Came across this copyrighted article and asked the author, Scott McClennan for permission to republish here. Heard back today and he was happy to have it reproduced here he said. I think you'll enjoy this. I sure did.
----------------------
Copyright New York Times Company Oct 7, 2004
David Grisman recalls Mechanics Hall in Worcester as a "big, dark place."
In 1963, Grisman pulled a little magic out of that big dark place when he recorded a performance there by bluegrass legend Bill Monroe on Nov. 16 of that year.
"Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys Live at Mechanics Hall" arrived in stores this week and offers a glimpse into a bygone era.
The players dressed in suits and cowboy hats, stood before the hall's Hook organ and sang harmony-heavy gospel-rich songs set to frenetic blasts of mandolin, banjo, bass and fiddle. The Bluegrass Boys seem alien in comparison
to the tuxedoed and gowned artists that now typically grace the Mechanics Hall stage with their cellos, flutes, pianos and other instruments of classicalmusic.
Mechanics Hall itself was 14 years away from the renovation that eventually brought out the luster we now associate with the 147- year-old concert venue.
Looking at the photos included in the CD package makes it understandable how a Grand Ole Opry staple made it into Mechanics Hall rather than Indian Ranch at that point in history.
Today, the hall most typically plays host to classical music performances, and recordings made there are done on top-notch equipment with the intent of commercial release.
In '63, Grisman simply stuck up a microphone that was patched into a reel-to-reel recorder he lugged to the event. Grisman, himself an acclaimed mandolin player whose style-leaping sound is tagged "Dawg music," was, at the time, looking to expand his skills by studying the masters, and none was more formidable than Bill Monroe. In 1963, the father of bluegrass music was traveling with a couple of "sons" in the form of guitarist Del McCoury and banjo player Bill Keith (who was known as "Brad" in the band). Both McCoury and Keith are now recognized masters in their own right of traditional American music.
Bluegrass was hardly a hot commodity in the Northeast at the time, so Grisman often traveled from his New Jersey home to catch an act. Being in acoustic-music circles brought Grisman in contact with banjo player Keith, a Brockton
native who landed a spot in The Bluegrass Boys in 1963.
"I was friends with Bill Keith and got permission to record the concert. It was one way to get the music. Back then, it was hard to get the records these guys made," Grisman said.
In addition to all his own playing and recording, Grisman, who relocated to San Francisco in 1969 and helped introduce the bluegrass sound to a younger, rock-oriented audience with the group Old and In the Way, oversees the Acoustic Disc record label, which released "Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys at Mechanics Hall."
Grisman had been sitting on the tapes for more than 40 years and finally approached Monroe's son, James, about releasing the concert. In putting together the package, Grisman found out the McCoury's son, Ronnie, had photos from the event that belonged to his father.
"I was looking on the Internet for an angle to name the record. I didn't think anything about the hall, I thought it was like any one of a thousand little halls. But when I found out the history of the place, I thought it made for a
perfect title," Grisman said.
Grisman, a student of Monroe and bluegrass, said the Bluegrass Boys was liable to show up anywhere when playing the East Coast in the 1960s. Grisman said he saw the band in both bars and Carnegie all during that era.
The '63 version of the group holds historical significance as it contained Keith and McCoury in their first major appearances.
"It's one of Bill Monroe's really important bands because of Bill Keith and Del McCoury. And Bill Monroe was at the height of his powers then," said Grisman. There are no other known recordings of Monroe and this version of The Bluegrass
Boys in action.
The show is described in liner notes by bluegrass historian Neil Rosenberg as fairly typical of the time for Monroe. In the fall of 1963, Monroe was headlining a package tour of Grand Ole Opry stars including The Lilly Brothers and Grandpa Jones. Bea Lilly is heard joining Monroe's band for the gospel number "What Would You Give in Exchange?" Monroe's daughter, Melissa, is also heard for the first time on record singing with her father as she joined the band for "Love's Gonna Live Here" and "Dreaming of a Little Cabin."
The bulk of the set is stacked with Monroe "hits" such as "Muleskinner Blues," "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Uncle Pen."
"It's the sermon on the mount," Grisman said.
And though run-down at the time, Mechanics Hall proved a perfect setting for this recording. The bluegrass style involves the musicians singing into one microphone and naturally balancing their voices on harmony parts. The hall's ambient qualities made a decent recording possible, Grisman said.
Through the '60s, fans of bluegrass would trade such tapes, learning the repertoire being written in such places as West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, and studying the picking skills country musicians cooked up to carry the tunes.
"If you were a fan, you really had to seek out the music," Grisman said. "I guess that makes bluegrass music for seekers."
And thanks to a fan-turned-musician-turned-record-label-owner, this is an artifact worth seeking.
-----------------------------
Additional note. The concert Live at Mechanics Hall was recently released by Acoustic Disc.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Moose
Bookmarks