Bluegrass: Hillbilly roots speak to modern audiences
Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Assn. to celebrate 28th year with March 19 concert
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

Members of the Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Association get together monthly to perform and jam at Embury Methodist Church Hall in Little Silver, Monmouth County. Clockwise from top: Mike Edgerton of Howell, Mike Rosenow of Long Branch, and Larry Cottrell of Atlantic Highlands step outside for an impromptu session. Tecla Gay of Long Beach Island performs on the church hall stage; Gene Rosenow of West Long Branch fingers the bass.

Bluegrass music is not something most people associate with New Jersey, but there is one group that wants to change the perception that bluegrass is played only down South.

The Bluegrass and Oldtime Music Association of New Jersey, also known as BOTMA, is dedicated to the promotion of bluegrass and other old-time music like Cajun, Celtic, Nordic, folk and blues.

A nonprofit association, BOTMA was founded in 1978 by a bunch of people who love old-time music and know how to play it. For the past 28 years, they have been jamming together and holding concerts in various venues.

According to Jane Carver, a Point Pleasant resident and association spokesperson, BOTMA used to meet in Old Bridge, but now meets at the Embury Methodist Church Hall, 49A Church St. in Little Silver, Monmouth County on the third Sunday of the month, September through May. In March, there will be two opportunities to hear bands play at the church hall, said Carver, who is also a musician.

"On March 18 there will be an important concert with Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass Band, and on the 19th, five bluegrass, country and folk bands will hold a stage show and jam session," she said.

The March 19 show and jam session is a celebration of the association's 28th year. Among the tunes that will be played are "Fandango Sky," "Farmers Almanac," "Kentucky Red" and "Last Whippoorwill."

Carver said she thinks the association has about 300 members statewide. She explained that they began meeting at the Little Silver church because one of the trustees of the church is also a trustee of the association.

"He got the church to offer us Fellowship Hall, which has a little stage," she said, adding, "The room holds about 125 people for staged shows and we use a Sunday school room for jamming."

Carver said the bands come from all over New Jersey and about one-third of the band members belong to the organization. She added that Frank Daniels, a Keansburg resident and member of the organization, is in charge of getting the bands for the stage show.

"He's a person who likes country music and bluegrass and likes to be part of our organization. We frequently have country, Irish and jug bands at the staged shows in the Fellowship Hall," she said.

Another local person, Larry Stuart of West Long Branch, is vice president of the organization. He has a band called Saturday Night Express, she said.

Carver, who plays rhythm guitar and sings lead or harmony, has a bluegrass band of her own, but she mostly plays at Albert Music Hall in Waretown, Ocean County.

She said BOTMA is always looking for members and new bands that play country, bluegrass or old-time music.

"It only costs $5 a year to become a member. I would urge any interested person to come out and listen to the music. We would like to have more young people interested in bluegrass in this area. We do have a fairly good bluegrass community, but most of them are older," she said.

She explained which instruments make up a bluegrass band.

"You normally have an upright bass, a minimum of one guitar and sometimes a lead guitar, and you almost always have a five-string banjo, a mandolin, and maybe a fiddle, or a Dobro, which is like a Hawaiian guitar. Some people call it a resonator guitar."

Carver said that much of bluegrass has roots in Scotland and Ireland. "They are old ballads that people brought over to Appalachia. A lot of it was absorbed into country music."

She said that Bill Monroe, who was a country musician, is generally acknowledged to be the father of bluegrass music. In 1948, he hired Earl Scruggs to play banjo for him. Monroe played the mandolin. Their music became known as bluegrass.

Other early names in bluegrass are Lester Flatt and the Stanley Brothers. Some of the standards are the "Salty Dog Blues," "Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms," and "Dueling Banjos."

"Many of the songs are morbid and sad," she said. "They are about lost love or poor mountain people who don't have much, but are happy in their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They are about hard times."

She said that many of the musicians who got into bluegrass had been influenced by African American musicians who played blues.

"You don't have to be a musician to enjoy good bluegrass music. Listening to good music, even if they are songs about loss and hard times, can be uplifting," Carver said.

Admission to the Sunday jams is $4 for members and $5 for nonmembers.

Information on BOTMA can be found on the Internet at www.newjerseybluegrass.org.