TIME TO CLASS IT UP! A Prescription Bluegrass Editorial

 

Early in my broadcast career I was severely reprimanded by a program director at a country radio station for wearing a cowboy hat and the station's logo t-shirt to a live broadcast at a car dealership on a Saturday afternoon.

Now, you should know that it was a brand new hat of the current style and a brand new t-shirt. I had on nice Levi's and what Gary P. Nunn calls manly footwear. So to my way of thinking, on a hot summer afternoon, I was probably over dressed for the way the colloquial attire norms were in that time.

I also was not the air personality in charge of the broadcast. I was only a member of the public who came to be a spectator. But the fact that I also worked at the station as an air personality caused the program director's concern.

He told me that he knew our station had doctors and lawyers and bank presidents listening and enjoying what we did on the air. But he also said not a one of them would put our radio station bumper sticker on their BMW or Mercedes for fear of being labeled a hayseed and damaging their fine professional reputations. It was the first time I'd heard the term “Closet Listeners.”

I understood his point. Country Music in those days was still pretty much relegated to the hinterlands, and mainstream America did look down upon us with a certain disdain.

It wasn't long though before Country Music was the coolest thing on the planet and Doctors, Lawyers and Bank Presidents were getting piercings and tattoos and riding Harleys. I sometimes wonder if our approach to classing up our image, and thereby just a little bit of Country Music's image, didn't have something to do with all of that. But who's to say?

Now it's time to apply the same class-up-the-act philosophy to the Bluegrass genre. Not that I think it should become Madison Avenue cosmopolitan glitz and glamor or smoke and mirrors. But rather more like a good scrubbing and a fresh coat of paint applied to the exterior.

Our interior in the bluegrass world is undergoing it's own makeovers but what the world sees first is the exterior. What they see in just one instance can pre-judge the entire industry, so what impression do we want to make?

A good friend of mine is a professional photographer and he's been on a rampage for some time now about CD covers and promo pics – especially when it comes to portraying women in those shots. To paraphrase him, armpits and nose hairs are probably the least attractive elements of any photo but in bluegrass we seem to spotlight them. He can go on and on and name bands and individuals where, as a professional photographer, he thinks they're not up to par with that which represents the other genres of music. In fact, he says some could even be damaging their potential with the severity of the grossness of the shots. But I'll leave the naming to him and spare you and them any embarrassment here.

But he does have a point and I wonder why we're in this situation. Probably the biggest reason comes down to finances. Bluegrass is not a high-paying industry and no matter what band you happen to be talking about, chances are the total amount of money it takes to keep the band afloat doesn't all come solely from the band's income. Supplemental resources are often poured in from day jobs, donations, volunteer time and borrowed favors.

This may be the downfall – attempting to limit expenditures by the use of UN-trained and UN-certified personnel in key positions.

In my friend's scenario of poor photography, it is most likely the ease of access and availability of consumer camera equipment that when used by well-intentioned but still untrained point-'n'-shooters we get the myriad of mistakes.

What's worse is that it's not just the photographers who commit the error. The artist/band themselves own the error when they accept the finished product and begin to use it. In many cases we've seen bands with management teams, press agents and other such team members in their corner make the same mistakes. Doesn't that make it even worse?

That's the gross error. These are all supposed to be professional people. People that the artist/band are paying to guide them and yet the bad photos are circulating worldwide where any member of the public will have access for years to come.

Still, I know that regardless of what I, or anyone else, says, there will be many more instances of someone wanting to get an under budgeted/under funded job done in a hurry and so sacrifices will be made.

But look at it this way, if my photographer friend, who is not a professional musician, got up on stage and played “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” in ¾ time while singing the lyrics to “Rocky Top,” and hit a few sour notes and turned his back to the audience, wouldn't you question why he was on stage in the first place? Now, what if the Emcee for the festival introduced him as the latest singing sensation in bluegrass … what would your impression of bluegrass be? Especially if this was your first introduction to the music?

Isn't that analogy pretty much what happens in the mainstream world every time someone in bluegrass represents the genre with something not too polished? Aren't we showing all the scratches and dents and advertising the defects?

You know what happens when you try to get by with a sound man who has no experience-but if he's willing to work for no pay....what the heck, right? WRONG! Do without a sound man is the preferred solution.

So if your next album is entitled “Armpits and Nose Hairs,” you probably already have hundreds of album covers to look at for sample material. But if your album is about your music, is there anything wrong with doing without a photographer? Is there anything wrong with a plane brown wrapper for a CD cover?

Doing the simple thing, the simple way often can work in your favor in more than one way.

Our turn to be the coolest music on the planet is coming. The signs are all there. So until we actually get there, let's let the term “Shredding” refer to the wild playing of one's musical instrument and not the treatment given to the Levis worn on stage! We'll all be able to borrow Barbara Mandrell's line and say, “I was Bluegrass when Bluegrass wasn't cool.” But we also need to be able to say, “I was cool because I was Bluegrass” and not be labeled as a “hayseed with manly footwear” while we wait for the day!