Bluegrass at the Englishtown Music Hall

<v Jeff Byrne>[music playing] [audience clapping] Tonight, from all over America, bluegrass bands are <v Jeff Byrne>coming to New Jersey to perform in a little theater in the country built 100 years ago, <v Jeff Byrne>The English Town Music Hall <v Jeff Byrne>[cheers]. Presenting from Ohio where people brought bluegrass music right along with them <v Jeff Byrne>across the border from Kentucky, a Buckeye bluegrass band, The Hot Mug Family. <v Jeff Byrne>Born in Texas, the great Buck White on Mandolin and his singing daughters <v Jeff Byrne>from Tennessee joined right in. <v Jeff Byrne>Buck White and the down-home folks, a great entertainer from West <v Jeff Byrne>Virginia, a master of the bluegrass banjo with a thousand jokes and songs, Don <v Jeff Byrne>Stover. <v Jeff Byrne>From way down North Carolina way, they're at home in a barn dance or a Broadway <v Jeff Byrne>play, The Red Clay Ramblers. <v Jeff Byrne>Fire on the fiddle, born in Texas, but now New Jersey's number one bluegrass personality, <v Jeff Byrne>Tex Logan. <v Jeff Byrne>High bluegrass singing at its finest. <v Jeff Byrne>Born in North Carolina. Here he comes with a bluegrass band from Pennsylvania, Del <v Jeff Byrne>McCoury and the Dixie Pals.

<v Jeff Byrne>Sailing south to New Jersey from Boston, Mass., the soulful bluegrass singing <v Jeff Byrne>of Joe Vall and the New England Bluegrass Boys. <v Jeff Byrne>From Indiana, here are some high powered picking insane blended with the lady's voice. <v Jeff Byrne>Louis Polk joined the Heirs of Bluegrass. <v Jeff Byrne>From New Jersey's neighboring state of Delaware, the Lundy's and the Paisley's Ted, <v Jeff Byrne>Jerry, T.J. Lundy and Bob and Danny Paisley, the Southern Mountain Boys. <v Jeff Byrne>And finally all the way from North Carolina, 16 of them in all, high <v Jeff Byrne>kicking bluegrass dance troupe, the Green Grass Cloggers. <v Jeff Byrne>Tonight, all these bands are here for one big night of bluegrass music, fiddlers, <v Jeff Byrne>banjo pickers and flat pickers. <v Jeff Byrne>Mandolin aces, bass fiddle slappers and buck dancers, picking and singing <v Jeff Byrne>bluegrass style. <v Jeff Byrne>So come on in right behind that door.

<v Jeff Byrne>You have people clappin' their hands, tapping their feet in their seats. <v Jeff Byrne>Kids in their laps. Food on their plates and a smile on their face. <v Jeff Byrne>So sit right down. Make yourself at home. <v Jeff Byrne>Welcome to bluegrass at the English Town Music Hall. <v Jeff Byrne>That's the Southern Mountain Boys on stage with the Lundys and Paisleys starting things <v Jeff Byrne>off with a good old fiddle tune. <v Jeff Byrne>But let's just go upstairs for a minute to the band room [men singing]. <v Jeff Byrne>Music Hall's a place where bluegrass musicians feel at home. <v Jeff Byrne>Musicians have met each other here, jammed together, traded songs and even formed bands. <v Jeff Byrne>In fact, bluegrass music was born in country theaters like this. <v Jeff Byrne>For 100 years, New Jerseyans have been coming to the hall for vaudeville shows, medicine <v Jeff Byrne>shows, minstrel shows and hoedowns, all featuring the sound of fiddling, banjo <v Jeff Byrne>picking and string band music. America's oldest popular music sound. <v Jeff Byrne>I'm Jeff Byrne. My family and I opened up the hall for bluegrass shows back in 1975 <v Jeff Byrne>because we wanted a place where people today could enjoy live entertainment and the old

<v Jeff Byrne>fashioned way, they used to call it a stage show. <v Jeff Byrne>Let's go back downstairs now [fiddling]. <v Jeff Byrne>Tonight we'll hear some old songs and some new songs, comical songs, serious songs, sad <v Jeff Byrne>songs, happy song. Introducing The Lonesome Sound of Del McCurry's <v Jeff Byrne>High High Tenor Singing with accompaniment by a sturdy band of bluegrass pickers. <v Jeff Byrne>Banjo player Bill Runkle wrote this first tune. <v Jeff Byrne>You ever wondered what sound so different about the bluegrass beat? <v Jeff Byrne>Just listen to the banjo roll on Andy's Honey by Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals. <v Jeff Byrne>[applause and cheering] [Andy's Honey plays] [singing] <v Del McCoury>Thank you, folks. And now I'll tell you what we'll do.

