Jamming in George: Bluegrass, festival bring friends together

GEORGE — Danny Ray Stewart chose the song, about a man working on the railroad. He played the melody, to make sure all the players got it, and invited Bob Martin to take the lead.

That’s how a bluegrass jam session works -- somebody picks a song and starts playing, while the rest follow along. If the players don’t know it, they figure it out as they go.

Stewart and Martin were among the players attending the free, annual George, Washington, Bluegrass Festival Sept. 13-19 at the George Community Hall and outdoors.

Stan Hall, half of the duo Heartbreak Pass, said the festival in George was one of the few opportunities to play in 2021.

“This is one of two festivals that happen this year in Washington,” Hall said.

A rainy Friday evening left the crowd a little sparse, but the organizers just invited attendees up on the stage to listen to the last band of the evening, Roosevelt Road, which played without amplification as the rain fell. The players who just wanted to sit down and jam set up tents to stay dry, and kept playing.

“It (George) is what they call a picker’s festival,” Hall said. “A lot of jamming going on.”

People who wanted to listen just followed the sound over to the white tent, where a bunch of old friends were sitting around playing. Arlene McCown said she and her husband, Joe, have been attending the festival for many years, and so have their friends.

“We like this place,” said Sandra Brame.

“And the ground is flat,” said her husband Gary,

A good place to set up camp isn’t always that easy to find at a bluegrass festival, Gary Brame added

“You know what’s the best part of all this? The people,” said Jim Dills.

Hall said the people who sponsor the festival, the people who attend and the venue make the George Bluegrass Festival an attractive place to play. Camp host Terri Jones said she doesn’t play, but she has fun just listening, and fixing the meals.

Bluegrass is a traditional music, with roots way back to America’s colonial days. Bertha Whiteside started playing when she was 13, she said, back in Harden, North Carolina. It was 1942.

She started singing in church, she said, moving from the choir into solo parts. Her dad taught her about bluegrass, and how to play guitar, and her mom sent her to town to buy her own instrument.

“I bought a guitar for $33,” Whiteside remembered.

She’s been playing since, and at 91, she was up on stage Friday afternoon, jamming with the rest of the players. Her friends at the George festival called her the queen of bluegrass.

“I just like the music,” Whiteside said. “And it tells a story. It’s made from stories.”

The group playing bluegrass in the tent agreed.

“Bluegrass music tells a story. It tells about family, work and faith in God,” said Carol Dills.

Well, there are also stories of love and work gone wrong, Stewart said, violence and even murder. But even the dark ones have an appeal, he said.

Bluegrass music is made with guitar, mandolin, bass, banjo and violin. Gary Brame played a mandolin he built himself, a project he estimated took him 200 hours. And it has a great sound, Stewart said. Sandra Brame also played a home-built guitar.

Marilyn Martin said bluegrass is accessible music.

“Most people just play by ear,” Martin said.

In a jam session, players take turns picking the song. Stewart had one all picked out when he was interrupted, and then couldn’t remember his choice.

“What was I going to do?” he asked the group at large.

“A song you know,” Jim Dills said.

Jim Dills said the ability to joke around with friends is part of the appeal, as well.

“The friends, the music, the love that’s shown,” he said.

“We make good music,” Arlene McCown said.