When I decided to blog, I chose the title, “Red Clay and Sand,” because I had lived in the Sandhills of South Carolina and the red clay area of Georgia. Last week, I lived a real Red Clay and Sand Week. On June 5 and 6, Kathy and I attended the Georgia Mountain Roots and Music Festival at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds in Hiawassee, Georgia. Most of the music for the two days was Bluegrass. The exceptions to the rule were a band from Baton Rouge named “Red Stick Ramblers” and another group called “The Greencards.” These two bands played different types of blended music to create their own style. They were different, especially the Ramblers who sang half their set in French. However, as I said the emphasis for the weekend was Bluegrass. The lineup included Buck and Nelson, Irons in the Fire, Dale Ann Bradley, who won two annual awards as “IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year” without my ever hearing her and sure sounded rather ordinary during the show, Seldom Scene, who seemed really proud of the fact that there was thirty years between their last two records, Town Mountain, a group of college kids from Asheville who did one great cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” Jim Lauderdale who wore a torquoise suit and talked incessantly about Jim Lauderdale, and my favorite, The Steeldrivers. I actually purchased a Steeldrivers’ CD after their set. We were tired and left before Dan Tyminski did his set. Kathy and I were really impressed with the amount of concert time we purchased for $40.00 apiece, especially since it was inside an air-conditioned auditorium.
We camped at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds on Lake Chatuge from Wednesday to Sunday.
Lake Chatuge Campgrounds, Hiawassee, Georgia
We left on Sunday, spent the night at home, and continued to the Sand part of the week at Edisto Island. We camped in the Live Oak Campground at the State Park on Edisto. We had a great time-spent a full day and a half sitting on the beach, staring at waves, reading and getting sunburned (not enough experience with continuous spray suntan lotion in the wind), ate seafood at the Pavilion, and bought a couple of souvenirs. It was a relaxing week.
Edisto Beach
