Watermelon Park.Where a Brit meets Bluegrass

Every year for as long as most folks can remember Watermelon Park has put on a Bluegrass Festival on the last weekend of September. In 2004 Frazer Watkins and Dave van Deventer took the reins of this longtime and venerable festival and created a company called Shepherds Ford Productions. They contracted with the owner of Watermelon Park, John Miller Jr. to produce the Bluegrass festival at the same time of year as the Miller family had been running it since the first festival there in 1942.

Due to the success that Shepherds Ford Productions had with the Watermelon Park Fest, they decided to start another festival in June concentrating on Americana and American Roots Music. They called it the River and Roots Festival which pays tribute to the rich cultural history of the Shenandoah River and rural heritage, honoring local farmers and food producers as well. “Mr. Miller Jr. feels the river has been his family’s life blood for generations. He wanted to pay tribute to it, raise awareness of its importance, and pay it back,” said Watkins in a recent interview, and added that “some concert proceeds will go to Shenandoah Riverkeeper, a group who advocates for the health of area rivers and streams.” Festivities include Concerts, Dances, Workshops, & Band Contests, Kid's Activities, Open Jams, Food & Craft Vendors and a Fiddle Music camp led by Malia Furtado, Dave Van Deventer and Stacey Sinclair. This year River and Roots festival was held on June 23rd to June 25th and featured Irish band WE BANJO 3 as well as Michael Daves, Sherman Holmes, Furnace Mountain Band, Black Masala, The Woodshedders, The Ingrammettes, and Corn Potato String Band.

ABOVE. “WE BANJO 3” PERFORM HAPPINESS VIDEO.

BELOW. FURNACE MOUNTAIN BAND PERFORM “OOH BELLE” IN GLASGOW AT CELTIC CONNECTIONS IN 2011

I found Watermelon Park in an unusual way. It was 1975 and I’d just arrived in the United States armed with (after 2 years of form filling) my permanent visa (green card) to live in the US. I purchased a 1964 push button transmission Dodge for 300 bucks and headed south from NY to look for the sun. It was May and it was unseasonably cool, so the thought of heading south to balmy breezes was the perfect plan.

I'd always loved the Blue Ridge mountains and my plan was to drive south to Washington DC, and then head west and spend a few weeks exploring the Shenandoah Valley. I ultimately drove all the way to Roanoke in southern Virginia, proud of my $300 banger for getting me there safely. I knew reality was looming and I'd have to eventually look for a job, so I worked my way north on I95 visiting the magnificent college towns of Harrisonburg and Charlottesville where I found one night gigs playing to student at crowded pubs on my way back to DC to rethink where to go next.

I’ve always preferred to take the "roads less traveled" and as I entered (what I now know to be) Clarke County I got the sweetest feeling of "arriving home." I drove to Berryville a tiny charming town heading toward the mountain that separates Clarke County from its neighbor Loudoun County as I motored slowly to the Capitol. A mile or two from the Blue Ridge mountain pass I noticed a fruit stand which tempted me and I pulled over to buy a peach. Little did I realize that stop would change my life forever.

At the stand was a dear lady busying herself as I walked up to the stand. Keep in mind it was 1975 and I was a man with a very strange accent and extremely long hair that tumbled down to my waist. If she disapproved she never showed it. She flashed me a welcoming smile and yelled something incomprehensible to someone in the back of the stand. A tall man appeared and with a nod asked if he could help me. Slightly flustered I reached for the first thing I saw..an apple..and said "I'll take this please." With a twinkle in his eye he replied. "I’d prefer if you paid me for it, rather than take it.......”

And so began a deep and enduring friendship lasting for years between John U, Rose Miller and myself.

John Miller was a canny businessman and over the years did very well for himself. Rose loved cars, in particular Lincoln Continentals and so John used to buy her a new one as a gift, every couple of years. She also loved her sheep. It wasn’t unusual to see Rose driving down the road accompanied by 3 sheep in the back seat of her expensive car. Rose was a wonderful woman, and I was proud to call her my friend.

