For years Dan and I
have been fans of the PBS series Bluegrass Underground, which features music covering
the full spectrum of the bluegrass, jamgrass, roots, and Americana genres. The
first nine years of the program were recorded before live audiences in the Volcano
Room, a cave 333 feet underneath McMinnville, Tennessee, but in 2018 the
concert series moved to a new venue, The Caverns, located within the base of
Monteagle Mountain near Pelham, Tennessee.
Our travel itinerary for
2018 allowed us to work in the stop in Manchester to catch a concert at The
Caverns venue. Although they weren’t taping an episode of Bluegrass Underground
the day we were there, we were able to see Tommy Emmanuel, an Australian guitarist,
songwriter, and singer whose talent and live performances are among the best we’ve
ever seen. We’ve been Tommy fans for years, and have seen him perform a few
times before, so we were more than thrilled to be able to see him perform in
this setting.
We were not
disappointed! Our tickets were a full package deal that included meal vouchers,
hats, tee shirts, posters, and a free download of a “best of” Bluegrass Underground
music album. The cavern temperatures were very cool, we probably could have dressed a little
warmer (we were warned, not a surprise!). While it probably wasn’t any cooler
than most caverns we’ve visited, we normally aren’t inside for 2-3 hours, which
is long enough to get pretty chilled.
Tommy is a self-taught
musician and has been playing the guitar since he was 4 years old. He traveled
and performed with his family for years while he was growing up. He doesn’t
read music - he watches, listens, imitates, and then creates his own style of
music which is upbeat and high energy, and just all out fun. The show opened
with another musician, Jack Pearson, who played electric guitar, and who joined
Tommy on a few songs, and another musician who played a mean harmonica.
How exciting it was to actually
realize this long time bucket list item!
Below is a video of Tommy Playing one of his signature pieces:
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