Special Series

This is the last in our series of sixteen articles about the historic tour that the Japanese band Bluegrass 45 took fifty years ago in the summer of 1971.  In order to help us come full circle, we would like to offer some memories of that summer from legendary bluegrass banjo player Ben Eldridge, who…

Recording: All the Bluegrass 45 Rebel recordings were done at the Roy Homer Studio in Clinton, Maryland.  Roy recorded many of Rebel albums including Ralph Stanley, Country Gentlemen, Emerson & Waldron, Cliff Waldron, Seldom Scene (Act I).  It was pre-digital era and everything was analog—meaning the band would play a song, Roy would mix all…

Unfortunately, my diary ended on 8/31 so the rest of the tour (3 weeks) is based on a gig log, recording log and my memory.   Carlton Haney’s Labor Day Weekend Festival at Bluegrass Park in Camp Springs, North Carolina.   Mr. Carlton Haney held the first bluegrass festival in Fincastle, Virginia, on Labor Day Weekend in…

1971-8-26 Thursday—Day off I woke up at 10 am but went back to sleep.  Everybody else got up around 2 pm but I kept on sleeping.  Darn!  Finally I’m worn out and sick – headache, sore throat and my whole body is aching.  I managed to eat dinner a little.  Dick came over and discussed…

For those interested in seeing more photos that relate to this week’s article and hear the band perform at the Tex Logan party, go to this web page: http://frobbi.org/akira/1971_BG45_Wk10/ 1971-8-19 Thursday—WDON At 9:30 am Dick knocked on the door and woke us up.  Overslept!!  Everybody got ready in 10 minutes and Dick drove us to…

1971-8-12 Thursday—Day Off Dick came over at 12 noon and we drove to Annapolis and brought the bus back.  Dick, Josh and I went to an auto store and bought gasket & air gauge.  While driving back, Dick told us that Jimmy Gaudreau is leaving the Gentlemen to form a new group with Eddie Adcock. …