Fifty miles east-bound on I-24, plus a few extra miles in the right direction through rolling Tennessee hillsides can lead you to a particular hole in the ground. A hole in the ground discovered long before our state was civilized by someone who saw it and wondered about the quality of a banjo’s sound coming from the hole if one were inclined to pick a banjo in said hole. They then retrieved the banjo and found it was one of the best acoustical opportunities anyone has ever come across. This person birthed Bluegrass Underground that day and the folks at Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville still adhere to the idea-become-tradition by holding summer concerts in the Cavern’s giant, chandelier-lit amphitheater, the Volcano Room, sitting 300 feet below Warren County’s surface. This month featured the cave’s second appearance from influential bluegrass legend, Doyle Lawson, along with his award-winning country bluegrass band Quicksilver.
Lawson, a native East Tennessean, was born into era of Tennessee history where it was abnormal not to be heavily influenced by the weekly broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night. In Lawson’s case, it was the Opry’s Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys that gave him his calling, and you can’t walk away from a Lawson performances doubting that, as he and his band echoed some of the best traditional bluegrass and gospel the states ever heard from the Cumberland Caverns.
Lined up on state, long-time backing band, Quicksilver along with Lawson, stood from left to right, newcomers Jason Barie on the fiddle next to Jesse Baker on a resonated banjo. Lawson stands next to them with his mandolin, sharing a mic with bassist Corey Hensley and guitarist Mike Rogers with Josh Swift “supplying some of the fastest Dobro you’ll hear” (Lawson’s description) and drummer Carl White holding down stage left. Together in this room, these seven men created a wall of sound larger than the giant stone one surrounding the stage and never let up a second for anything short of a joke or a quick instrument swap.
Beginning in heavy bluegrass fashion, Lawson and Quicksilver lit into their rendition of “Mississippi River Let Your Waters Flow.” It was held up lyrically by guitarist Mike Rogers with the rest of the band in perfect backup harmony during the choruses while Lawson used the first song to get in a few of his standard-setting mandolin licks.
From there, they picked on through two or three more fast-paced, high-altitude originals, rapid-firing solos from every instrument while the audience warmed up in the cold cavern by stomping up dust and clapping their hands.
Then the band let the crowd cool off again while a few instruments were swapped out or restrung and a few jokes were told at Lawson and drummer Carl White’s expense. If you’ve never had the opportunity to hear bluegrass or old-time musicians joke around for the audience, please make it a point to do so if you need a deep, wholesome chuckle. Bob Dylan’s “I took my wife down to the pawn shop today and got a bass . . . They say it was a pretty good trade” stage jokes are cued by the small stage show’s friendly on-stage banter.
Soon after the good fun, Lawson and three members of Quicksilver got back to their set for a string of four-part acapella gospels with Lawson and Mike Rogers flying around in the alto and soprano while bassist Corey Hensley and Dobroist Josh Swift took care of the baritone and the bass, and when Swift hit his deepest notes in hymns such as E. Ford Bailey’s “Evening Prayer Blues,” his eyes would bulge from his head as though an avalanche could fall. It wasn’t irregular for the crowd of 200 or so to offer a standing ovation before each of the gospel songs ended. Everyone was in awe.
Once the acapella gospels finished up and the cave settled down again, there was another small break that gave the quiet 20-year-old Quicksilver banjoist Jesse Baker an opportunity to share his eerily perfect impression of Earl Scruggs’ hillbilly-twanged voice. Baker conversed with Lawson as Scruggs for the folks and together they sang a Scruggs original, “I Wonder How the Old Folks are at Home,” while the rest of the band did double-takes at Baker to the crowds uproarious approval, but Lawson and Quicksilver didn’t let anyone settle down after that one. They bolted into another onslaught of foot-tapping madness with four or five more Quicksilver songs including “The Country Store,” which made a few people visit the concession stands mid song; a Loudon Wainwright song; “Precious Memories,” lead by guitarist Mike Rogers, once again; and finally, the new single, “Help is on the Way,” sung by bassist Corey Hensley from their newest unreleased record. All the fellows could say about the new record was they were sure the guys in Nashville will be pleased by it.
The day was growing darker by the end of the show, but no one could tell down in the Volcano Room. They were concerned about the world beneath McMinnville for a while and forgot about all the problems of heat waves, mosquitos and traffic up on the surface just to let Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver distract them under the earth for a while.
Bluegrass Underground records every show and is broadcast every Saturday at 5 p.m. on 650 WSM AM. Also, the management of Cumberland Caverns is currently in negotiations with National Public Television to broadcast the show. The next scheduled show for the Caverns is Dale Ann Bradley with Chris Jones and the Night Drivers on Aug. 20. Tickets can be found at bluegrassunderground.com or enter to win a pair here.
