Bluegrass Giving Back

Members of Emma’s Gut Bucket Band in a free performance for the Chula Vista Veterans home. Photo by David Cupp.

Bluegrass is more than just music. It’s a uniquely American culture. Here are some of the ways this comes to life in San Diego.

• Festivals like Summergrass and the South State 48 that offer social activities, youth activities, jamming, workshops, and camping.
• Charity music programs like SDBS sponsored Emma’s Gut Bucket Band that brings free music programs to assisted living facilities, schools, and other nonprofit organizations.
• Teaching like the instructed “slow jam” offered every month by SDBS, the free workshops at Summergrass, South State 48; and instructional programs like the CBA’s Julian Music Camp, Thursday Night Pickers in Encinitas, and at the North County Bluegrass and Folk Club and more
• Instrument donations and lending programs like the one offered by SDBS
• Campouts that offer a chance for pickers and non-pickers to share music, food and good time like the annual event held by NCBFC
• Jam Sessions There are regular open jam sessions every week. See the SDBS and NCBFC websites, also Thursday Night Pickers for details.

All these help provide the “glue” that binds the bluegrass community together as more than just folks who play music together. It’s a true community that is open and welcoming to all. It’s an unwritten rule to check your politics at the door and you will be welcomed.

IBMA

A typical informal jam session. Photo by David Cupp.

IBMA stands for the International Bluegrass Music Association. It represents artists, composers, local associations, and more in the U.S and internationally. It too features non-partisan activities that not only further bluegrass music but build community cohesion at the same time. Read about the IBMA and its programs here: IBMA.

At any of these organizations, local, regionwide, national, and international, you will be welcomed based on your love of the music. You will be accepted based on your music skills, not your politics.

You might find yourself playing with a blue-collar day laborer, a practicing lawyer, a schoolteacher, a student, or an unemployed person. But you probably won’t know that because it doesn’t matter. You’ll just know them as a guitar player, a fiddler, banjo player, etc. That’s a good thing! Especially in these hyper political times, we need more interpersonal connection based on what we share, not on what divides us. You can rest assured… the bluegrass community will welcome you on this basis as long as you check your politics at the door. We need more of that in these troubled times.

Dwight Worden, who has been writing a bluegrass column for the Troubadour since its beginning, plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and bass and is active in several bluegrass bands. He is a board member of the San Diego Bluegrass Society, a prior board member of the International Bluegrass Music Association, a recovering lawyer, a Del Mar council member for 10 years, and mayor of the City of Del Mar for two years.