<v Del McCoury>We had a special request for the fiddlers to play some ?inaudible? <v Del McCoury>fiddle for ya here for you tonight. So we're gonna let 'em do that. <v Del McCoury>And I hope you'll enjoy. They've got one picked out they're gonna do entitled The <v Del McCoury>Wheelhouse. [fiddlers playing The Wheelhouse] <v Jeff Byrne>Well, that was bluegrass with that up tempo beat and two fiddles.

<v Jeff Byrne>But now here's a bluegrass band that reaches back to do songs in the old time way. <v Jeff Byrne>First, we'll go to church for a gospel hymn with no instruments, just voices. <v Jeff Byrne>Next a banjo plucker strums along in a rowdy old song about some hard luck. <v Jeff Byrne>Then he puts on fingered picks for a bluegrass song about a bluegrass singer. <v Jeff Byrne>From the muddy banks of the Ohio, The Hot Mud Family. <v Jeff Byrne>[applause] <v The Hot Mud Family>Thanks. <v The Hot Mud Family>[singing] Yes.

<v The Hot Mud Family>Turn down the kingdom of this world. <v The Hot Mud Family>My mother found a stone, it was ?inaudible? <v The Hot Mud Family>out the mountain. Oh my mother found a stone, it come rolling down from ?inaudible?. My mother found <v The Hot Mud Family>the stone, it was ?inaudible? <v The Hot Mud Family>out of the mountain, lord it's tearing down the kingdom of this world. <v The Hot Mud Family>Oh, yes. Tearin' down the kingdom of this world. <v Man 1>King Jesus is a stone it was-. <v The Hot Mud Family>Heaved out of the mountain? <v The Hot Mud Family>King Jesus is a stone that come rollin' down from, then <v The Hot Mud Family>came Jesus is a stone that ?inaudible? <v The Hot Mud Family>out of the mountain. <v The Hot Mud Family>Lord it's tearing down the kingdom of this world. <v The Hot Mud Family>Oh yes, tearing down the kingdom of this world. <v Man 1>I'm lookin' for the stone that was-. <v The Hot Mud Family>?inaudible? out of the mountain, Lord I'm looking for the stone that come <v The Hot Mud Family>rollin' down from ?Babel? <v The Hot Mud Family>and I'm lookin' for this stone that was ?inaudible? out of the mountain. <v The Hot Mud Family>Lord it's tearin' down the kingdom of this world. Oh yes, tearing down the kingdom of this world. [applause]

<v The Hot Mud Family>[music playing] I am a jolly farmer. <v The Hot Mud Family>Last night I came to town to make this bale of cotton, <v The Hot Mud Family>I worked the whole year round, I put my team in the wagon yard and bought

<v The Hot Mud Family>me a bottle of gin, I went out to see the <v The Hot Mud Family>electric lights and watch the cars come in. I met this dude out on the street, the clock <v The Hot Mud Family>was striking nine. <v The Hot Mud Family>He says, come on ?inaudible? Come have a drink. <v The Hot Mud Family>It's fine. I must have bought him a dozen grams just in my pocketbook <v The Hot Mud Family>car. I wish I had bought me a half a pound and stayed in the wagon yard. <v The Hot Mud Family>[fiddle playing] <v The Hot Mud Family>Now, since I'm a deacon in the ?inaudible? <v The Hot Mud Family>church down near ?inaudible? drop. His sister hears about my spree, it's bound <v The Hot Mud Family>to make them hot. I went out on a party, I land the pace <v The Hot Mud Family>that kills. When I woke up and ?inaudible? <v The Hot Mud Family>it left me all the ?inaudible?.

<v The Hot Mud Family>I found them over on the corner near Soul Salvation Hall. <v The Hot Mud Family>That drunken bunch was out there singin' ?Jesus pays it all?. Hey! Put me out in a ?inaudible?. <v The Hot Mud Family>And Lord my ?inaudible? was hard. I wished I had bought him a half a pound and stayed in <v The Hot Mud Family>the wagon yard. <v The Hot Mud Family>Now, listen to me, farmers. <v The Hot Mud Family>I'm here to talk the with sense. If you wanna see an electric light <v The Hot Mud Family>you just look right over the fence. Don't mess around with them city ducks, you found <v The Hot Mud Family>them slick as lard. Just go and get you a half a pound and stay in

