Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys

Written for Friday; June 20, 2008

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Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys

at Wolftrap Farm Park for the Performing Arts

The year was about 1978 .. give or take 2 years. It seems like only last month. But, that’s how it is when you get older.

Anyway, I was into Bluegrass Music and Bluegrass Festivals since about 1974.

There was a Musical Show coming to Wolftrap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia featuring John Hartford, Vassar Clements, The Dillards & Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Headlined by Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys.

I liked all those Acts. I was and had been into the CB Radio craze for a while and my CB Handle was Cosmic Cowboy – the all-time great hit by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

At Wolftrap – you can sit on the Lawn out in open air or you can sit in Bleacher Seats just under roof .. or you can sit in the Expensive Chairs down near the front.

Since I really enjoyed all these Acts – my Girlfriend and I and 4 other Friends bought the High Dollar Tickets. Our Seats were Stage Left, close to the middle and about Row 5.

The WarmUp Acts performed for about two hours and ten minutes and then there was about a 20 minute break.

Right before Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys came on Stage .. the 8 people sitting directly in front of my Party got up and walked out to our left. And in from our right came walking in John Hartford, Vassar Clements, Jeff Hanna, John McEuen, Jimmie Fadden, Jimmy Ibbotson, Bernie Leadon and Rodney Dillard.

Evidently, the 8 people who walked out were Seat Holders .. and some members of the WarmUp Acts were coming in to watch Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys.

Oh. My. God ! I am such a Fan of these guys .. and there they were .. sitting right in front of me. My Girlfriend had already told me three times to leave them alone .. and I really meant to .. but I just could not help myself. Finally, I leaned forward and right in between Jeff Hanna and Jimmy Ibbotson, I said,

“Hey, I’m gonna leave you guys alone but I just love your music .. and by the way, I AM the Cosmic Cowboy .. on the CB Radio !”

Before I had a chance to lean back into my seat, John McEuen who was sitting next to Jeff Hanna remarked quite loudly,

“Jesus Christ, I smell Hashish !

To which John Hartford, sitting next to Jimmy Ibbotson, replied,

“It’s the Cosmic Cowboy sitting here behind us.”

I just sat there leaning forward and smiling like the proverbial Skunk eating sh!t until my Girlfriend pulled me back into my seat. My Party was all looking at me like I was ‘da man’. And really, I was. I was ‘de man’.

That was just the coolest thing to have happen to anybody .. and it happened to me.

And quite honestly, the story could have ended right there and it would have been just the ‘bomb’ .. but it didn’t …

Fast forward to about 1992 during the Wintertime. I had broken up with that Girlfriend although we remained Friends. Her and I decided to go to a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band revival show at the Barns Of Wolftrap. The Barns was a smaller Venue just across the Dulles Toll Road from the outside Performing Arts Center.

Being a smaller indoor Venue that housed older Bands – it was a family-like atmosphere. The Groups almost always remained after shows and visited with remaining Fans in the Bar area.

That is what happened the night we were there. Fans were pulling out pictures they had taken of long ago Nitty Gritty shows. Finally, someone had pictures of the show that I sat behind the boys at. So, I jumped into the conversation with Jeff Hanna and mentioned what had happened and the Hashish remark. Jeff looked at me and smiled broadly .. and called for John McEuen to come over to where we were. He told John who I was and McEuen laughed and loudly proclaimed that he knew they’d run into me again, somewhere down the road.

And they had.

We left after about another 15 minutes and as we left – John McEuen hollered out to us – that they’d see us again, someday.

I did see ‘em again in 2005 at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Virginia but I was by myself and had a Back injury that caused me to leave soonafter the show ended.

But you know what ? I’ll see ‘em again .. and we’ll laugh about that Hashish remark, again.

Seriously, .. we will ! We will.

LARRY CURTIS SPURLOCK

E.T.A.
John McEuen continued to play a few live gigs with Hanna and Ibby during the years that he was not a member of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
The above mentioned 1992 show was one of them.