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We awaken just before 7:00 AM. Irene is tired, our power is low, and it’s raining – not an auspicious beginning for the biggest day of Merlefest. I start the generator, as our batteries are low again. We turn on the hot water heater for the first time since we arrived, and both of us shower. The mist lifts and it begins to look like it’s going to be a sunny day. We dress and head down to the campus for a while, taking the shuttle van for the first time.

Entering by the main gate, we stop at a display of wounded raptors, which have been rescued by a local rescue society. We stroll through the craft area and buy a pair of mug mats for Irene’s mom, another cherry burl, and a piece of stained glass etched by sandblasting. We wander over the the Creekside Stage for a few minutes then head back to the trailer for a quiet afternoon. Soon we realize we can listen to shows from the Hillside Stage without ever leaving our seats. First we hear Donna the Buffalo with Jim Lauderdale perform. We bought his new CD the first day we were here. Later the Laura Love Band comes on with more funky rock style country music. The last group features Ricky Skaggs leading a pick-up band with Jerry Douglas and Sam Bush. They come on following a brief thundershower so we listen from the rig. It turns out we should have gone down and then come back, but we are tired and will be a long evening. We decide to stay to listen until we’re ready to go down to the evening performances.

The weather seems to have cleared, and, anticipating a chilly evening, we pack layer after layer into our backpacks before heading down. By the time we are half way down the hill, Irene has already shed two layers. Later, she’ll be glad to have them. We walk past the sand sculpture being built by a group using 24 tons of local sand to construct a Merlefest project. While Merlefest raises a huge amount of money for Wilkes Community College and provides major support for many local non-profit organizations, the festival administration presents a number of attractions to broaden the appeal and make the festival more appealing. An entire area is devoted to children’s activities. It contains a climbing wall, an area for making paper constructions, and a kids music area where story tellers and children’s singers perform as well as children themselves. There are even porta-potties designed for children. Another pro-bono area displays injured raptors. The festival provides two large tents for food vendors, all of whom are local organizations who use Merlefest as their major fund raising event. The food is a little better than typical fair food and is priced reasonably.

The fields on the campus level are muddy and pooled with water. This doesn’t deter kids from walking around in bare feet squishing their toes

in the mud. The viewing area behind the assigned seat area for the Watson Stage is filled with people who have set up for the weekend. They lay tarps on the ground and provide tiny kids tents. Some people dress in costumes and as the weather has warmed up, clothes have been shed. It’s a happy, relaxed, friendly crowd. We stop for some supper in the food tent and chat with a South Carolinian couple who have lived in Arizona for some years. At about 6:00 PM we head for our assigned seats for the evening’s performance. We have lucked into truly prime seating. We’re in the twentieth row directly in the middle. People sitting around us are astounded that as first time attendees we’ve been able to obtain such good seats. It must be that some long-time people gave up their seats and we ordered ours on-line within a minute of the time tickets for new people came on sale.

Saturday is the most crowded night of the festival. People mill around – shopping, visiting, and listening to bands at the many stages. Despite the relatively small area this campus provides, the various stages with their elaborate sound systems are set up in suc

as way at to spill over remarkably little. As we take our seats, The Whites, are beginning their performance of old-time bluegrass. One White sisters plays guitar while her sister slaps the bass. Their father leads on the mandolin. Like several other performers at Merlefest, they have recently gained prominence through their performance in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” They are lively and pleasant, with an amusing interchange between the generations. Someone tells us one of the sisters is married to Ricky Skaggs. At the end of their set a tall, lovely, gray haired women steps from the side of the stage to join them. Emmy Lou Harris is standing in for a song. Emmy Lou is one of the greats of country music. At the same time, her entry and performance here are unassuming. The reaction of the crowd is electric. Her willingness to share her talent here personifies much that makes country music and this festival special. The Whites finish and the Peasall sisters are introduced on the Cabin Stage. Three little girls get up and sing gospel songs as I walk over to the porta potties.

Doc Watson is led onto the stage with Bill Mathis, a local singer. They sit down and sing “A Tribute to Merle” – a dreary song celbrating the

late Merle Watson. The song laments his death, tell us he’ll be “pickin’ for the Lord” and suggests that Doc himself with soon rejoin Merle in the sky. The song reflects much of both the strengths and weaknesses of country music. It has a plain simple melody, tells a story, and and expresses the simple faith held by many of these people. At the same time it reeks of a sentimentality that approaches the bathetic. The song is sung several times during the festival, always with Doc Watson playing and chiming in on the chorus. Since the festival itself is such a marvelous tribute to both Merle and his father, I can’t imagine the endless singing of this too light piece of fluff really makes much of a tribute.

