Pickin' on Lawrence

By Chris Brown

Published on Thu., May 12th, 2005

“Never let the truth spoil a good story,” preaches Steve Mason, Lawrence resident and all around bluegrass renaissance man “And don’t quit your day job — that’s another one.”

Referring to what could be called two “bluegrass principles,” Mason laughs.

Originally from Ann Arbor, Mich., Mason’s influence on the local bluegrass scene can be traced decades back to nearly all of the original bluegrass bands to come to Lawrence in the 1970s. Mason is also able to play pretty much every stringed instrument — with varying degrees of skill — including the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, upright bass and cello. He says this is part-and-parcel of his profession as a luthier, which he describes as “one who repairs, improves and creates stringed musical instruments.”

A large man with a bushy white beard and thin-rimmed glasses, Mason is the kind of person who lives and breathes bluegrass music. His west Lawrence home reflects his passion: custom fiddles hanging neatly together on a rack adorn the cream-colored walls of his living room, a large upright bass in pristine condition sits propped up on a stand near a window, tools of the trade — a bandsaw, a belt-sander and a drill press — pack one side of his garage, now converted into a workspace for repairing, building and improving upon instruments.

Through his active involvement in the Lawrence bluegrass scene as a creator and mentor for many, Mason embodies a thriving musical community that revolves around this genre of roots music. And like Mason’s love of luthiery, the history of bluegrass music in Lawrence runs deep.

Bluegrass music is alive and well in Lawrence and is not confined to one generation of listeners and players. Unlike other popular forms of music, it is a shared tradition, passed down from one generation to another through people such as Steve Mason and Gloria Throne, through events such as the Fiddling and Picking Championships and community jams, and through places such as the Americana Music Academy.

Roots Run Deep

The historical roots of bluegrass music are at once varied and distinct. According to the International Bluegrass Music Association, bluegrass was first born out of the street balladry of the people who began migrating to America in the early 1600s. These people tended to live in rural areas and composed new songs about day-to-day life experiences in the new land. The songs these early Americans created incorporated simple stringed instruments, such as banjos and basses, and the music was decidedly pastoral, reflecting life on the farm or in the hills.

Ron Pen, director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music Association, says that bluegrass music, in all its modern-day incarnations, owes its starting point to one climactic event: In 1878, brothers Ralph and Carter Stanley recorded a ballad about the last four mile heat race — a three-heat race of four miles each — at Churchill Downs. This race, which took place on July 4, 1878, was between the Kentucky horse Ten Broeck and the horse Miss Mollie McCarthy from California. Pen says that this event came before Bill Monroe — considered to be the “father of bluegrass” — played his distinct style of “mountain music” with his band, The Blue Grass Boys.

In the early 1930s and ‘40s, music of various ethnic backgrounds mixed with African-American folk music to develop into different forms of early roots music, such as hillbilly, blues and jazz, Pen says. At this time, an experimentation of African-American balladry mixed with old-time string band music began. This unique mix gave rise to a new type of music termed “bluegrass,” which described the music’s origin in the bluegrass hills of Kentucky.

Though not as far reaching, the history of a cohesive bluegrass music scene in Lawrence dates back to the early 1970s, when groups of like-minded musicians got together to form loose-knit collaborations, which later turned into old-time bands such as Last Kansas Exit, Murphy’s Law and Prairie Fire. Mason, who played fiddle in a few of these bands, says they played for the same audience but differed in their approach to bluegrass. Some played in the style of the genre’s founding father Bill Monroe, others incorporated non-traditional instruments, such as guitars, mandolins and accordions, into the mix.

In 1975, then Lawrence elementary school teacher Gloria Throne decided to try and bring the down-home bluegrass jam sessions she had grown up with in Brown County, Ind. — just 20 minutes from Bill Monroe’s birthplace — to Lawrence. Throne placed an ad for a Wednesday night jam session in the bulletin of the “Free University,” which was a no credit, no fees system, she explains. Steve Mason came to the first meeting, offering to host the event at his music store Harmonic Arts at 4th and Locust Street, she says. Within a year, word-of-mouth had turned the event into a huge success.

“We tried to emphasize we’re just getting to share the music in whatever way people could,” says Throne, who is now 63, retired and living in Rushville, Mo.

Throne says that there were no rules for what instruments people could and could not bring, so people often brought instruments that weren’t traditionally associated with bluegrass music.

“We kept creating categories. If you played harmonica or hammer dulcimer at least you could have the chance to share what you did,” she says.

As it was then, playing music in these weekly jam sessions was a good way to network with other musicians around town, she says. Through these jam sessions, Throne hooked up with Steve Mason to play bass and sing in his old-time parody band Goldilocks and the Bagels. Throne played the stage role of Goldilocks.

From the 70s into the early 80s, barn dances — otherwise known as “contra dance” — became popular in Lawrence.

These dances, which incorporated song and a dance style reminiscent of square dance, flourished around old-time music and the bands that defined bluegrass in Lawrence up to this point, Throne says.

In 1976 — the United States’ bicentennial year — the rich musical scene that had been growing through the years culminated in the local Fiddling and Picking Championships, which Throne organized. Though it since has expanded to include a plethora of stringed instruments, Throne says the first Fiddling and Picking Championships involved just guitars and fiddles.

“It had two categories—fiddling and picking—and everyone had to play together,” she says.

