Moses Lake grooves to bluegrass melodies

MOSES LAKE - Students of all ages gathered to take advantage of the bluegrass professionals on hand Saturday.

Members of Blue Highway discussed musical techniques during the first workshop session at the Five Suns Bluegrass Festival in Moses Lake's McCosh Park.

"A good song will tell you what to do with it," Shawn Lane, Blue Highway's mandolin player, said. "It will tell you what to play."

Lane fielded questions from several mandolin players gathered underneath one of the tents available to festival attendees.

Tim Stafford, guitarist for Blue Highway, led a group of musicians in chord scales and strumming techniques.

"This is where it comes in handy to know chord structures in every key," Stafford said while discussing improvisation during jam sessions.

He called G, A, B, and C "most of the notes in bluegrass" and encouraged workshop attendees to learn the corresponding chords for each note.

"It sounds really complicated but it's not at all," Stafford said.

Gwen Farley, of Coeur d'Alene, was up early for the guitar workshop and watching the evening bluegrass shows with her 5-year-old grandson.

"I went to a festival five or six years ago and liked it," Farley said. "Then I started following the festivals."

She said she makes an effort to attend workshops whenever they're held.

"It doesn't always work out because I have my grandson with me," Farley said.

Other students began to head toward the tents as the first round of workshops began to wrap up. Among those students was young fiddle player Sabrina McConnell.

McConnell, 13, of Auburn, and her mother, Charla, took refuge from the warm weather under a tree while waiting for the fiddle workshop to begin.

"I just started playing this year," McConnell said. "I've always wanted to play an instrument."

She, and her mother, have gone to several bluegrass festivals this year and both said they were introduced to the musical style by Charla's father.

"I haven't listened to it a lot but I like bluegrass," McConnell said.

Stafford said he has helped with several workshops over his years playing at bluegrass festivals.

"Bluegrass is like an oral tradition and the way you pass it around is through these workshops," Stafford said.

Blue Highway had not played in Moses Lake before and Stafford said the band was enjoying it.

There was a break in the action before bands took to the stage Saturday evening, serenading crowds with band originals and bluegrass classics from mid-afternoon until after dark.

"We play around here all the time, but this is our first time (in Moses Lake)," Stafford said. "We love the West Coast."