<v The Hot Mud Family>the wagon yard. [fiddle playing] [applause] <v Woman 1>Midnight moons and lovers, ?inaudible? queen so fair. <v Woman 1>Promises blue and broken, going everywhere. But <v Woman 1>you know he was a singer, pickin' nights

<v Woman 1>and sleepin' days. <v Woman 1>And he'd always been a <v Woman 1>dreamer, dream a life away. <v Woman 1>Remember all the people you've known along the way, <v Woman 1>and those you've left with heartaches that you've made. <v The Hot Mud Family>But you know he was a singer, pickin' nights and sleepin' days. And he'd always been a dreamer, dream a life away. <v Woman 1>Summer nights and memories. When you've grown old and you're singin' tons of sadness <v Woman 1>singin' oh you're ?sold?. <v The Hot Mud Family>But you know he was a singer, pickin' nights and sleepin' days. And he'd always been a dreamer, dreamin' life away. And he'll always be a dreamer, dreamin' life away. [applause]

<v Jeff Byrne>Here's a hoosier band from Indiana with some heavy duty flat picking by Lou Pope Joy,

<v Jeff Byrne>along with Linda Keller and the Eldridge Brothers. <v Jeff Byrne>Get a look at Terry Eldridge on the bass fiddle. Only 14 years old, hard driving <v Jeff Byrne>and good harmonizing. Lou Pope Joy and the Heirs of Bluegrass. <v Jeff Byrne>[applause] <v Lou Pope Joy>Thank you very kindly. [music begins] [applause] <v Lou Pope Joy>Thank you very much. <v Lou Pope Joy and the Heirs of Bluegrass>[singing] This heart of mine is made of silver, this heart of mine is made of gold. Make it shine just like a candle when your world is dark and cold. This heart of mine is made <v Lou Pope Joy and the Heirs of Bluegrass>of timber, this heart of mine is made of stone. Like a bridge across a mountain when you're walkin' all alone. When you're walkin' all alone. This heart of mine is made of iron, <v Lou Pope Joy and the Heirs of Bluegrass>this heart of mine is made of steel. It won't burn for another when the wind is ?inaudible?. When the wind is ?inaudible?. This heart of mine is made of silver, this heart of mine <v Lou Pope Joy and the Heirs of Bluegrass>is made of gold. It will shine just like a cnadle when your world is dark and cold. When your world is dark and cold.

<v Jeff Byrne>The word bluegrass has only been with us for about 30 years.

<v Jeff Byrne>Before that they used to call it string band music. <v Jeff Byrne>Here's what happens when an old timey string band throws in a piano and a horn, gets all <v Jeff Byrne>slicked up the place in jazz. From North Carolina, the Red Clay Ramblers <v Jeff Byrne>with Tommy Thompson on Banjo and Bill Craver on piano performing a song they wrote in the <v Jeff Byrne>string-band style, The Ace. <v Jeff Byrne>[applause]. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>[singing] Got a date with a ?high tall? girl, ?inaudible? and bouffant curls. She means business when she flirts <v The Red Clay Ramblers>?inaudible? skirts. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>Hopped in the car and I stepped on the gas, I was led down rubber on the old bypass.

<v The Red Clay Ramblers>Out a window, she did ?inaudible?, headed on out for the lovers' leap. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>Made it to ?inaudible? shack. Put 12 whole ?inaudible? on my back. Found us a spot in the Twilight Zone, <v The Red Clay Ramblers>when the light of the police showed. And he said, oh, ?Jack leg? you got the goods oh <v The Red Clay Ramblers>you, and your sweet Ann too. I caught you in the car with <v The Red Clay Ramblers>the stars in your eyes, and your brain's in the bottom of your shoes. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>You're a hot dog, ain't you now? You're the bulldog's big bow-wow. Got ?inaudible? on your face you're the ace with the sweaty brow. Headed on out for another spot, just down the <v The Red Clay Ramblers>road from a dash and a dot. Sounds come a cruisin' on the radio. ?inaudible? Finger nails tappin' on the window pane. Great big boyfriend went and he said, oh

<v The Red Clay Ramblers>you ?ice queen? you, you got the goods on you, and you sweet Ann too. I caught you in the car with the stars in your eyes and your brain's in the bottom of your shoes. You're the <v The Red Clay Ramblers>ace with the sweaty brow. ?inaudible? She was filin' her nails on the davenport when she thought she was ready for a little sport. Took on the rug, spilled my coke in her hair, <v The Red Clay Ramblers>split the seat and put my foot through a chair. She said, oh you milk dud you, I've had enough of you. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>And your ?inaudible? too.

