Me & Martha

Roots & Branches, A Bluegrass Music Play by Don DePoy (1993)
The play centers on the lives of four fictitious musicians and their relationships as members of the Bluegrass Players, a part-time bluegrass band. The play not only focuses on the four musicians but includes a mix of the period music leading up to the development of a popular rural roots music genre of the early 1940’s and the various styles and directions this music has taken since.  A multimedia slide presentation underscores the performances with images of rural America, where this music has long been an integral part of everyday life, as-well-as highlighting historical performers of what has now come to be called Bluegrass music. 

Roots and Branches - the play bill 
The songs for this play have been selected for their historical significance.  Songs in the first act represent the folk and roots music popular in the rural areas of the Appalachian region from Maine to Georgia.  The songs in the second act represent in part the bluegrass “canon”.  Starting with Bill Monroe in 1943 and continuing in chronological order, the songs highlight specific bands and their unique contributions to the genre of what is now called bluegrass music. Today these songs and several hundreds more are part of today’s bluegrass musician’s tune bag.  Incidentally, the term “bluegrass” was not used to describe the music until 1959 and Music Index, a scholarly reference for all music forms, included bluegrass as a specific musical style in 1987. 
    The play provides the audience with a glimpse into a day in the life of a bluegrass band.  The Bluegrass Players have made one more step towards all-important regional recognition.  A good showing in next Friday’s bluegrass talent showcase guarantees a spot to perform the warm-up show for the nationally touring band performing Saturday night.  Tonight they are playing at the 34th Annual Tri-City Founder’s Day Community Dance.
    The visual images accompanying the performances are selected for their representation of today’s rural life in Appalachia, its people, and their love for music. Also featured are historic photographs of the musicians who popularized the selected songs. 

    (A special note to the audience:  We have not used our real names for the character in the 
    play.  The character however are fictional.  The descriptions of our characters are by 
    no means representative of who we are.) 

Joe is the driving force behind The Bluegrass Players and as such is constantly striving for musical perfection. He quit his day job a few years ago to devote his life to music. During the day Joe teaches banjo, guitar, mandolin, Dobro, fiddle, autoharp, mountain dulcimer and bass-fiddle. With a small studio in town, he sees between 45 and 50 students a week. Joe is married to Margret and they have one child, Joey. Joe knows that, with his talent and hard work, it is only a matter of time before being asked to join one of the nationally touring bluegrass bands. Next Saturday may be his lucky day. 

Margret in an effort to spend more time with her husband, Margret started playing the bass fiddle about four years ago. At first it seemed like a good idea. However, Joe soon started being more demanding and their life together became less settled as Joe push towards musical excellence. When little Joey came along, Margret chose to stay home and take care of the baby. Joey is now six months old and Margret is looking forward this evening's concert, making music once again with her husband and friends, and renewing her commitment to the music of her roots.

Buddy was the eighth child of Will and Allison Weaver. When he was eight months old Buddy's family moved from St. John's valley to Penobscot, Maine to seek financial advantages. Will started working at the local paper mill while Allison busied herself raising a family, tending her garden and Friday afternoon meetings with the local woman's club. As a mill-worker by day and a fiddler by night, Will could just make financial ends meet and life was good. Buddy showed an early interest in music and Will taught him all the old fiddle tunes as-well-as popular songs which caught his fancy. Buddy worked hard and by the age of twelve started playing the guitar to accompany his father's fiddle music. By the time he graduated from high school he was ready to take his place by his father in the mill and had learn to play the mandolin and fiddle as well. He continued to play music with his father until a tragic mill accident took Will's right hand and thus ended his music making. Buddy joined the BGP a little over a year ago and tonight his father will be in the audience for the first time since the accident.

Allen moved from a West Virginia coal town to escape life as a shaker and is a new comer to the area. His family has a musical tradition dating back to the early settlers. His fiddle playing great-great-great-great-great granddaddy was among the few, who braved the mountain passes in the early 1700's and settled what is now Greenbrier County, West Virginia. As an eighth generation musician, music has always been an important part of everyday life. Allen started his public music career at the age of eight, playing music with his family at dances, lawn parties, beer-joints, family reunions, and church socials. Coming from a culture where alcohol and child abuse are prevalent, Allen grew-up under the hard-hand of domineering alcoholic father who neither spared the rod nor spoiled the child. Allen is carrying on the family tradition. After his last binge, his wife left and took their daughter back home to West Virginia. Whether she coming back is not known.  

