Sterling Column: Bluegrass Melody

In 2000, the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou” brought bluegrass into the mainstream—and the genre has been riding a wave of popularity ever since. Locally, there’s no better place to find bluegrass than at the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum in Claude Moore. This Sunday, May 24, at 2:30 p.m., local musicians will gather on the porch of the Waxpool General Store to play this regional music that had its birth in the Appalachian Mountains.

 

Bluegrass music derives from a variety of sources including Scot-Irish ballads, jazz and the blues. Like jazz, each instrument takes turns with the melody, creating endless variations and interpretations. Bluegrass is typically played with stringed instruments—and many would say it’s incomplete without a banjo. Again, similar to jazz, it is open to jamming and musicians gathering on the spur of the moment to play.

 

In January, the Heritage Farm Museum launched Blue Grass Jams as a trial program running through the end of June. Every second and fourth Sunday, the museum opens its porch to professional musicians, amateurs and students to play. If you come to listen, admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children 2-12, but if you bring your instrument you and a guest get in free.

 

“Some of our favorite guests have been area high school students who have had the opportunity to play and learn from seasoned musicians,” comments Mary Novotny, Manager of the Heritage Farm Museum.

 

For more information, call the museum at 571-258-3800 or visit it online atwww.heritagefarmmuseum.org.