Small crowds sporadically dot the ground floor of the Marriott in downtown Raleigh. At each center is a band composed of any combination of dobro, stringed bass, guitar, fiddle, banjo, harmonicas and vocals. People gather around each impromptu concert like they’re campfires.
The intimacy of each performance in the Marriott lobby was the heart of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s “World of Bluegrass” in Raleigh.
Jon Weisberger, a producer for Crossroads Label Group, said the event allows for a community to come together every year.
“It’s this real … special community,” Weisberger said. “There’s a spectrum that ranges from people who just play around their house … on a very informal, amateur level, to professional. The community is a … very sustaining one. So people come every year to see friends, to play music with friends and maybe do some business if that’s what they’re interested in.”
For 22 years, members of the bluegrass community have gathered to celebrate the ever-evolving genre. This year, from the Raleigh Convention Center to Pour House, the streets bustled with musicians, managers and bluegrass fans.
Pattie Hopkins Kinlaw, playing for Hank, Pattie & The Current, played Thursday night at Lincoln Theater.
Their set has been hailed as “Joni Mitchell meets Herbie Hancock,” since it opened with dark classical motifs which broke into a joyful jigging storm. Later, they combined rock ‘n’ roll hits, deep swirling harmonies and songwriting that placed you in a beautiful pasture or on the road, jilted by a lover.
“You meet people that are like-minded as you and people that are different, and bluegrass just kind of ties it all in together,” Kinlaw said. “There’s so much intertwining of different American music styles. It’s just a really beautiful genre. IBMA has been really good to me as an artist. … Meeting some really wonderful people, they become like your extended family.”
Family was a big part of IBMA World of Bluegrass. Every age bracket was represented, and whether it was blood family or found family, everyone pulled together around the music.
Logan and Liam Lindblom, from Savannah, Georgia, were at their third IBMA World of Bluegrass. They walked the halls of the Marriott amid the din of fiddles and reverberating bass.
“Our whole family does it,” Logan Lindblom said. “It’s fun.”
During the first three days of IBMA World of Bluegrass, the event held a convention in which luthiers, managers, artists and enthusiasts gathered in the Raleigh Convention Center for business meetings.
Beginning mid-day and continuing into the night, there were shows at Pour House, Lincoln Theater and Jimmy V’s.
The last two days of the convention took the form of a street festival, pinballing bluegrass fans from a navy band to a stripped down solo act to college showcases. People were finishing up their business and enjoying the beginning of fall — brisk air, drifting leaves hitting pavement.
Zachary Mclamb, an NC state alumni and member of Wyldwood String band, delivered a set with classic, climbing harmonies that rocked a crowded Pour House on Thursday.
“Raleigh has really embraced the whole IBMA,” Mclamb said. “It’s been really neat for it to be in my own backyard and for it to do so well here.”
Next year will be the last year IBMA World of Bluegrass will be held in Raleigh. To each member of the bluegrass community, the city of Raleigh has offered companionship, soul-wrenching harmonies and innovation.
