Armbands and scratch bands

Matt Ditchburn looking seriously cool...

After we'd collected the armbands and stopped signing autographs we were provided with an envelope. At first we though it was money, but alas it was not, we were asked to put the name of the instrument we played on the front of the envelope and our name inside. The envelope was sealed and placed in a box along with dozens of others. Matt was given lots of envelopes, as he is a muti-instrumentalist.

Matt Ditchburn, outstanding musician and
world authority on bluegrass Music from
England, had honoured them with his presence.

The following morning (Saturday) the envelopes were arranged into bands and posted on the festival notice board. The band had one hour to perfect 2 numbers and subsequently played them in a band competition. The judges were the artists playing on the festival, among them Tim O'Brien.

Inevitably, Matt's band wins!
Matt's line-up was really pleased that the famous Matt Ditchburn, outstanding musician and world authority on Bluegrass Music from England had honoured them with his presence.

Luckily only three women swooned and fainted
as Matt let rip on a blistering mandolin solo.

Some chaos caused by the shear gravity of what it meant to be playing with Matt soon abated and the band got stuck in to some serious practise. Under the guidance of the maestro and in between signing autographs the band soon sounded good enough to play the New Edale. It goes really without saying that Matt's Band won.

The prize was a great treat for the festival audience as it meant they had to sit through two numbers from Matt's band on the main stage. The local police had additional personnel drafted in just in case a frenzy ensued. Luckily only three women swooned and fainted as Matt let rip on a blistering mandolin solo. Additionally a gasp of sheer amazement was heard from Tim O'Brien, with the words, "That man can really play!"

A gasp of sheer amazement was heard from
Tim O'Brien ...  "That man can really play!"

Arriving at the next festival after a well-earned rest, the first words to greet us were "Do you know Derek Brandon?" This festival was the famous Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival set in the beautiful town of Grass Valley, North of Sacramento. A 'Who's Who' of the Bluegrass world was playing on the bill. The festival again was set in the county fairgrounds with excellent facilities. People were now stopping Matt on a regular basis; at first he though it was autograph hunters, but he was mistaken. They all just asked, "Do you know Derek Brandon?"

This was more than a mere mortal could take and in the end Matt had to admit that he did indeed know Derek, that well-known wine collector from NW England.

Elliptical-bicycle-wheel bluegrass music?
Again the festival was very well organised by obviously caring people. A sign on the gate read:

"No dogs.No bog music.No spoon bashers!
No elliptical-bicycle-wheel bluegrass music."

Whilst wholeheartedly agreeing with items 1 to 3, we were thrown by the Elliptical Bicycle Bluegrass Music. Evidently one of the festival organisers had been to a festival in the UK when he heard what sounded like someone attempting to play bluegrass music whilst riding a bicycle fitted with an elliptical wheel. Upon investigation the person discovered that the sound emulated from a band of people dressed in drab clothes accompanied by a spoon basher. When he remonstrated with them he was met with a torrent of abuse. The poor American took three weeks to get over the experience - it had upset his central nervous system leading the poor individual to buy magazines such as the British Bluegrass News, listening to Tom Travis records and to looking forward to Edale. Matt eventually tracked down the poor chap, who had once had a fine head of raven black hair, but which was now as white as the driven snow.

David Grisman is overawed to meet Matt Ditchburn
he offers him his best mandolin as a sign of homage...

After Grass Valley we headed South down Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast to Marshall, (Population 25).

Enter Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Matt's old road buddy Ramblin' Jack Elliott was at the village store/bar to greet him with the words "Say Matt, do you know Derek Brandon?"

Although not strictly 'Bluegrass' Ramblin Jack is a living legend that has influenced everyone from Bob Dylan to Mick Jagger. He may be playing the Albert Hall in early December. Matt and Jack went to the local store and came back 3 days later. His latest album is soon to be released The Long Ride, produced by Roy Rodgers. Leaving Jack and Marshall behind we headed back up Highway 1 to Mendocino, where our dear pals Gene Parson (Ex Byrds and side-kick of the late great Clarence White) and his wife, singer-songwriter Meridian Green (whose father wrote Aberline) reside.

Gene has just fitted one of his famous Parsons-White B String Benders to a Martin D18at C.F.Martins' request. It should certainly aid elliptical bluegrass. Gene and Meridian were on tour in England in August.

The Del McCoury Band could
only afford one microphone...

Just one more music venue before we were off home: The Del McCoury Band and Ricky Skaggs with the Kentucky Thunder band. The venue was the prestigious Burbank, 80 miles North of San Francisco on highway 101.

I felt sorry for Del McCoury as the band could only afford one microphone (lucky Ricky had 17), anyway they played amazingly well and you could hear everyone in the band.

Ricky has bought a mint Lloyd Lore mandolin from Bill Monroe's family. (A 'Lloyd Lore' is a mandolin you buy for about the same price as a small house). Owning the mandolin has convinced him that he is fated to play Bluegrass for the rest of his life. His new album Soldiers of the Cross was due out in September.

His performance was astounding, although sometimes off putting as he kept asking, "Does anyone know Derek Brandon?"

All too soon we took the bus to the airport and winged our way back to the New Forest. Stepping from the airport limo the driver carried our guitars and mandolins to the family home. As Matt generously tipped the limousine driver the latter doffed his cap and said, "Do you by any chance know Derek Brandon?"

Val Ditchburn, somewhere down south...

1st March 2000