By Dave Shiflett If Peter Rowan or Jerry Douglas were to give a commencement address this spring, it might be titled: “Wise up, Punks. There’s more to music than Lady Gaga.” Del McCoury thinks so too. During interviews at the recent Merlefest festival in Wilkesboro, N.C., several legendary roots musicians discussed the music they think is essential for young people to become familiar with, and with any luck fully embrace. To no surprise, Bill Monroe was at the top of several lists, but the old guard also had kind words for Jimi Hendrix, aboriginal music from Australia, and even Mick Jagger’s brother. They were less generous when discussing attempts to cut funding to NPR and PBS, while one suggested a novel cure for Attention Deficit Disorder. “Of course they should listen to Bach and Beethoven,” said Peter Rowan, perhaps best known for writing the stoner anthem “Panama Red” and his collaboration with the late Jerry Garcia in the band Old and In the Way. Rowan, who played with Monroe from 1965 to 1967, says Monroe and blues singer Robert Johnson were crucial in creating a sound often lost in a world awash with musical expression. “There’s too much music available,” said Rowan as he chomped a banana in the artist’s lounge. Lost in the thicket of commercial radio, YouTube and Myspace are traditions that deserve a better hearing, including “black church music, prison songs” and “aboriginal music” from Australia, which he characterized as “three chord” tunes that are an important element in the indigenous peoples’ civil rights movement. Rowan, who recently returned from Australia, said that movement “has yet to have its Martin Luther King moment,” making the music all the more crucial for maintaining momentum. When asked for a contemporary artist he likes, Rowan suggested crooner Chris Jagger – “Mick’s brother.” The festival featured several other former Monroe band mates, including Grammy winning bluegrasser Del McCoury, who played in Monroe’s band in 1963. McCoury, known for his piercing voice and gray pompadour, cited Monroe and “the Baptist hymnal” as wellsprings of roots music; Monroe’s picking style, he said, has yet to be topped. “You can’t beat the innovator,” he said prior to a performance. Yet McCoury, who recently released a CD with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, agreed that some things have gotten bigger and better. “When we were starting out,” he cackled, “our PA systems were so small you could carry the speakers under one arm and put the microphones in your pocket.” At Merlefest, the speakers had to be trucked in, and people came in droves. Festival attendance has gone way up since the first multi-day bluegrass festival in Fincastle, Virginia in 1965. Merlefest organizers said 80,000 people attended the four-day event, which has raised $8 million for Wilkes Community College since starting in 1988. Monroe wasn’t on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Rory Block, a willowy blues singer who grew up in Manhattan, sang the praises of the Rev. Gary Davis, Son House, Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith. “They’re the ones I listened to when I was growing up,” she said after a foot-stomping set. Tara Nevins, a masterful fiddler who helps front Donna The Buffalo and also has a vibrant solo career, cited old-time musicians who are far below most radar screens. “I never book gigs during the Mt. Airy old time festival,” she said, adding that many of the players there are unknown but brilliant. Nashville mainstay Sam Bush, best known for his innovative mandolin playing, praised Doc Watson, Chet Atkins, Les Paul and Eric Clapton. Several players, including Bush, denounced efforts to cut funding to arts and music education, National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System. Jens Kruger of the Kruger Brothers insisted that keeping music in the schools will pay profound medical benefits. “In our schools,” he said of growing up in Europe, “we sang a song together every morning,” which he says focused minds and created a sense of community. When morning singing was cancelled, grades went down, he said, but rose again when the practice resumed. If American schools made group singing a part of their morning routine, he said, it “would eliminate ADD” though that wouldn’t be music to the ears of the pharmaceutical industry. Dobro master Jerry Douglas, who cited Flatt and Scruggs as perhaps his most important influences, said he had recently discovered the joys of singing publicly. Douglas, who will be touring into November in support of Alison Krauss and Union Station’s new “Paper Airplane” CD, said he had launched his singing career the previous week during a Carnegie Hall gig. “I’m 55,” he smiled. “I figured it was time.” Had he sung a gentle, heartfelt tune? “No. I did a murder ballad -- Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Hey Joe.’” Wonder how Bill Monroe would have liked that.
