I can hear some of you jokesters now: what, when they stopped singing? when the guy said, ‘Goodnight, and thanks for coming!’ Seriously, you crack me up.
No, the best part of the night happened in the first song that Del McCoury and his band lit into. I don’t remember the title, but that’s not really important. I appreciated the skill that the band displayed; they’re all experts on their instruments. I liked the fact that Del has 2 of his sons playing in the band with him. Del’s age (70 years!) was a pretty cool surprise. But the highlight was this:
Del forgot his words!
Yep, somewhere in the second verse, Del hit the blank screen, and the band had to cycle through the chord progression to cover his blunder. He talked his way through it as they played on, and his band got the chuckles at his mistake. He engaged the audience, asking if anyone knew the words he was looking for, and eventually finished the song, laughing along with his band.
Over the course of the 90 minute set, I noticed several little hiccups, places where someone changed chords at the wrong time, a wrong note sounded, or Del (again) forgot his words. In fact, the last song of the night was a total train wreck, professionally speaking. Del lost another verse, and never really got back on track.
But the band never missed a beat. They played along with him, allowing him to try to get back into the groove. They improvised, working as a team to pick up where Del left off. His son Ronnie (incredible mandolin player) eventually stepped up to sing a line or two of the verse before trading mandolin lines with the legendary Sam Bush. In fact, I’d say that their worst song was also their best of the night.
For a long time the Sublett Family Motto has been Weird is Good. We adopted this phrase some years ago in an effort to help our kids realize that it’s okay to be different, to stand out from the crowd, that they don’t have to go along with the crowd. But Kim introduced another Sublett Family Motto somewhere along the road to Nashville:
Don’t be cool; be real.
That’s what we saw from Del McCoury and his boys that night on the stage–real. They are literally some of the best pickers in the world, and have become the premier bluegrass band. But they didn’t try to come off as cool, didn’t try to mask their mistakes. They relished in the moment, making music that they love, playing with flair, and laughing off the stumbles.
The funny things is this: as they let the REAL show through, the COOL made its way to the top, slowly but surely. I think that’s the way it works. When we’re comfortable with who we are, not trying to impress anyone or perform our way into someone’s good graces, the cool-factor takes care of itself.
That’s a lesson I hope to take to heart, and one that I want to pass on to my kids.
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