Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Reporter's notebook - April 29

Bluegrass group keeps open invite

Well outside of Appalachia, a group of old-timers from eastern New Mexico and west Texas are looking to keep their bluegrass group active after some recent dwindling activity.

The “Friends of Bluegrass” has met regularly in Farwell for much of the past 30 years, said Tressie Stroud, but has seen attendance down somewhat in the past year and half.

“We used to draw a big crowd,” she told The News. “But we’re an older group. We’re down to, let’s see, probably about 12 musicians now.”

The group did not meet this past Thursday night as there were only about three people available, she said, but at full tilt the Farwell Community Center hosts its weekly regulars from Clovis, Portales, Pleasant Hill, Hereford and Muleshoe.

Derral Stroud, a lifelong Portales resident, said he got involved with the group almost ten years ago when he found them playing a kind of music he didn’t hear much of in Tucumcari, Clovis or Amarillo.

“With bluegrass, it’s mainly about the (additional) instruments they use — mandolin, banjo and fiddles,” he said. “For me it’s just a love of that music, and I get to play my guitar. Plus, it’s something to do now I’m retired.”

Although bluegrass is the focus, the group also partakes in gospel and “old country music,” like Hank Williams, Tressie Stroud said. The musicians jam together in a circle, taking turns with each selecting two songs at a time. There’s usually a little potluck, too, and the invitation remains open to all.

“We’d love to have anybody jam. Just bring an instrument,” she said. “Or bring a songbook and sing.”

But there’s one rule to keep in mind, she added: “They only play acoustic. They don’t let electric come in.”

— Compiled by Staff writer David Grieder

 
 
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