By Tricia Cherry — Recently, the Hamilton Downtown Center hosted an event centered around Bluegrass music, a genre developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of America. According to the Appalachian Regional Commission, this is a region named for the Appalachian Mountains and spans thirteen states, including parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Combining elements of folk, jazz, country and blues, Bluegrass is characterized as an energetic, bouncy sound with tight harmonies and high vocals.
This event was put together by Mr. John Vaughn, a former professor from Oxford, now retired and organizing events at the Downtown Center. While they don’t have a yearly schedule, they update their events monthly.
When the center opened in 2008, it held live music every Monday, though this has since been reduced to once a month. This particular event is sponsored by Miami and meant to be paired with the Appalachian Studies course. In addition, the center also hosts book clubs, gardening, and classes for those who are not regular students. The point of the center, Mr. Vaughn says, is to celebrate the diversity of Hamilton. “Ordinary people with extraordinary stories.”
The band that played at the event was called Hop River, a group of six formed three years ago, made up of Bob Capetillo; his three grandsons Ben, Tim and Joe; and brothers Dominic and Michael Simpson. The instruments used include the upright bass, the fiddle, the banjo, the guitar, and the dobro. Bottled water was provided to both the band and the audience.
Songs played by the band included “Further Down The Line,” “Run, Rufus, Run,” “Winter’s Come And Gone” (as it was seasonably appropriate for springtime), and the song “Dooly” from The Andy Griffith Show. Many other pieces were simply instrumental. Most of the music was lively and jaunty, with one slow farewell piece to serve as a kind of break from the speedy medley. Unusually, applause would occasionally sound before a song with finished, though this wasn’t treated as strange.
One song, “Eight More Miles to Louisville,” came with a story explaining why the group chose to sing it. A friend of one of the singers posed a riddle: “How do you pronounce the capital of Kentucky? Loui-ville, Louisville or Louise-ville? Wrong, it’s Frankfort.” The night closed out at before 9:00 pm with the song “Rocky Top.”
As the event was wrapping up, the band wandered among the crowd and spoke to the audience in a casual, friendly manner. When Ben was asked about how his musical journey started, he explained that he and his brothers grew up hearing their grandfather play Bluegrass music and developed a taste for the genre early on, and twice during the event, Grandpa Bob described playing Bluegrass music with his grandsons as “livin’ the dream.”
“Practice, practice, practice” was Ben’s collective answer to the questions of how to overcome stage-fright, and if he had any advice for aspiring talent. He took a moment to consider when asked what he thinks music is, as in what it means to him, eventually coming to the sentiment, “You’ll know it when you hear it.”
This coming Saturday, May 10th, the Hamilton Downtown Center will be hosting an open-mic night, and anyone is welcome to showcase their talents: music, poetry, comedy or anything else they think people would like. The sign-up sheet is available in the center itself, and acts will be starting at 7:30 pm. The following Tuesday, the Center will be holding a Pride event. It will be a gathering of LBGTQIA+ individuals and their families and friends, and for allies. Coffee and tea will be provided, though the event will be a sober one.
Appalachian Regional Commission. “About the Appalachian Region”, n.d.