The Grass is Always Bluer on the Other Side
by Sara Gorelick
For busy, energetic professionals, retirement can be a double-edged sword, an enjoyable prospect accompanied by a dilemma—“Now what?” some ask. For Ron Whitlow, of Brentwood, Tennessee, that dilemma never arose.
“There was no question of what to do with my time,” says former UPS regional manager, Ron Whitlow. “I knew I wanted music to occupy a central part of my life.” Specifically, that music had to be bluegrass.
Ramble On
Bluegrass, a homegrown sound that dates back to the 1940s, received its name from Kentucky, the “Bluegrass State” where the “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe hailed from.
While bluegrass is related to American folk and country music, it uses different instrumentation and voice styles. A typical bluegrass band will have five members, playing banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and bass. Aside from a big upright bass, all the instruments are easily carried, and the portability of bluegrass instruments is a major attraction to amateur players.
But bluegrass music can be difficult. Becoming a strong player takes practice because of the extremely fast tempos and improvised solos where musicians take turns on riffs, similar to a jazz jam.
“Playing bluegrass takes discipline,” says Whitlow, “and it takes a lot of practice to get proficient.”
On his journey into bluegrass country, Whitlow started on guitar before moving to mandolin, a small instrument which he carries wherever he goes. He also intends to take up the fiddle. Whitlow has a teacher to guide him—Peter Wernick, a renowned bluegrass instructor and musician, also known as Dr. Banjo (www.DrBanjo.com).
Watch and Learn
Dr. Banjo began playing banjo at 14. When he was 17, he joined a small bluegrass band in Palo Alto, California, and played with none other than future Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia. “A few years later, I heard he’d grown his hair big and became Captain Trips,” Wernick laughs. “But he played bluegrass on and off throughout the years.”
During college, Wernick jammed in New York City. He is nationally recognized as a member of three noted bluegrass bands, Hot Rize, Country Cooking, and Flexigrass.
These days Wernick runs bluegrass jam camps with his wife, Joan, who is a singer and guitarist. The intensive camps last three days, and musicians—of varying degrees of experience—practice from 9 to 5. Days start with a group sing-along, before the musicians break into smaller jams. There are no printed materials handed out, except lyrics, a policy which emphasizes the traditional way of learning bluegrass songs, by watching and following along.
“This music is learned by memory, ear, and feeling rather than by exact instructions,” Wernick explains. “It’s more like a conversation than a script.”
Many older adults are drawn to bluegrass because of what Wernick jokingly refers to as the “folk scare” of the 1960s. “Those people are hitting retirement now, and they remember songs and have bought the instruments.”
Plus, says Wernick, despite the difficulty of some bluegrass music, it’s easy to get a start. “The first rung of the ladder is very close to the ground,” he says.
Another attraction is the lyrics. Bluegrass words tell stories, and Wernick says they connect contemporary players to another part of America and another time. “Those musicians had a knack for putting thought right smack into words,” Wernick explains. “How a cowboy feels when he looks up at the sky is the way a Wall Street broker feels when he looks up at the sky.”
Keep It Legal
In fact, largely due to amateur enthusiasts, the number of bluegrass festivals keeps growing. Every year, about 600 bluegrass festivals take place throughout the US. They occur mostly in summertime at campgrounds and county festivals and attract communities with unforgettable music and special bonds.
“These festivals are appealing to all age groups; they’re not just for old fogies at all,” Wernick observes. “There can be anywhere from just a father and son to 10 people sitting around a campfire or Coleman lantern, trading licks in the middle of the night.”
Wernick tries to recreate this level of community for his campers. He explains that one of the biggest struggles for a novice bluegrass musician is trying something new, but since so much of bluegrass focuses on improvisation—or breaks—everyone must be made comfortable.
“People start out being intimidated, but then they see everyone’s in the same boat and find a common ground,” Wernick says. “The rule at camp is, do anything legal and make the chords match! Playing is about fun, and if you aren’t having fun you’re losing the game. At my camp, Mrs. Grundy isn’t going to hit you on the knuckles with a ruler for playing a bad note!”
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Mesmerizing Mandolin
Marion Webster always cherished music. She grew up singing and learned the guitar in the ’60s, performing folk music. “I played street music in Harvard Square in Boston,” Webster remembers. “I made quite a bit of money. It was a lot of fun. You get your permit, show up, and start playing.”
Music took a back seat for Webster when she had her son at age 38, and she has spent the last 17 years as a home-schooling mom, but what got her back into music she calls a “serendipitous act of God.”
“I was down at the beach,” she says, “and a father of my son’s friend was playing mandolin and walking around. I watched him play and I was just mesmerized.”
Webster went home and rented a mandolin, and was very taken with it. Soon she learned about bluegrass jams and heard about Dr. Banjo’s camp. “I contacted Pete and got myself out there. It changed my life. A lot of people study at home, but Pete brings the closet pickers out. I fell in love with the music and met the most wonderful people. It was a niche for me completely.”
Now Webster sings in a band called Loose Ends and plays in house jams every week. “This is a journey that carries you,” she notes. “You meet all walks of life and people with different jobs, but we don’t even talk about that. It’s about the music.”
Webster treasures making bluegrass music because she says it’s something she can do for herself. After being a full-time mom, she is entering the workforce, and wants to do something with music because it’s such a fulfilling part of her life. “Bluegrass is a great, ageless genre,” she concludes. “All ages play and enjoy it. Elders are respected. I feel so fortunate.”
Wildest Dream
Bridget Allen, another of Dr. Banjo’s jam campers, recalls her first music making experience, as a five-year-old playing a homemade guitar. “I can remember getting a cigar box and putting pins through and putting rubber bands around it,” Allen says.
Now at 63, Allen of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, jams about once a week with her husband, RB. Since retiring four years ago from her fudge and ice cream stand in Lancaster, she has learned guitar, upright bass, and is working on her mandolin skills.
While the bluegrass phase of her music making began for Allen only five years ago, she said she has always been a closet fan of the music. Now she spends her time playing and singing at different functions with different musicians, which is her favorite part of bluegrass. “It’s such a thrill, I just love playing with new people,” Allen says.
“I’m having fun,” she continues. “I never thought I’d get to this point … playing bluegrass wasn’t even on my list of things to do. But there it is. I can do it. Singing in front of people is my deepest fear and wildest dream all wrapped up.”
Allen is like many amateur musicians who have caught the bluegrass bug in their retirement years. She loves the challenge of learning something new and playing with friends in a community that at the same time connects them with an important part of America’s homegrown culture.
For some of these musicians, like Ron Whitlow, it’s not so much a question of what to do with your free time in retirement, but how much time you’re going to spend playing bluegrass. “It’s a commitment, one I gladly make,” he says. “It’s more of a passion than a hobby, something I have to do. If I have to miss playing for any reason, I don’t feel the same. I don’t feel complete.”
