Beauty of a night for bluegrass

Article and photos by Ethan Nahté

It was a beautiful, clear late afternoon and evening at The Blue Zip Line & Farm’s Bull Pasture Amphitheater. The smell of hamburgers and hot dogs being grilled and served by the Humane Society of the Ouachitas as the whip-poorwills began to call, all while sitting on the hillside before the stage with the mountains in the backdrop created a beautiful setting for the venue’s first Bluegrass at The Blue.

The sun was still peeking above the tree line when The Smooth Jaspers hit the stage. The trio, who also play with two other musicians as Greenland Station, consists of Sam Coffey on banjo, Isaac McCutcheon on mandolin/vox, and Matt Tomlinson on guitar/vox.

They performed a combination of originals as well as traditional bluegrass covers such as “Blue Virginia Blues” and “Back on my Mind Again,” which coincidentally sounds a bit like The Beatles “Octopus’s Garden” throughout the verse. An instrumental tune called “Peaches and Cream” showed off the skills of the banjo and mandolin.

As a matter of fact, the banjo Coffey was playing has a bit of interesting history about it. Doug Dillard, who grew up in southern Missou- ri, was a bluegrass musician who played in a half-dozen episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” as part of Denver Pyle’s TV family the Darlings. Their performances are credited for introducing bluegrass music to a wider audience. Coffey mentioned that he lucked into buying Dillard’s banjo several years ago. Dillard also played and recorded with Arkansas’ very own Glen Campbell. It seems only fitting that the banjo is at home in Arkansas.

The Smooth Jaspers played two sets, totaling nearly two hours. If you enjoy bluegrass and folk music, check out their Facebook page or that of Greenland Station to discover where they’ll be playing. Odds are you won’t be disappointed.

Reynolds on vox/upright bass, Bill Crider on vox/guitar, Brett Duden- hen’s “Hallelujah,” which Reynolds did a portion of the song in Ameri-

Finley River Boys

The headliners were The Finley River Boys, who hit the stage as dusk fell. The quartet consists of Brad hoeffer on vox/fiddle/mandolin and their newest member, Dr. Gary Shipley on vox/banjo/dobro. Shipley is so fresh to the band that this was only his fourth public appearance with the band, but the multi-instrumentalist (30-plus) has been playing since the mid-70s and has worked with several bands. Part of his resumé includes working with the Legendary Sullivan Family.

The band is based more out of the Springfield and Branson, Missouri areas, but travel quite a bit throughout the Midwest. Their venture to Ink is the farthest south they claimed to have ever performed and loved the scenery.

With four-part harmonies, they performed a combination of bluegrass standards such as “Orange Blossom Special,” “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” and “Rocky Top.”

They also performed some folk as well as gospel songs such as “Wayfaring Stranger” and Leonard Co- can Sign Language as he sang. They even “bluegrassified” John Anderson’s country song “Seminole Wind.”

And the show consisted of a few originals from some of their seven CDs they had on hand. These guys play over 100 shows per year, and it was obvious that they had their stage banter and working a crowd down to a science. They were funny and talented as they also put on a two-hour performance with a brief intermission.

If you missed them, the Finley River Boys will be playing the Front Porch Theater in Alma on June 24. You can also keep up with them at finleyriverboys.com/.

Meanwhile, according to the Facebook page, Shelly Alston plans on having another Bluegrass at The Blue on Memorial Day Weekend next year. If next year’s lineup is as talented as this year’s pairing of bands, then it’ll definitely be worth seeing.