On Saturday, May 15, Randy and I got up early, packed the car, and headed out for a five-hour drive to Charlotte, NC. We were meeting up with some friends we hadn’t seen in five years for dinner and then off to a Dave Koz concert at the Halton Theatre.
The drive down was peaceful. Uncharacteristically of us, we had no music playing. For the next five days, that would be about the only time music would not be a big part of our days. As it would turn out, those five days would become sort of a convergence of music, friendship, roots and nature. This was a time that pointed out clearly, yet again, that music at its best brings out the best in us.
It started out with greetings and lots of hugs from people we’ve meet over the years through our love of music. Distance keeps us from seeing each other often, but that common thread keeps us friends. And with the exception of a nine-year-old boy who had suddenly become a 14-year-old young man, we are all just like we were when we met for the first time. We chatted about old times and caught up on each other over dinner, then we headed to the show.
Dave Koz shows are great therapy. It’s hard to sit through one without getting a spirit lift. Those of us who are big fans talk about The Grin. The Grin is what you get during the concert that doesn’t go away for a few days. We all had it after the show. But while I was sitting there absorbing it all, it occurred to me that it wasn’t just Dave Koz, or the music he plays… It’s also those friendships that have developed. And it’s not just Dave Koz… the world of Smooth Jazz is like that. It attracts great people. And you can’t go to a concert without meeting new friends. This time we met The Jazz Diva, Tammy Green, who is responsible for bringing a lot of great music to Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC.
And as we have all experienced, it’s not just Smooth Jazz… it’s any music were the music overshadows the individual musicians.
After the show, we said goodbye to part of our group and headed back to the hotel with the rest, postponing goodbyes with them until the next morning. It was too brief of a gathering, but we were blessed to have it. Randy and I were excited to head back out onto the road for the second part of our five-day trip. This part started over 20 years ago.
We were at a marriage retreat in the western North Carolina mountains some 20 years ago and took a drive to the near-by town of Black Mountain where we stumble upon Jerry Read Smith’s dulcimer shop, The Song of the Wood. We both fell in love with the hammered dulcimer there. We seriously thought about buying one, but just couldn’t afford it at that time. We never forgot about it though, and the trip to Charlotte for the Dave Koz concert, became a mini-vacation to Asheville, and that became an opportunity to go back to Black Mountain to Jerry’s shop and hopefully find our dulcimer.
We stopped by the shop on Sunday on our way from Charlotte to Asheville, but it was closed, so we headed on and settled into The Princess Anne Hotel – built in 1924, now a bed and breakfast – our home for the next few days. The next morning we headed back to Black Mountain to Jerry’s shop. It turns out that Monday morning is a great time to go. We were the only customers there for a long time and got undivided attention for the next two-and-a-half hours or so. We went in as strangers, quickly became friends, and left with our new dulcimer and promises to stay in touch.
Once back at The Princess Anne, we shared our adventures with an enthusiastic staff, pulled the dulcimer out of its case, and demonstrated its sweet sound (which is what ‘dulcimer’ means - from the Latin dulcis (sweet) and the Greek melos (song)). Once in our room, we set it up so we could ‘play’ it. The next morning we started our trip back home via the Blue Ridge Parkway – a national parkway that runs 469 miles along the Blue Ridge Mountains. Let me tie this in for you.
Although the hammered dulcimer is an ancient instrument whose origin is probably Persian, it is prevalent in Celtic music. Celtic music is the root of Bluegrass music. Bluegrass music is the music of Appalachia, of which the Blue Ridge Mountains are a part. The hammered dulcimer is very much a part of the culture of the Blue Ridge Mountains. So as we drove along the Parkway listening to Jerry Read Smith’s The Strayaway Child Trilogy, and fellow dulcimer player, Stephen Humphries’ By The Pond, music, history and geography merged. It was so harmonious that the music slowed down and sped up as we did on numerous occasions. It was as if the trees and mountains said, “I know that music! I don’t recognize that vehicle, but I know that music.” It didn’t take much of an imagination to see mountain shacks in the woods where people were gathered on the front porch with their instruments playing for hours. It truly was at home there. It was a transcendent experience.
And that’s the thing about music. At its best, it is always a transcendent experience. It speaks to us in ways we can’t understand. But it brings us together… together with each other and with our surroundings. It connects us.
