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Diane Bates
posted November 18, 2000
My name is Diane Bates from Milton, Florida, and I am a member of the Gulf
Coast
Bluegrass Music Association. I serve as treasurer and editor of our monthly
newsletter,
"Bluegrass Notes."
How did I get into bluegrass music? Now, that is a question I have often wondered about and will try to answer for any of you who might be interested. Possibly in writing this, I will discover the answer also.
Approximately 10 years ago or more, my husband O.D. (who had always attended festivals, local bluegrass events, etc. by himself) talked me into attending a festival at Holiday Hills Music Park in Laurel Hill, Florida. Part of the persuasion was that we would only stay for the afternoon and he would not take his guitar and get caught up in pickin' sessions. Plus, he said I would enjoy the drive there and the beauty of the park. I had been busy raising two children and now they were grown, so I decided, considering the concessions he was willing to make, that I would try this and see what a festival was actually like. Do I even need to tell you that when a bluegrass lover leaves his guitar at home this means nothing. There are always people in a pickin' session who either have two or more instruments with them, or when they are tired, they will gladly lend their instrument to another picker? I did enjoy the trip to Laurel Hill (Holiday Hills) and found the park to be even prettier than it was described. All of the people I met that day were friendly and you didn't feel like a stranger. But, after the sun went down, the stars appeared, and the moon was high, I was more than ready to return home.
I did not attend any more festivals for a long period of time (but more on
this later). After
attending this first festival, we discovered that the White Sands Panhandle
Band performed every Wednesday night at a restaurant on Pensacola Beach.
Being a lady who enjoys eating out (and not having to cook), it wasn't hard
for O.D. to get me to go there for dinner and to listen to some bluegrass
music. It didn't take me long to find out I was really enjoying this band
and found all the members of the band to be very personable. We returned
there many times in the following years and still enjoy going to hear them
whenever possible. In early 1993, a local music store started having
a local bluegrass band come in on Saturday nights to perform for a couple
of hours. The back of the store was set up with a stage, concession stand,
and tables. In the early fall, I was persuaded by O.D. to attend one of these
evenings. Since I had been to see White Sands quite a few times, I thought
I would give this a try.
During this time period, the owner of the music store, Jeff Tilley, O.D., and several others started talking about forming a bluegrass association to try to promote bluegrass music in our area. Again I was invited by O.D. to attend the first meeting of the association with the promise of dinner out after the meeting. Now, I ask you, what woman could turn this down?
Upon arriving at the meeting, I discovered I was only one of two females
in a group of
eleven or twelve people. When it came time for elections, the other woman
was elected
secretary of the association. Someone in the group voiced his opinion that
he felt a woman should be elected treasurer. My name was put in nomination,
and I just didn't know quite what to say. Like the old saying goes, I may
as well have been in the bathroom and come back to find I was elected the
new treasurer! But, there I was, the new treasurer of the Gulf Coast Bluegrass
Music Association. Okay, I thought, what does this mean? I'll receive dues
and put the money in the bank. Maybe write a few checks and do a treasurer's
report. That doesn't sound too hard, does it? Oh, how little I knew!
As time went on, I found myself helping to set up for the evening, working at the concession booth, cleaning up afterwards, and finding each Saturday night how much I was enjoying being around bluegrass people and loving the bluegrass music. The following summer, it was me reminding O.D. about the festival at Holiday Hills and ready to be there from early morning til late at night. Then I made the ultimate decision. I told O.D. that if we had a camper trailer (to be replaced later by a motor home) I would go to more festivals. We have enjoyed attending festivals (the music and the people) within our area and several down state in Florida.
The Gulf Coast Bluegrass Music Association grew slowly at first, but in the last year and a half it has more than doubled in size. I have been the treasurer of the GCBMA all but one year. A year and a half ago, when the "then" editor of our monthly newsletter left the association, I volunteered to take over publishing the newsletter and have enjoyed this challenge above all others.
The music store and their Saturday nights ended in early 1994, but the association has worked hard to try to keep going through the early years. With the help of the people and staff at Pensacola Junior College, Milton Campus, we now have a nice meeting place and a lot of support from the college. Our meetings bring people who love bluegrass music together for a fun evening which includes a social hour, an hour with a concert performed by a GCBMA member band, and jam sessions for approximately 3 hours to end the evening. Plus, we occasionally have guest bluegrass artists come to PJC for a special concert and our annual bluegrass music competitions in late January or early February. Since O.D. retired, we work continuously for the GCBMA. Sometimes we wonder why ... but have decided it is for the love of bluegrass music and the fine people involved in this music.
I would say the anwer to the question, "How did you get into bluegrass music?", would have to be ... O. D. Bates.
Diane
Bates
DianeBates@worldnet.att.net
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