At the end of January, we headed to Nashville to check out the Annual SPBGMA Convention (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association). It's a 4 day music convention with a focus on Annual Awards, Band Showcases, and Band Competitions, with a side effect of 24 hour-a-day jamming -everywhere throughout the Sheraton Music City Hotel in Nashville, TN. We wanted to find out if we would want to enter the International Band competition there next year or not and made a decision on that...
Here's a short photo blog of our adventure:
1. We started off with Airport Security loosing Keegan's phone in the X-Ray machine (we got it back a week later). Experience ⭐
2. Arrived at SPBGMA, Keegan started his jamming "marathon." He met old friends from IBMA who are peers in his age group, had to tear him away at 1am (we had gotten up at 3:30am). ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Had a fantastic jam with the Arkansas Band called, The Gravel Yard. Check them out! Super nice folks and awesome pickers, too! The poor bass player never got a break! He's fine, but was exhausted in this photo on the RIGHT! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Keegan had been eyeing Kat Eyz capos for some time and finally got his OWN, plus met the maker himself, Mike Smith from Illinois. Check out Kat Eyz Capos! Also, the boys enjoyed some vintage guitars a while in the vendor hall. Mom put out some merch on various tables. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5. Too young to rent a car, Simon, wanted to rent his own vehicle. Not a bad deal at the UHaul! Keegan and Mom slept in the old bus belonging to the Goins Brothers. Thanks Johnny and Phyllis!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. Back to SPBGMA, Mom watched the competitions and some shows while Keegan jammed non-stop. He only stopped to watch the Awards Ceremony and continued to jam until 6am! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. Simon's phone got locked by Apple, so a trip to the DOWNTOWN APPLE STORE was in order. ⭐⭐
8. We were the last jammers to leave SPBGMA at 5pm Sunday, so we headed over to the World Famous Station Inn for their Sunday Jam. Connecticut was well represented! In addition to us, Austin Scelzo was there. Triple fiddles, man! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
9. We had a total blast, and none of us were interested in missing ANY of the jamming, so it looks like we would not enter the competition next year (starts at 9am!!). If we did, we would sacrifice the jamming and social element in order to compete. We'll look into doing a showcase perhaps. It is a fantastic event and we will be attending next year! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