasn't possible. "Shit man. I'm feeling sick now too," I told Systemic. We both commented that we started the trip with really empty stomachs. The conversation died down considerably and I kept wondering if I would have to pull the car over for one or both of us to throw up. Fortunately we made it to Marion without having to do so, but we both still felt really ill (especially Systemic) as we tried to put some food in our stomachs.

After a quick dinner we went to the Historic Marion Depot where the event was taking place. The depot is an old train station that's been converted to a small community center. There was a sign outside letting us know we were in the right place, but we didn't see any other people besides a handful inside the building. It looked like the office of a community center with three people playing instruments in the corner and three guys sitting around a conference table watching. I could see through the window that there was an older guy playing guitar, a guy about my age playing banjo, and girl around my age playing violin. It was super casual and looked like something that just came together on the spot. Systemic and I entered the room and one of the older men observing the apparently impromptu gathering of musicians turned and sized me up..."Hey boy." I smiled, quietly said hello, and Systemic and I helped ourselves to two conference chairs.

It initially felt really awkward after our entrance. I really had to fight hard not to start laughing because of the awkwardness of the situation and I couldn't look Systemic in the face. You could tell that the three older men observing the musicians were a little uncomfortable both with our presence and the confidence with which we assumed that presence. The musicians carried on in what seemed like a casual practice rather than a performance, but they still sounded really good and I was enjoying being exposed to the Bluegrass in such a "local" setting. No one spoke to Systemic and I between songs and I didn't feel it was our place to interject into their "jam session" not knowing whether viewers were meant to stay silent or not.

About 30 minutes in the guitar and banjo started playing "Dueling Banjos". I turned to Systemic and whispered over the music that it would have been funny if this was the song they were playing when we first walked in. One of the old guys heard me and asked, "Do you boys play?" Suddenly no one was playing and all eyes were on us. We told them that we don't play and that we came over from Hendersonville. "Oh...okay...You realize the big band is next door?" I told them we had no idea, made some comment about how good they sounded and after an exchange of laughter from both sides I excused myself. Systemic decided to stay at this random thrown together practice session, but I wanted to see the main event that I had come for.

I went next door and entered a long room that was full of people with a band down front playing and singing into microphones. The crowd seemed entirely local and was composed of mostly older people with two younger males. One looked like a high school Tiger Woods and the other had down syndrome. Several of the older men had ponytails. There was a small dance floor in front of the band where people danced in a style that was unique to the gathering. I would be comfortable joining them, but my "club" dancing would stand out just a little. It was like a combination of club dancing with very low-key clogging. Several of the women and a couple of the men had clogs on their shoes and you could hear the random "clicking" and "clacking" all around you as people walked about. I didn't see any open chairs so I had to stand in the back.

Eventually a chair opened up and I went and sat next to an elderly couple. "I haven't seen you here before," the lady commented. I told her it was my first time and asked about the band. She said they were called Common Ground. From my seat in the crowd I sat tapping my foot, thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere and realizing I was experiencing something special. The locals probably just think of it as a good time and a staple of the area, but this event was "local" and "cultural". I felt blessed to be a part of it.

After awhile I returned next door to join Systemic at the practice session. We stayed until everyone had left next door and the musicians from the Bluegrass Music Jam came in to pack up their instruments. One of the guitar players joined the three that had been practicing. Turns out he can play a little fiddle too.

After a while longer Systemic and I excused ourselves and bumped into one of Common Ground's guitar players / singers outside. I asked him how often they play the venue and he told us they were the house band and play every week unless another band shows up in which case they split time with them. Band member Mike Ennis went on to tell us about the band and some of the venues they play. He told us there's also a Common Ground that plays out of South Carolina so there's Common Ground: North Carolina and Common Ground: South Carolina.

For the drive home we decided to go the same way we had come in hopes that our stomachs would fare a little better with some food in them. I even stopped and got a chocolate shake from McDonalds just to fill mine up a little more. We both got sick again on the drive home and I almost ran over someone's Collie. The car sickness was totally worth it though. The Bluegrass Music Jam was an awesome experience and I hope to go back again sometime and introduce some of my friends and family to it.