Mt Airy, NC.  Yesterday we drove up to the Blueridge Parkway to join Chuck and Marti Eagle at the Blue Ridge Music Center.  A volunteer bluegrass band meets here weekdays to perform some of their favorite pieces.  We were not expecting much, since volunteer bands we have heard in the past were nothing to write about.  These people were an exception.  

I had always associated bluegrass music with someone sawing away on a fiddle like he or she was trying to start a fire, along with ignorant nasal wailing.  Though one is open to his own view of these performers, we thought they were quite professional.  Hard to believe they perform so often for free.  Apparently they are such good friends that they love just to get together, play, tell jokes, and laugh.

They perform in a covered but open area at the Music Center, where there also is a bluegrass museum.  A very nice place, unlike many others we have seen elsewhere along the Parkway.  We were glad for the rain that arrived mid-performance, since it was very hot outside and also glad for the cover overhead.

Click on the following links to view and hear some examples.

Bluegrass Band

More Bluegrass Band

In the following link, you will see closeups of the performers.  In the process of using my phone to take the video, I somehow slipped into selfie mode which I quickly got out of.  I tried to remove the few frames of that, but nothing worked.

Band with Closeups

After lunch we said goodbye to the Eagles, but not before asking the park ranger to photograph the four of us.

Park Ranger

At this point we finally got around to seeing the museum.  Betty took the following photos of exhibits there.

We had heard that there was an amphitheater where weekend concerts are performed, so we walked over to where is was to have a look.  Betty took the following of me crossing over the bridge leading to the amphitheater.

Just like everything else at this park, the amphitheater is very professional and well kept.  I shot the following panorama.  At this distance it is hard to see all the professional lighting and sound equipment.

On the way home we stopped off at the Mud Duck Pottery Shop just down the street from our campground.  Betty was especially enthusiastic because of her past experience of doing this same kind of wheel work long ago. She took a few shots of the interior of this modest but well equipped shop. 

Tomorrow we take the final steps to prepare for our departure for Swannanoa, NC on Friday.  Hard to believe we actually are going to be leaving the area.  We arrived here June 1st.