DC Bluegrass Union Serves Up Roomful Of Wine, Stage full Of SoundAshleigh Hill, DC Scene ContributorThe best concerts begin with a potluck and eleven bottles of wine sitting, unaligned on the kitchen counter. Oh right, the best concerts sometimes include kitchen counters.Jim and Regina Derzon, with the help of the DC Bluegrass Union, have done this 23 times. Using June 2nd as a constant, that’s roughly 253 bottles of varied wines, 48 types of chocolate filled mini pastries and, maybe most importantly, 23 evenings of a home doused in 23 different interpretations of bluegrass music. Usually acoustic, although tonight’s show includes amps, the house concert series taking place in the Lake Barcroft community of Falls Church, VA, at the end of a forest enclosed cul-de-sac, and over a tiny stream housing a few Christmas ham sized goldfish, began in June 2003. |  |
 The “venue”, which doubles as a living and dining room, is stuffed with church-group-like folding chairs highlighted by light jazz music playing through a well-hidden stereo system. There’s a little raised-wine-glass-excuse-me room and the audience can see into the forested backyard. That would be another house concert notable, a backyard, seen through large windows.Backstage is not really backstage, it’s a hallway lined with clean family pictures. The floor in front of the big bay windows looks nothing like a tradition stage, but it’s balancing one mic, four performers and Regina reminding everyone to “take home their dishes” and remember that they are, in fact, in an actual house and to respect breakables. Huddled around the microphone, Frank Solivan and his band launch into what can only be compared to that scene in Oh Brother Where Art Though? where George Clooney et al step up and record a romping “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow”. Except, of course, tonight is a little more serious, cleaner, and no one’s ripping off a blind radio station DJ. The band, Chris Walls (bass), Mike Munford (banjo), John Miller (guitar) and the previously mentioned Frank Solivan (fiddle), make it pretty hard to stay seated and if it weren’t for all those breakables and folding chairs, something like a ho-down might be appropriate. Solivan’s band, spending the evening switching back and forth from in front of the mic, offer up tunes from his cds, I Am a Rambler, his newest release, Selfish Tears and a couple noteworthy covers including a John Miller fronted “Close By” by bluegrass phenom, Bill Monroe.All the grinning in the knee-to-knee packed room comes about by way of the lyrical content, the acapella endings prefaced by verse describing Elvis, county lines and canasta games, sprinkled over four superb musicians and their respective instruments. Outside of outdoor festivals, I can’t remember if I’ve ever been to a concert where I was so aware of the sun going down, or where the lead singer’s mother, Lorene, joined the band for a sweet and concise cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone”. I’ve also never witnessed a bass player hold a large, square fan to a hot, laughing audience, and I’m hard-pressed to remember a more soulful rendition of the Gospel tune “Wayfaring Stranger”.The somewhat hidden, but resourceful, DC Bluegrass Union has been promoting and supporting Bluegrass music in the D.C. area since 2001 and connects shows akin to the Lake Barcroft series and genre specific musicians in the area. For more information on the DC Bluegrass Union visit www.dcbu.org.To hear Frank Solivan’s music or find an upcoming show visit www. franksolvanii.com. |
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