<v The Red Clay Ramblers>Go home in the car with the stars in your eyes and your brains in the bottom of your shoes. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>You're a hotdog, ain't you now? You're the bulldog's big bowwow. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>Got ?fuzz? on your face you're the ace with the sweaty brow. <v The Red Clay Ramblers>[applause]. <v Jeff Byrne>Bluegrass was born in the American South ?land?. <v Jeff Byrne>Today you can hear it played in Britain, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, <v Jeff Byrne>in Australia and Japan. It's played in Canada an' all 50 American states. <v Jeff Byrne>Far from the southern mountains, from Massachusetts, let's hear one of America's great <v Jeff Byrne>high mountain bluegrass singers. Bluegrass with the Boston accents of Joe Vall <v Jeff Byrne>and the New England Bluegrass Boys. [applause] <v Joe Vall and the New England Bluegrass Boys>We got a little yodal number here that uh, maybe ?it'll?

<v Joe Vall and the New England Bluegrass Boys>do for ya. [tuning] One called Sparkling Brown Eyes. <v Joe Vall and the New England Bluegrass Boys>[begin playing] [inaudible singing] <v Jeff Byrne>Down in the southwestern states, the bluegrass they play picks up some of the sounds of

<v Jeff Byrne>swing jazz from the days of the big Western dancehall. <v Jeff Byrne>Boppers, jitter buggers, buck dancers. <v Jeff Byrne>You'll hear some music to make you wanna dance with these country folks from the Great <v Jeff Byrne>Southwest, from Nashville, Tennessee, the mandolin of Buck White with his <v Jeff Byrne>daughters, Sharon and Cheryl. <v Jeff Byrne>Buck White and the Down-Home Folks. [applause] <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>[inaudible singing] Listen, <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>let me tell you a story about ?a nobody? <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>it goes accordin'. Goes out to the country and picks up his girlfriend <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>and he picks her up in a wagon and he's got a mule in the wagon. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Must be a Missouri mule because it's real stubborn. ?inaudible? <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Just by the time the ol' boy gets familiar with the girl and starts to kiss her, the mule <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>breaks loose, runs off over the fields.

<v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Well,just ?inaudible? keep your seat, you better keep your cool. I ain't got the time to kiss you now, chasin' that ol' mule. Whoa mule, <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>whoa. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Whoa mule, I say. I ain't got time to kiss you now the mule's been runnin' away. [grunting and whistling] <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>You ?manky? bray. [grunts] Summertime, peaches in the ?morn'?. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>I can't help those berries ?inaudible?. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Whoa mule, whoa.

<v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Whoa mule, I say. I ain't got time to kiss you now the mule's been run away. ?inaudible? Whoa mule, <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>whoa. Whoa mule, I say. I ain't got time to kiss you now the mule's been run away. [grunting and whistling] [applause] <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>[clapping] [music playing]

<v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>[singing] ?inaudible? John had a wooden leg, the leg wasn't nothin' but a little peg. Pull your britches up. Get up, John. You better tie your shoes. Get up, John. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>You better get to goin', ya gotta get to heaven 'fore the devil gets to you. [hollering] Here's <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>a little step I learned out there in Texas. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>It's called a, it's called a Texas Twist [cheering] [clapping]. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Here's one they do over in Missouri called um, Missouri Drag. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Over in Arkansas them ridge runners do one they called um, Arkansas Hop.

<v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>A lot of differences, city folks from country folks. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Here's an old city gal all dressed up in her new stockings and shoes, walkin' <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>along the street. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>I'm still not ?inaudible?. <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>That ain't the way an ol' country girl'd do it, is it? <v Buck White and the Down-Home Folks>Here's what a country gal will do that. [laughter] [clapping] <v Jeff Byrne>Let's bring back the Down-Home folks for one more song.

<v Jeff Byrne>For this encore, I'm gonna bring out just the girls, Sharon and Sheryl White, with <v Jeff Byrne>special guest Suzanne Edmundson from the Hot Mud Family. <v Jeff Byrne>Performing together for the first time, they'll do a ladies song prepared specially for <v Jeff Byrne>this show: Come All Yee Fair and Tender Ladies. <v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>[music playing] [singing] Come all yee fair and tender ladies. Take warning how you court young men. They're <v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>like a star on a summer morning. They <v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>first appear, and then they're gone.They'll <v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>tell to you some love and stories. And

<v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>they'll make you think that they love you well. Then <v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>away they'll go to court some other. Then <v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>you leave there ?in grief to dwell?. I wish I was on some tall mountain, where the ivy rocks are black and ?inaudible?. I'd <v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>write a letter to my false true lover, whose cheeks are like the mornin' mist. Some love is ?inaudible?, some love is charming. And love is pretty while it's new. But love grows

<v Sharon White, Sheryl White, Suzanne Edmundson>cold as love grows old, and fate awaits like mornin' dew. And fate awaits like mornin' dew. [applause] <v Jeff Byrne>Tonight, just for this show, we reunite two great solo entertainers who have appeared <v Jeff Byrne>together for years with the Lilly Brothers Band, both in America and Japan.

