On the road with Carolina Road

What a beautiful day for a Bluegrass festival! Waking up to cloudless blue skies and warm weather just started things off right. I arrived at Jerry Butler’s place at the appointed 9:00 hour to board the Carolina Road tour bus. It would just be Jerry, myself, and fiddle player, Josh Goforth, making the trip to Chattanooga for the 18th Annual Boxcar Pinion Memorial Bluegrass Festival. The rest of the band would meet us there. We climbed aboard the 45-foot Prevost custom coach, and settled in for the ride.

The trip to Chattanooga went extremely smooth. Traffic was light and we only stopped one time and that was for breakfast. Jerry somehow managed to squeeze the bus into a very small and crowded parking lot at Bojangles, which left me both nervous and impressed. If you’ve ever tried to force 50-lbs of potatoes into a 25-lb sack, then you can imagine what was involved to pull this off. I enjoyed the trip, listening to Jerry and Josh talk about the ins and outs of living life on the road as Bluegrass musicians. Anyone that thinks these guys just live a life of fun and luxury is badly misinformed. There is a lot of time, hard work, and sacrifice involved in their kind of lifestyle; the fun stuff is just one of the few perks. I got to hear things about industry insiders that the average fan never gets to hear. I promised not to “tattle blog,” so you’re not going to read any dirt here. I did learn that the guys have a deep respect for the band’s owner, Lorraine Jordan, and I appreciated their devotion to her. I believe that is one thing that makes their band so successful.

Carolina Road had never played the Boxcar Pinion Festival before, so they didn’t know what to expect. We arrived at the Raccoon Mountain Campground about an hour and half before the band was scheduled to perform. The band’s new bass player, Gary Creed, and his girlfriend, Cindy, were already there and greeted us warmly. First on the list of things to do was unloading the product table and setting up the tent. The only issues here were battling some very windy conditions and making sure that everything was securely tied down. Mandolin player and band owner, Lorraine Jordan, and banjo picker, Ben Greene, arrived soon after we had finished setting up the table. They had flown in to Nashville and drove a rental to the event.

Probably my very favorite part of the whole trip was getting to sit in on the practice session before their stage performance. Fiddler, Josh Goforth, appeared to be the band’s music coordinator as he would call out songs, parts, and riffs for them to practice. Bassist, Gary Creed, being the newest band member, paid close attention to each part making certain that he had everything perfect. Of course Gary is professional and no stranger to bluegrass as he played several years for Randy Waller & the Country Gentlemen, as well as several other big name bands. Banjo player, Ben Greene, effortlessly plucked out his part on his 5-string, as Jerry Butler and Lorraine Jordan both joined in solidifying the band’s awesome sound. I could have left the festival at that point and been happy, as I was thoroughly entertained.

The first band on stage was Peanut Faircloth & Bluebird Special. Peanut Faircloth is well known throughout bluegrass and has been entertaining audiences for many years. He told lots of old stories and jokes, keeping the audience laughing. He was also the festival’s Emcee throughout the whole day and kept things running very smoothly and on time. Carolina Road was on next and they took to the stage and took over. If there was anyone in the audience that had never heard of the band, they left there that day as a huge fan. While all groups that performed did a fine job, Carolina Road was without a doubt the hot band of the day. They are not just a group of folks that went out and bought themselves some bluegrass instruments and decided to try and play, no sir, these people are talented professionals and in it for life. The only performance that I heard yesterday that was any better than their first set on stage, was their performance on the second set. From my front row seat in the grass just 10-feet from the stage, I felt like I was in Bluegrass Heaven. Speaking of Heaven, in my opinion Carolina Road’s gospel numbers are their best. Judging from the audience’s reaction, I was not alone in my thinking. Loud whooping, hollering, whistling, and clapping could be heard ringing from the hillside after each song was played. Fans will be delighted to know that Carolina Road has just finished an all-new Gospel CD and should be released within the next few weeks. I can’t wait to get my hands on that!

After the band’s performance, eager folks wanting to buy Carolina Road merchandise swamped their product table. Even though they had just performed a solid hour of hard-hitting bluegrass in very hot conditions, I watched as they warmly greeted each person, signed numerous autographs, and posed for pictures. Try finding that kind of hospitality in other genres of music. I’m positive that Carolina Road added many new folks to their long list of fans.

Like the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. I could have stayed on for many more hours but the time came that we had to pack things up and head back to Knoxville. It was a day that I’ll never forget and I deeply appreciate Jerry and the rest of the band for allowing me to tag along. I hope I wasn’t too much of a pest!

Below is the complete lineup of bands that performed yesterday:

Peanut Fairchild & Bluebird Special

Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road

The Mueller’s, a family group from Maine. They traveled over 1200 miles to perform at the festival.

Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen

Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press. Bobby is of course one of the famous Osborne Bros.

Bent Creek Bluegrass Band