Best of the Welcome Columns


Best of the Welcome Columns

Author: Rhynes, J.D.
Will The Circle Be Unbroken

That is the title of a familiar song that was written back in 1907, by a man and a woman as a gospel song, and later made popular by the famous Carter family of Virginia, known as the first family of country and bluegrass music. I would be willing to bet that most everybody that is reading this column can at least hum the tune to Will The Circle Be Unbroken, and more often than not sing the words to at least one verse and chorus as well. That song has been on my mind a lot here lately, prompted by the loss of dear friends and acquaintances. We all wonder if the circle will be unbroken, especially when it comes to our immediate family and close friends. To be honest with you, I started wondering about this back in September of 1996 when we lost the founder of our music Bill Monroe. It took me about six months to realize what a profound impact Mr.Monroe and his music had on my life. I realized that bluegrass music had influenced every area of my life up to that point, and what was going to happen to the music now that Bill was gone? Vern Williams and I both asked the same question when Lester Flatt passed away in May of 1979. In the past years, we have lost a lot of the first-generation bluegrass artists, including Rose Maddox, Vern and Ray,Red Allen, Jimmy Martin, Joe Val, Don Stover, the Lily brothers, Josh Graves, and more recently, Hazel Dickens and Earl Scruggs. Each time we lose one of these stalwarts of bluegrass music, someone always asks the same question, what is going to happen to the music? On a more recent note, it has grieved my heart heavily to mourn the passing of my dear friend Warren Hellman, the originator of the hardly strictly bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. Even though we had not known each other personally for a long period of time, we had become very close friends. Also My dear friend Don Tucker the guiding force behind the Huck Finn Festival in Victorville, California, who was a man of his word, and whose handshake I trusted more than any written contract in this world. Also our beloved retired editor Suzanne Denison, whom we all will miss more than words can tell. Each time after the initial shock of grief subsides, in my mind I can hear the words to that song drifting in and out of my mind every waking hour. I go to sleep with it and I wake up with it. It has been a wonderful spiritual poultice to my soul at this very trying time. And always in the back of our mind is the question, what is going to happen to the music and Will the Circle be unbroken? Well, let me tell you my friends, it has taken me many years to come to a conclusion to this question in my mind. Some of our family and friends may be taken from the circle, but it will never be broken, it will only get bigger and stronger. As long as a G run on a Martin guitar will raise goosebumps on somebody's arm, or a hot Earl Scruggs solo on the banjo raising the hair on the back of your neck, there will always be someone playing bluegrass music. Every time I see the young kids on bluegrass learning to play this music, I know the music is in good hands, and the circle has just got a little younger and bigger. As long as we have older folks who just suddenly discover bluegrass music and can't wait to learn to play and sing it, the circle just got a little bit bigger, wiser, and a lot closer. As long as there is somebody like me who almost has a heart attack every time he hears Earl Scruggs pick Dear Old Dixie, along with Benny Martin on the fiddle, just absolutely fiddling the hell out of those hot breaks, the circle will remain strong, only get bigger as time goes along, and will never break. Our musical circle gets bigger and stronger, in a lot of other ways too. The recent election for the California Bluegrass Association is a prime example. By a stroke of Providence, I happened to be one of the six people that was present when the idea of this Association was first brought up. Those six were as follows; Jack Sadler, Carl Pagter, Jake Quessenberry, Vern Williams, Ray Park, and myself JDRhynes. That discussion among those six people has evolved into the world's largest, bluegrass Association. The circle has only gotten bigger and stronger as the years have progressed. The strength has come from the dedicated people that have served the Association for many years unselfishly. In my memory,there have only been three, chairman of the board of the directors; those being Carl Pagter, Rick Cornish, and now Tim Edes. The circle is not only getting bigger but it's getting stronger and closer together at the same time. Although in years past we may have lost a lot of our family and friends and our musical heroes, we can all take solace in the words of this wonderful song, and glory in the knowledge that the circle is NOT broken, just merely interrupted for a little while. So let us go forth with a happy heart, a smile on our face, and a song for all those who will listen, and if they profess an interest in learning to play a musical instrument, let us do our utmost to supply them one no matter how young or old they may be. After all, isn't that our manifest destiny, to enlarge and strengthen the circle? May God bless and keep the souls of our dearly departed.

Posted: 10/25/2012