I continued my journey to D.C passing over the mountain, passing Rt 601 the road that leads to Mount Weather emergency operations center, famous for its underground White House where the Vice President is reportedly taken in the event of a nuclear attack.I then traveled on through Round Hill and Purcellville toward the historic town of Leesburg finally to my destination Washington D.C where a delicious Indian curry was awaiting my pleasure at The Rajaji Curry House on Connecticut Avenue.

It didn’t take me long to tire of the big city, and voices were calling me to return to the Shenandoah Valley, so I packed up and headed west back to the fruit stand where I’d first met John U and Rose. During my first meeting with them they’d mentioned they owned a campground right on the Shenandoah river, so I figured I’d start my quest to find America in that peaceful place.

They were both pleased to see me, and upon my announcement of wanting to camp for a couple of weeks on their campground, they were delighted. John led me the 3 miles down a bumpy and charming dirt road until suddenly on my left I saw in the foreground a field framed by the magnificent Shenandoah River curving around a natural bend. We were there. I found a riverside campsite (no electricity..perfect) paid some money to my kindly host and we went our separate ways. I ended up staying at Watermelon Park for over 2 months, blissfully happy with my guitar, my thoughts and the million dollar views. As I was the only camper then, Rose very often would invite me up to their house on the hill above the campground for dinner, where I would learn about their exciting lives. It was a treat for me to get to know such genuine people, and I never forgot the lessons they taught me.John kindly fixed me up with a job with his brother Bill Miller building furniture. I was happy.

So the story goes, John U Miller arrived via freight train in the 1930’s. He jumped off the train in Berryville, and much like me, instantly fell in love with the kind people of Clarke County. He had no money to speak of, but found a piece of property on the banks of the Shenandoah that he felt would be ideal for farming (growing watermelons.) He made an offer to the owner, suggesting that he would grow a crop, harvest them and sell them after which he would pay fully for the land. If by chance he was unable to come up with the full amount, the agreement was that he would forfeit the land and the original owner would get it back. Back in those days business was conducted that way. A handshake was often all it took to make a deal. On the very last day of the agreement John U Miller strode into the Bank of Clarke County and paid every cent he owed in green and folding !

John U continued to buy land along the banks of the Shenandoah until he finally owned over 300 acres, of which the campground, and the watermelon patch are part. In 1942 he started a Watermelon Festival featuring old-time games and a Fiddling Contest. He’d also carve up a load of watermelons and personally hand each guest a free slice! From the “seeds” of that humble first festival in 1942 John U teamed up with Don Owens a music promoter and founded Bluegrass Day in August 1960 becoming the first ever Bluegrass Festival in the USA. From that year on, the festival grew and grew with thousands of bluegrass lovers attending annually to see such luminaries as Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, Del McCoury, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen, The Statler Brothers, Don Reno, Red Smiley, Dolly Parton & Porter Wagner, Ralph Stanley, The Carter Family, Carl Smith, Ray Price, Earnest Tubb, Sonny James, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, The Wilburn Brothers, Johnny Horton, Lil’ Jimmy Dickens, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, and Marty Stewart.

And Marty Stewart along with the the amazing Del McCoury is back headlining the festival this year.

Marty Stewart and his Fabulous Superlatives.

For over forty years, this five-time Grammy winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, photographer and historian has been building a rich legacy at this very crossroads. On his latest release with his band The Fabulous Superlatives, the double-disc Saturday Night & Sunday Morning, Stuart captures all the authentic neon and stained-glass hues of country music – from love and sex to heartache and hardship to family and God – in twenty-three tracks. “I’ve always thought that country music had a really unique relationship with gospel music,” Stuart says. “It is interesting to me that country stars can sing drinking and cheating songs authentically, then at some point during the evening or the broadcast, take their hats off and say, ‘Friends, here’s our gospel song.’ If it’s the right messenger it seamlessly flows. That’s a time-honored tradition, from Jimmie Rodgers to Hank Williams to Johnny Cash. Rogue prophets and rogue preachers. That is my world.

The Seldom Scene

This year the Festival will be held on the same site that I camped on back in 1975 along the scenic Shenandoah River on September 21-24 2017. And speaking of “scenic.” The Seldom Scene will be performing at the festival. The Seldom Scene have become one of the single greatest contributors to the progression of bluegrass while setting a new standard and attracting new audiences to the genre. Their legendary weekly DC-area residencies included bluegrass versions of country music, rock, and even classical pop. The band’s popularity soon forced them to play more than once a week—but they continued to maintain their image as being seldom seen, and on several of their early album covers were photographed with the stage lights on only their feet, or with their backs to the camera. The Seldom Scene have performed at the White House many times, and continue to tour year-round.The Seldom Scene are founding member Ben Eldridge (banjo), Lou Reid (mandolin/vocals), Dudley Connell (guitar/vocals), Ronnie Simpkins (bass/vocals), and Fred Travers (dobro/vocals). The album was produced by three-time GRAMMY award-winning Smithsonian Folkways Sound Production Supervisor Pete Reiniger.

This year is a treasure trove for Bluegrass enthusiasts. Along with The Seldom Scene are performances by The Del McCoury Band, Marty Stuart, Keller Williams, The Quebe Sisters, The Dead South, The Danny Barnes Trio, Molly Tuttle, The Bumper Jacksons, Front Country, The Ingramettes, Mile 12, Furnace Mountain Band, Ken and Brad Kolodner Quartet, Megan Downes and the City Stompers, The Woodshedders, The Cabin Creek Boys, Johnny and Jeanette Williams, The Fly Birds, The Jakob’s Ferry Stragglers, Dalton Dash,

The Dead South

They wear white shirts and black suspenders, black pants and travellers’ hats. They sing about murderous, estranged spouses and runaway lover cousins in a boot-stomping acoustic configuration that includes banjo, mandolin, cello and guitar, some whistles, hoots and hollerin’, and finger snappin’. Sometimes their fans dress up like them too and dance and sing the night away – but that’s not mandatory. The Dead South are fun, modern hillbillies from Regina, Saskatchewan (that’s in Canada btw), who can make you forget your troubles and even what century you’re in. But the band isn’t just about style and good looks. Their full-length album, Good Company (released on Curve/eOne), is full of rousing bluegrass kickers that challenge you not to smile or do a little jig, or, heck, even head-bang. They’ve played them all over Europe and the U.K. multiple times, as well as Canada and into the U.S., enthralling fans who just can’t get enough.

On Saturday, September 23, 2017 at 1 p.m there will be a Band contest. Everyone who attends the festival is welcome to enter. Enter to win Cash, T-Shirts, CD's, and a side stage slot during the height of the festivities! Sign up at The Fest Store starting at 11 a.m. The contest begins at 1 pm. Prizes include $1000 plus a prime time slot on Saturday evening. For more information about fun events visit http://watermelonparkfest.com/contests/

Watermelon Park Fest is a family friendly event with entertainment on the main stage, jam sessions all weekend, and lots of activities like relaxing along the banks of the river soaking up the sun or cooling off with a lazy river float trip on a river tube. There’s a Jam session on Friday between 12.00 and 1.00 pm and a Fiddle/Banjo workshop between 1.30 and 2.30 pm with story telling time, Yoga and a Barn later on in the day.

It’s fitting that Bluegrass, Americana, and American Roots music has been celebrated at John and Rose Millers home in Berryville Virginia all these years because it truly represented who they were as people. John U Miller died in 1995. That year there was a festival, held in tribute to John U and Rose his wife. That was the last festival held there until Shepherds Ford Productions took it over in 2004.

I’m delighted the Bluegrass Fest is still so successful all these years later. John U and Rose would be thrilled to know their legacy is being so well cared for by a new generation of music lovers under the careful watch of their son John Miller Jr. and Shepherds Ford Productions. May it long continue.

If you’re going to be in and around the Shenandoah Valley on the weekend of September 21 and love music, what better way to spend your weekend than visiting the Watermelon Park Fest ? Buy your tickets now