Photos copyright (C) 2005 Thibaut MAITO

So by chance we were strolling through the very large open market one Saturday morning in Pont-St-Esprit, which is on the River Rhône north of Orange, France and not far from Saint Alexandre, where we live. In case you haven't heard, France is well known for its wines, cheeses, traffic jams, lousy drivers, Alps, Riviera, procrastination and a multitude of other things. But it's not exactly famous for its Bluegrass music, which is why we were very surprised to hear a tasty example coming from the CD stall we were approaching. We hurried to the stall but the music hardly got louder. When a tune ended and applause started it dawned on us that is it was coming from somewhere else… We rushed to the spot to find a real, live, four-piece Bluegrass band playing. They had microphones and a great sound, coming from the most amazing gadget: a portable PA system with mixer desk and petrol (gas, essence) generator, all mounted neatly into a large metal frame cart with 4 wheels and handles. This "thing" was located some distance from the band and, when they relocated, the gadget was just wheeled along and started up again.

We watched and listened for a while and were quite impressed. The group, Blue Quitach from Nimes, comprised Erick Millet (banjo); Benoit Robbe (guitar); Claude Jamot (mandolin) Jean-Maurice Lassouque (electric bass) and last but by no means least Laurent Aigon (sound). All four players covered lead vocals.

They put on a great performance, delighting an audience that most likely had never even heard of Bluegrass, let alone actually heard it. Mainly they sang fast numbers; got to keep the alien audience interested! All the songs were in English language with an attempt at an American accent, but obviously the French accent came through. The repertoire included some Bill Monroe numbers, traditional stuff from various sources and several contemporary songs, but sung in a definite bluegrass style - they are a real bluegrass band.

Talking to them during a break I mentioned that we play and sing, and Jean was invited in for a number. Bearing in mind the audience, she sang Little Maggie in C "In C?" they cried. "In C," she replied, saying, "If it's good enough for Ralph Stanley it's good enough for me!" The crowd loved it, partly because of the change, and they were interested that English lady just joined in singing with a French band. Unfortunately the band took charge of the number and decided when to stop, without warning to Jean. Naughty - I always thought the singer was in charge of a song… One wonders how much jamming they do. Probably not a lot, being in France. If you get the chance they're well worth a listen.

Blue Quitach website
E-mail: robbe.benoitX@wanadoo.fr or claude.jamotX@tiscali.fr (but delete the X)

30 March 2006