<v Jeff Byrne>Tex Logan, breathing fire into the bluegrass fiddle, moved north from Texas to get a PhD <v Jeff Byrne>and now New Jersey's most famous bluegrass citizen. <v Jeff Byrne>Joined on banjo by Don Stover. <v Jeff Byrne>Tune writer, storyteller and father of 9, has gone from coal mines <v Jeff Byrne>to Yankee cities to a Maryland farm. <v Jeff Byrne>Both have played with Bill Monroe, who gave bluegrass music its name. <v Jeff Byrne>Both helped bring bluegrass out of the south and up to the Northeast seaboard. <v Jeff Byrne>I give you for the first time onstage as a duo, Tex Logan and Don Stover. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>Thank you very much. Thank you so much ?inaudible? [clapping] [music playing] <v Jeff Byrne>Just to give Tex and Don some help on rhythm and singing, a band got put together

<v Jeff Byrne>backstage at the Music Hall. <v Jeff Byrne>On guitars, there's Del McCoury and Lou Pope Joy. <v Jeff Byrne>And on bass fiddle, you'll see yours truly, Jeff Byrne. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>Alright ?inaudible? well uh, we feel that all programs should have a gospel song <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>somewhere along the lines of ?inaudible? on the day. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>Here's one called What Would You Give in Exchange for Your ?soul?. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>[music plays] Brothers are ?found? from the savior today. ?inaudible? <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>your soul or the thing that he gave. Oh <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>if today, God should call you ?inaudible? What <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>would you give, in exchange for your soul? What would you give? In exchange? What would you give? In exchange? What would you give in exchange for your soul? Oh <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>if today, God ?inaudible?. What would you give in exchange for your soul? Mercy is calling, won't you give in? ?inaudible?. ?Risk? not your soul, it's precious indeed. What

<v Tex Logan and Don Stover>would you give in exchange for your soul? What would you give? In exchange? Oh what would you give? In exchange? What would you give in exchange for your soul? Oh <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>if today God should call you ?inaudible? What <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>would you give in exchange for your soul? More than the ?inaudible? gold on this earth. More than all jewels his spirit is worth. God the creator has given you birth.

<v Tex Logan and Don Stover>What would you give in exchange for your soul? What would you give? In exchange? Oh what would you give? In exchange? What would you give in exchange for your soul? Oh if today <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>God should call you ?inaudible? What would you give in exchange for your soul? [applause] <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>Here's a little old tune that uh I guess it's a old ?inaudible? song.

<v Tex Logan and Don Stover>I learned it uh from a fella from East Texas way back when I was startin' to play. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>He called it the old Gray Goose. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>I later learned the official name of it is uh Jordan, ?I'm? <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>a hard road to travel. So let's let it ?get there?. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>One, two, three. [music begins] <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>[singing] I lived in the east, lived in the west, lived in ?Culver? City. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>?inaudible?. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>I looked to the east, looked to the west.

<v Tex Logan and Don Stover>?inaudible? Well, ham and eggs, gettin' lunch there. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>?inaudible? Listen here boy, ?it's hard road to travel Jordan?. <v Tex Logan and Don Stover>?inaudible? [fiddle playing] [applause] [cheering]

<v Jeff Byrne>If you've ever felt like dancing when you hear bluegrass music, here's the way it's done. <v Jeff Byrne>Down in the mountains of Carolina, it's done in teams and it's called clog dancing. <v Jeff Byrne>But I call it square dancing with a stomp. <v Jeff Byrne>So put on a good pair of shoes, grab your partner and get in step with the troupe that <v Jeff Byrne>kicks its feet in the old mountain way and throws in some steps of its own, too. <v Jeff Byrne>Along with fiddlers from many of tonight's bands, here are the Green Grass Cloggers from

<v Jeff Byrne>North Carolina to say good night from the English Town Music Hall. <v Jeff Byrne>[music] [hollering] [clapping] [stomping]