Bluegrass band to play concert at Andalusia

    Andalusia, the family farm of American author Flannery O’Connor, is hosting its fourth bluegrass concert on the front lawn of the Andalusia Main House on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007, from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Admission is $5.00 per person.
    All guests are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets, as well as picnic dinners to enjoy on the lawn as they are entertained by the local bluegrass group Heart Pine.
    Heart Pine is a group of five musicians, who are residents of the Middle Georgia area. Members of the band include Andy Adams, plays guitar, Lynn Drugger, plays banjo, Aubrey Nelson, plays resophonic guitar, Charles Duffey, plays fiddle, and Jason Lowe, plays acoustic bass.
    Inspired by such musicians as Ralph Stanley, Randy Cohrs and The Infamous Stringdusters, Nelson has been playing bluegrass music for over 30 years.
    “I became interested in bluegrass music in the mid-70s, and have played off and on ever since then,” Nelson said.
    The current members of Heart Pine have been playing together for about three to four years.
    “Lynn Dugger and I have been playing bluegrass with each other for probably 25 years in several different band configurations. And the other guys are people that we have met in the last three or four years, and just decided that after had gotten together one time that we were happy with the mix that we got both vocally and instrumentally,” Nelson said.
    Not only is Nelson a bluegrass musician, he is also an O’Connor fan.
    “Growing up in Milledgeville, that was something that I was made familiar with at an early age,” Nelson said.
    Dr. Marshall Bruce Gentry, professor of English and editor of Flannery O’Connor Review at GCSU, has attended the bluegrass concert at Andalusia on several occasions.
    “It’s a great place to go for an evening, and have a picnic and dance when a band invites you to dance,” Gentry said. “It’s just a cool place to hangout for a real change of pace from the tension and stress of the usual school activity.”
    Also a member of the Andalusia Foundation Board, Gentry became interested in O’Connor’s work nearly 40 years ago.
    “I bought a used copy of ‘Wiseblood’ at a used book sale at the University of Iowa in the 70s, and I remember reading ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ by O’Connor in a creative writing class,” Gentry said. “The blurb on the back of the book said she’s ‘just like (Franz) Kafka,’ so I thought I ought to read more of this Flannery O’Connor, if she’s an American writer who’s like Kafka.”
    While the bluegrass concerts have been held in both the spring and the fall, they are now predominately held in the fall.
    “I think that’s the best time for a bluegrass concert because it’s starting to get chilly, and it’s a festival atmosphere. There’s so many different festival’s going on at the same time so I think that turns out to be the best time of the year for this,” said Craig Amasom, executive director of The Flannery O’Connor – Andalusia Foundation, Inc.
    “This year the sponsors of the bluegrass concert are Lynda Banks and Mary Anne Murray. Both of those individuals are on my board, and are very, very supportive of what we do,” Amason said.
    The main house will be open for tours as well as the gift shop.
    The Andalusia Farm is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. For more information concerning the concert, as well as other questions, call Andalusia at 478-454-4029, or visit the Web site at http://www.andalusiafarm.org/.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 18 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry