July 20&21

On Saturday the 20th we went to Spruce Pones BBQ and Bluegrass festival, held in the mountain community of the same name. The town has a few streets that rise from the river valley in kind of a terrace. The first street is along the RR tracks. and this is where the  festival is held. This is the second time this town has held  this contest. Last year they held it primarily as a BBQ contest, and invited some bluegrass bands. They were surprised that so many people that came to enjoy the BBQ, that they ran out!
This year they had 2 big name blue grass bands there, one each on Friday and Saturday evening, and about 6 less well known bands, who performed throughout the day. They had a BBQ competition that began on Thursday evening, and had a number of categories, from BBQ chicken to 4 types of NC favorite - Pork. The BBQ was incredible, and the BBQers were a kick to watch. We sampled chopped pork sandwich, BBQ ribs, and a chopped plate, from various vendors. Each of them entered in each category, and this was a serious competition.
The equipment they brought was impressive, and this is only a tiny sample! Most guys brought in a trailer at least as big as the one pictured, with one or two BBQ units on it. I was particularly happy to note the fire extinguisher on this unit. All are custom made. We watched the award ceremony, with curiosity. These were all pro-am BBQ folks. Guys who do this on weekends, and have a day job. They employ family and friends for sales. The best was a guy who won for the best ribs, named "Kilted Kilbey" from Easley SC. He claimed his prize in a real kilt! There is a real Scottish influence to the music in this part of the country. We saw it really come out in the dance. When they gave the bluegrass bands a break they had cloggers dance.

 Bluegrass music for those, like me, who didn't grow up with a mountain veteran father, is usually performed with a fiddle, a mandolin, a guitar, banjo and a string bass, or electric today.Liz's appreciation of this music was my introduction to it, and I've come to really enjoy it. The band pictured here was very good, by my standards, primarily because of the fiddle/mandolin player. This guy was a real character, and what a fiddle he played. These guys were all locals who came to play for the money collected in the tip jar - not a great payday!
Balsam ridge on the other hand, the group to the left, was terrific all around. The performers here have all played for name groups before joining together and forming this band. The banjo player, Mark Pruett  played with Ricky Skaggs and wrote many of his songs, as well as songs by country artists on the charts today. The bass player. who doubled on several other instruments such as the dobro, a kind of steel guitar,  played with Vince Gill for years. These guys were really good, and we were part of a small town sitting in the summer evening with the smell of BBQ surrounding us. Great. All of us were amazed (even the band) when they began a train song, and a real CSX freight passed by behind us, not 50 yards away!

Here is another video to give you a hint what the music was like. The resolution here is much better in the version I've got, but, I'm still experimenting with this. Any tips from you experts out there are welcome! These guys played fast tunes like this and many other ones where the skills of each musician were highlighted. their harmony was very good as well.

The next day we went back up the Blue Ridge a little to the Moses Cone estate. Moses had a very successful denim weaving & trading business. He built a very nice house,a couple of ponds and a beautiful system of carriage roads. It is interesting to find out that the National Park service is not looked at too fondly by the survivors of some of these estates. The Park service kind of assumes ownership, and just takes over, much to the distress of the widow,or family.

We also went for a short hike at Linville Falls on the Blue Ridge. Western NC has had a very rainy spring and summer, so everything is wet and the plants are growing like crazy. They have a number of trail choices, but because of conditions, we opted for one of the shorter ones. It was probably good that we did, the ground was saturated, and it looked like they had gone through the trail and dropped some sand, to try and absorb the moisture. We saw the lower part of the falls, and this is one of "steady hand Liz's" slow shutter speed shots to  depict the flowing water.
Tomorrow we travel  little ways to Marion.