ACT 1  Roots  (1850s - 1943) 
Practice Session - This very Stage two hours ago 
The roots of bluegrass can be traced back to United States early Colonial times and the Baroque era.  For example, some traditional Appalachian tunes are played with the fiddle tuned to an antiquated and traditional antebellum songs from the Mid 1800’s. 
    Songs
    Bully of the Town - a popular string band song 
    Red Haired Boy - a spritely fiddle tune from the British Isles 
    All the Pretty Little Horses - an old Afro-American lullaby 
    Wish I was a Single Girl Again  - Housewife’s lament 
    Bill Cheatum - an old Appalachian fiddle tune 
    Cherokee Shuffle  - deep from the heart of Texas  
    Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky - a lover’s goodbye 
    Leather Breeches - another old Appalachian fiddle tune 
    Carter Family Medley - My Flower, Sunny Side of Life, Wildwood   Flower, & Foggy Mountain Top
    Cincinnati  Hornpipe - French Canadian fiddle tune 
    June Apple - a time worn tune with Appalachian roots 
    Maiden’s Prayer and Faded Love - Songs from the Texas Swing Era 
    Dobro Medley - Fireball Mail & Wheel Hoss 
    Long Black Veil - Two can keep a secret... 
    Old Cross Roads - these words ring clear even to this day 
    Cripple Creek - an old prospector song from the mid-1800’s 

    INTERMISSION

ACT 2  Branches  (1943 – now) 
34th Annual Tri-City Founder’s Day Community Dance
Starting in 1943 this act will trace the various branches bluegrass music has taken over the last fifty years.  Various musicians and bands which shape the sound of bluegrass today include: The father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys; Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys; Ralph & Carter Stanley and Clich Mountain Boys; Don Reno, Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups; The Osbourne Bothers; Jimmy Martin; Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys and The Country Gentlemen. 
    Songs
    St. Anne’s Reel - a popular New England style fiddle tune 
    Bill Monroe Medley - Roanoke, Gold Rush, & Raw Hide 
    Use to be - a Bill Monroe Classic 
    Foggy Mt. Special and Earl’s Breakdown - Earl’s banjo style at its best 
    Black Jack County Chain - When things look bad... they can get worse 
    Foggy Mountain Breakdown -  Earl’s most popular tune, recorded in 1949 
    Blue Ridge Cabin Home - Going home at last -  a common theme in bluegrass 
    Clinch Mt. Back Step - a banjo tune defining Ralph Stanley’s style 
    Little Maggie - a popular song from the Appalachian Mountains 
    Limehouse Blues & Follow the Leader - Reno Style - Don’s cousin Spike Stroop Cowrote Follow the Leader
    I Know You’re Married but I Love You Still - another popular Reno song 
    Good Woman’s Love - a bluegrass favorite by Bill Monroe 
    Swing Low - Another contribution from the African-American tradition 
    Better Times a Comin’ - Jim & Jesse favorite 
    Bringing Mary Home - Country Gentlemen’s most popular song 
    Slewfoot, Dooley, Rocky Top - a  medley every bluegrass player knows     

THE BLUEGRASS PLAYERS (who we really are) These musicians are not strangers to anyone following New England bluegrass. They can be found on the stage as featured performers at any number of New England bluegrass festivals, grange hall or just as likely you will find them in the inner circle of some late night jam session swapping licks, trading tunes with fellow pickers, and keeping up the tradition of music making.   

Nancy Merrill (Margret) aspired to be a musician from an early age.  Invited to attend a picking-party,  she was 
initiated into the world of bluegrass music.  With a little encouragement from friends, over the years Nancy has become a rock-solid acoustic bass player.  Her bass adds the bottom to the music and holds the tempo in check when the band starts cranking up the speed. 

Bill Thibodeau (Buddy) BT continues the Franco-American cultural tradition as a music maker.  His father, Sam Tidwell, is a founding member of the legendary Kennebec Valley Boys.  BT is best known as a member of Bluegrass Supply Company and for his zestful mandolin and guitar styles and his traditional fiddling.  His straight-ahead singing carries with it the essence of the high-lonesome bluegrass sound. 

Bill Smith (Joe) has been playing and singing bluegrass music for 20 years.  A member for 15 years of the popular Maine band, Bluegrass Supply Company, his playing of the banjo, Dobro and mandolin is highly respected by fellow musicians and fans alike.  Bill’s singing, whether lead, tenor, or baritone is always striving for that perfect bluegrass sound.  Bill also performs with Northstar, his family bluegrass band.  When not playing bluegrass, Bill ties flys commercially and is a professional Maine guide.

Don DePoy (Allen) is a 5th generation musician originally from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.  At age eight he became a regular member of his father’s band The Mountain Music Makers and continues to play the music of his roots as an Appalachian music maker.  He was the executive producer for Mainely Bluegrass, a 26-part TV series airing over Maine and New England public television networks.  He holds a Ph.D. in Popular Culture and American Music, writes on the subject of bluegrass music and is on faculty at The New England School of Communications. 

For more information:
Don – depoyd@hotmail.com