Wow, What A Crowd
by Ronnie Reno
I just recently played a concert
and festival on Jerusalem Ridge in Rosine,
KY at the birthplace of Mr. Bill
Monroe and I’ve not seen a crowd like this in many years. Hats off to my dear
friends Campbell and Julie Mercer for a great weekend of music.
I guess it started off on Thursday, with a
crowd of about seven thousand fans, and a great line up of traditional
bluegrass bands. By the time Friday came around the crowd was rolling in and
the traffic was backed up on Route 61 for about three miles. They say the crowd
was estimated to be close to 15,000 bluegrass lovers. It reminded me of the old
drive-in movie days when it would take an hour or two to get in and get your
place to park. The sheriff’s office had to come out and turn around 500 cars
and take them to the local Wal-Mart to park. From there they shuttled the fans up to Jerusalem
Ridge for the shows.
We arrived on Saturday morning
and it took about an hour to get in and get the bus parked. There was a crowd
of about 10,000 on Saturday and we had a great day of performing and meeting
and greeting the fans. The Reno Tradition and I went on around 4 o’clock and
Campbell Mercer and Stacy York joined us on stage to sing a couple of songs
with us. Of course, it was a couple of Reno
and Smiley tunes.
The music was great and it
reminded me of the old days when you went to a bluegrass festival and enjoyed
the atmosphere of good family style entertainment. I can’t say enough about the hospitality of
the volunteers and staff of the Bill Monroe Foundation. If you haven’t been to
the festival then you should try to make it next year. It will be a memory that
will stay with you for a long time. Just tell them Ronnie Reno sent you.
For more info on next year’s
festival go to the Cumberland Highlanders web site.
Hope to see you next year,
Ronnie