Mirroring the evolution of the Fiddling and Picking Championships to include new instruments and new musical styles, the Lawrence bluegrass scene has evolved over the years and now encompasses more musical styles and instruments that push the creative envelope of American roots music.

The Americana Experience

The Americana Music Academy, located at 1410 Massachusetts St., is the modern day incarnation of the ‘70s weekly jam sessions and the subsequent bands formed from the relationships fostered in this “everyone plays together” atmosphere. Founder and established guitarist Thom Alexander says he believes in the power of playing music together and thinks it is important to provide people, of all different backgrounds with varying degrees of musical skills, opportunities to play music in “low-stress situations.”

Coming from a background in education, the 48-year-old Alexander moved to Lawrence from California in 1993 and had a vision to start a music school.

“I think everybody should learn and have the joy of music in their lives,” says Alexander, an outspoken, silver-haired man with a matching grey goatee and round glasses.

In August 2001 Alexander opened Americana. Four months later, in January 2002, classes for a wide range of instruments and musical styles associated with roots music began.

“I was into filling a niche,” Alexander says. “I have a real love for banjo, I have a real love for mandolin, I have a real love for dulcimer.”

Alexander’s vision of people from all different walks of life playing music together has boldly manifested itself in various weekly events that are sponsored by Americana. He says that some of these events, like the Thursday night community jam at Signs of Life Books, 722 Massachusetts St., and the front porch jam at Americana on Saturday mornings, regularly attract many local musicians of all different ages and musical backgrounds.

“Anybody can show up. Sometimes there’s three people, sometimes there’s thirty-five,” Alexander says. “The goal is just to provide an opportunity for people to play with other people for the sake of playing.”

Tax Day Jamboree

On April 15 — officially known to everyone in the country as “tax day” — the post office is packed but not with tax filers. Steve Mason’s band, the Alferd Packer Memorial Stringband, plays its distinctive mix of old-time and contra dance music to an eclectic mix of Lawrencians, young and old. The roots of this event at the most peculiar of venues goes back to 1986. In that year, Mason got his taxes done late and said he had that feeling like the pressure had been taken off — a feeling similar to finishing a big exam. He wanted to play music but there was nothing going on. The next year, a member of Mason’s band, 7th and Hickory, half-jokingly suggested they have a tax-day jam at the post office and the band was into the idea so they just showed up and started playing.

“We thought they would kick us out but they didn’t,” he said.

Since 1987, the event has been a town spectacle. At 10:30 p.m. on tax day this year crowds of people pack the interior. Some dance, some just observe. The Alferd Packard Memorial Stringband plays a fast-paced contra dance number for the affable crowd. The band members are decked out in elaborate costumes, which can best be described as Civil War meets Old West. Outside, a man cooks “road-kill stew,” and there’s a tinge of its rich contents in the post office air. In between songs, the band cracks corny jokes and the crowd responds with disapproving laughs. At the start of another song — a medium-paced waltz — Mayor Mike Rundle takes center stage and tap dances to the rhythmic beat. The crowd cheers him and his “Lord of the Dance” tap dance moves on. The room is filled with a diversity of people, but few who are of college age. Rachael Costello, Lawrence sophomore, is here with her dad. Costello says her dad comes every year but tonight is her first time being a part of this tax day tradition. Costello says she grew up listening to bluegrass music.

“It has a nostalgic feel to me because I listened to it as a little kid,” she says.

At 11:55, the crowd lines up by the mail drop slot in preparation for the final filers to dash in before the clock strikes midnight. With balloons in hand, the crowd forms a tunnel walkway from the doors to the drop slot — a formation know for years as “the gauntlet.” The band rushes over to the front of the crowd to play its last number of the night, the William Tell Overture. The band strikes up its feverishly-paced version and for the next five minutes the crowd cheers on the last of the tax day filers as they rush in.

Old School Approach,

New School Players

As with the tax day show, the bluegrass scene in Lawrence is as much about the audience as it is about the musicians. Often times, audience members become part of the band during what is known as a “bluegrass jam session.” In a bluegrass jam session, Steve Mason says that there’s an open environment of musicianship where bluegrass musicians jam with other bluegrass musicians in a social setting fixed around a circle.

Mason says that everyone is encouraged to play with everyone else in these settings but the center of the circle is reserved for only those that can keep pace with the song being played.

“If you sound like you’re good enough to be in the center, they kind of open up and let you in,” he says. “If you suck, they keep you out.”

Not everyone plays at once. The musicians participating in these jams take breaks one at a time, Mason says, while everyone else plays chords to continue the rhythmic beat of the song.

Sean McCue, Overland Park senior, says he got involved with the local bluegrass scene through playing in various jam sessions and networking with musicians that he met. The 23-year-old bassist says he played bass throughout high school in jazz bands but had never really thought about playing bluegrass music until he came to Lawrence and found opportunities to play with other people around town through community jam sessions.

McCue now plays in Devil Eat the Groundhog, which he describes as an old-time stringband—composed of musicians on bass, guitar, fiddle and mandolin.

Steve Mason says that an encouraging environment where musicians can play music with other musicians is something that’s important in bluegrass music and the preservation of the Lawrence bluegrass scene.

“A huge thing is that music is a social sport and it’s very difficult to stand in a living room and practice,” Mason says. “So it’s much more fun to play with other people.”

Contact writer at: cbrown@kansan.com

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