by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
What: Bluegrass Festival
When: Thursday, December 28th - 30th
Where: Jekyll Island
Get down to the sweet sound of the banjo and wicked fiddle solos! Make the trek for the 31st annual Bluegrass Festival at Georgia’s Jekyll Island to enjoy three days of some of the best bluegrass artists in the country. It’s just about an hour and twenty-five minutes by car to go from Jacksonville to Jekyll Island to listen to old-timers and relative newcomers to bluegrass.
Bands like Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver have been giving the world bluegrass harmonies since the 1970s, but many of the groups playing at the fest have only been part of the circuit since the late 90s. Family-based bluegrass groups are a staple of the genre, and more than a few of these groups will be at the fest. The Gillis Brothers, The Lewis Family, The Issacs and Cherry Holmes are just a few of the familial groups.
I interviewed CherryHolmes’ patriarch, Jere, for EU just two days before Christmas. The group is made up of Jere, wife Sandy and their four children Cia, B.J., Skip and Molly. Jere wanted to use bluegrass music as a way to heal his family and bring them together. “In 1999, our oldest daughter passed away…she was about 21 and in the aftermath we attended a bluegrass festival out in California…and enjoyed ourselves so much that I decided that what we needed to do for family togetherness was to start playing music together.” The family didn’t start with the intention of professionally playing music, but they began getting requests to play at events and festivals. Soon they were a real band, making a decent amount of money on the side, but Jere was still working so they were “somewhat limited as to how far we could go…so in 2002 Sandy and I sat down and talked about it…either we were going to do it or we were going to have to back off, finish raising the kids, but, we decided to give it a shot.”
When the family first formed the band, the kids ranged in age from about age 6 to 15. Since the family was already homeschooling, the transition to the road wasn’t very difficult as far as school was concerned. “There’s a lot of hours driving around on the bus, perfect time to do schoolwork…We started homeschooling about 15 years ago…that just really worked out for us…Skip, our youngest son is just about ready to finish up, he’s a senior…after this year there will only be one [Molly] that will be in school.”
They started touring in a 1960’s VW bus but they’ve traded it in. “It never left us on the side of the road…but it was a bit smaller and I was putting so many miles on it that I was concerned that it would start breaking…Last year I drove in excess of 80 thousand miles…[1960] was actually the last year they made that model and once you start breaking things you’re for looking parts that are at least that old or older.”
In 2000 Jere asked his oldest daughter Cia to switch from guitar to banjo. “You just can’t have bluegrass without a banjo, so I asked her to switch. She taught our son guitar and he switched to guitar.”
CherryHolmes has gained popularity since they played their first paying gig. They won the 2005 IMBA Entertainer of the year and have appeared at the Grand Ole Opry about 23 times this year.
The Bluegrass Festival begins on Thursday at noon and ends at 11PM on Saturday. Call (706) 864-7203 for tickets and info. You can choose a three day pass, or just go for a single day of bluegrass fun. Get special hotel rates for bluegrass fans at the Jekyll Oceanfront Resort from $50-85. Ask for special bluegrass rate 1-800-736-1046.
The Gillis Brothers @ noon
The Lost and Found @ 12:50PM
The Larry Stephenson Band @ 1:40PM
Jesse McReynolds & the VA Boys @ 2:30PM
Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers @ 3:20PM
The Country Gentlemen @ 4:10PM
Supper Break @ 5:00PM
The Gillis Brothers @ 6PM
The Lost and Found @ 6:45
The Larry Stephenson Band @ 7:30 PM
Jesse Reynolds & the VA Boys @ 8:15PM
The Country Gentlemen @ 10:00PM
The James King Band @ noon
David Peterson & 1946 @ 12:50PM
The Gary Waldrep Band @ 1:40PM
The Issacs @ 2:30 PM
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver @ 3:20 PM
The Grascals @ 4:20 PM
Supper Break @ 5:10PM
The James King Band @ 6:00PM
David Peterson & 1946 @ 6:45PM
The Gary Waldrep Band @ 7:30 PM
The Issacs @ 8:15PM
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver @ 9:00 PM
The Grascals @ 10:00 PM
The Carolina Road Band @ noon
David Parmley & Continential Divide 12:50PM
Lou Reid & Carolina @ 1:40PM
The Lewis Family @ 2:30PM
CherryHolmes @ 3:20PM
Supper Break @ 4:10PM
The Carolina Road Band @ 5:15PM
David Parmley & Continental Divide @ 6:05PM
Lou Reid & Carolina @ 6:55PM
Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys @ 7:45PM
The Lewis Family @ 9:15PM
CherryHolmes @ 10:05PM
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