Bluegrass Underground

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Today we attended Day 3 of the taping of the PBS television show "Bluegrass Underground" which takes place 333 feet below ground in the Volcano Room of Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN.  What a cool concept and experience!



The Sunday afternoon performance was SOLD OUT.
There was plenty of seating not only in folding chairs, but all around the cave
on stones and ledges.  They also have bathrooms and a concession stand in this
unique set-up that's been going on since 2008.
First up were, The Vespers, a young quartet out of Nashville who were very good.
Next up were The Black Lillies out of Knoxville.  We had seen these guys
briefly at Bonnaroo a few years ago.  They were quite enjoyable.

Next up was one our favorite bands to see live (and how we found out about this event),
Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, out of Knoxville.  Scott's band, the Commonwealth, was
"bluegrassified" a bit with a stand-up bass and a fiddle player which was a new twist for us, but
sounded just as good, if not better than the many times we have seen them before.  Unfortunately,
due to time constraints and other obligations, we had to depart before the last set from The Jerry
Douglas Band.  Yes, that Jerry Douglas of Alison Krauss & Union Station fame.

We hated to miss the last band, but we had RSVPed to an Oscar Party that night held annually by our friends, Danny and Brenda, and we didn't want to be late since we had a long drive from McMinnville over to Brentwood on the other side of Nashville.  But, we definitely got our money's worth with the three bands we did see in such a unique venue.  They do a show about once a month here and we will definitely be back again when we get the chance.  Speaking of The Oscars, we were happy to catch this year's Best Picture "The Artist" in Chattanooga the night before with our friends, Mike and Elizabeth.  It was pretty obvious after seeing this unique and charming black-and-white silent movie that it was going to win.