Bluegrass Festival and a Blueberries Patch

I found most of the music enjoyable enough.

Especially memorable was a super-cool all-girl group, Shel (see video above). They performed in a scarlet tent with stars and moon painted on the insides against a purple sky background. All were dressed in pants and tank tops, one wore a fedora black hat. Two played strings, one was on the keyboard and the other drummed. They all sang and moved to the beat without making over-the-top drama.

The group’s name is an acronym of their four names: Sara, Hanna, Eva and Liza. When you watch them, you can’t help trying to compare one to the other to judge who is the coolest, but they all are, singly and together as a group.

They are a pop / folk group, originally from Colorado and actually sisters who were home-schooled by an artist mother and a musician father. Their original musical training was classical, which can give me some personal hope in my improvisational efforts on the piano. I tend to feel that my classical training is more of a hindrance than a help when trying lighter music, but perhaps not…

I found out they were “trained” and encouraged by their father to become musicians, reminiscent perhaps of how Richard Williams trained his daughters to be the world’s champions in tennis. It often takes dedicated fathers to bring the potential out of girls. One of them, at least, also takes after her mother and does the graphic art for the group.

They seem to have it all – beauty, vibrancy, sexiness, voice and talent. Further, they mix and master different musical styles, each of them playing a variety of instruments. The whole production, though light in spirit, demonstrated a high musical ability.

Other bands, more traditional, left less impression on my memory.