The 7:45 act is a Toronto group called Leahy. Leahy consists of eight brothers and sisters who present one of the hig

hest energy shows of the festival. Three brothers play fast fiddles, while a forth, his drum set placed behind a plexiglass surround, gives a strong background. The four sisters play lead and bass guitar and keyboards. They also come to the front to dance something between tap and pure Irish dance. Their music combines elements of bluegrass, celtic, and classical all with a rock beat and rhythm. The lead violinist plays with huge energy and great skill, especially considering he claims none of them read music, they are all self taught, and they play by ear. His rendition of a Hungarian Czardas is sullen and smokey before breaking into its rapid and soaring conclusion. Leahy plays a version of “The Orange Blossom Special” one of the audience sitting near us says sounds more like the Orient Express. During their performance, clouds have returned, we have a very brief rainfall, and the sky clears again. We don our rain gear, cover our legs with an open umbrella, endure the rain, and ten take it all off again as the stars begin to shine.

The Doc and Merle Watson Theatre is set in a flat glade tucked below surrounding hills and surrounded by trees. At night the trees are lit in reds and yellows. It is late April and fresh leaves are on the trees. This all provides a lovely visual setting as well as a fine acoustical support for the marvelous sound system Merlefest has had developed. The only problem with all this is that as darkness fall, chill air spills of the side of the hills and settles onto the stage area. On our first evening, we hac noticed people bringing what we think are an overkill supply of warm stuff. Sweaters, blankets, sleeping bags, and other covers stuffed into bags fill up the aisles. By tonight we have also come prepared. I have two T-shirts, a flannel shirt, a wool sweater, fleece top and bottom, and my fila warmup. Shortly before the rain started again, I pulled off my shoes, one at a time, and pulled on the fleece and then the warm-up – again one leg at a time to avoid getting my feet wet on the grass. This production provides Irene with more than a little amusement. When I stand to pull up these coverings, I have three layers on and will be snug and warm for the evening.

Sam Bush is a performer who, like most of the others here, I’ve never heard of before. The shame is mine. Apparently he is one of the leading lights in helping to make the transition from simple bluegrass into a much more contemporary sound melding elements of old time music to the

beats and rhythms of rock. Sam himself plays a fast and penetrating mandolin and doubles on fiddle. His guitarist is an exceptional flat picker whose lightening fingers create sounds that blend wonderfully with Bush’s. They face off against each other in a series of ear splitting call and response duets. Along with a bass guitarist and a drummer, the Sam Bush band creates a vibrant and exciting sound. Sam Bush has played in Emmy Lou Harris’s band, and she steps in for a song that they have recorded together. Her appearance electrifies the audience once again.

When we came to Merlefest, I had had some concerns about four days of bluegrass music being just a little too much. I certainly had not expected to attend a series of rock concerts. What this festival presents is the blending of old and new into a contemporary sound that should have much broader appeal than it seems to have developed. Generally, musicians here use amplified acoustic instruments, giving a more mellow and fuller sound than all electric instruments do. These instruments are often supplemented by an electric bass and keyboards in some groups. When called for, a musician will pick up an electric guitar to add in the kind of wailing, screaming sound they can create. Some groups prefer to place microphones at the resonating holes of their instruments. Others use electronic pickups inside their instruments to amplify the natural sound. In the case of a superb musician like Doc Watson, this amplification gives a crisp, clear tone that catches every single note. For bands like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Asleep at the Wheel, Leahy, and The Sam Bush Band amplification of acoustic instruments and mixing them with electric ones allows a blues/rock/bluegrass sound without compare.

The Del McCoury Band is the next group on the main stage. McCoury is an old time bluegrass player whose three sons play with him along with a fiddler and a lead guitarist. McCoury and his sons sing in close harmony in a high nasal piercing voice. One of his sons plays a great mandolin, while another is a fine banjo player. Despite the high quality of their performance, I can’t quite seem to warm up to this band. The father seems to me to exert an almost primal paternal control, he’s the guy in charge. The sons come across, to me, as sullen and even angry. The McCoury band is competent, even better than that, but they just don’t get to me. I guess that’s ok.

Sometime around 11:30 the great bluegrass star and mandolin virtuoso Ricky Skaggs and his group Kentucky Thunder are introduced. Every preceding group has gone overtime, it’s getting chilly and late, but thousands have stayed on to hear Skaggs play and sing. He’s a sandy

haired, chunky guy whose voice and playing take charge of the stage. As a direct musical descendant of the great Bill Munro, founder of modern bluegrass, Skaggs in an icon in bluegrass music. We have listened to his earlier concert from the Hillside Stage while sitting in our rig. Tonight we get the full treatment. Despite the fact we’re both chilly and tired, Skaggs is tremendous. At the end of his gig, the audience calls him back for another song. He sings again, and we all head off happy. Irene and I trudge up the stairs, past the classrooms, and up the hill to the RV parking lot. In the Walker Center below the annual Doc Watson jam session will go on until perhaps three or four in the morning. We collapse into bed and sleep like stones.