Chuck Nation

Georgia’s Chuck Country was raised on bluegrass music, or “brainwashed,” while he recalls it, and finally headed south to produce a status for himself within the bluegrass moments in the swampy claims of Louisiana and Florida. He offers played with organizations like the Bluegrass Alliance as well as the Deep River Kids, and is one particular pickers who appears like he could play every device in the music group if any such thing was feasible. He’s self-taught on greater than a half dozen tools and has performed bluegrass since he was 16. The fiddle appears to be his number 1, however. Senior high school background students will research the day that Louisiana came into the nation, nonetheless it was back 1984 that Country came into the Louisiana Condition Fiddlers’ Championship on the dare from his dad. He took 1st place, the very best component for him being truly a $500 winner’s handbag since he was unemployed at that time. Being successful a fiddle competition in Louisiana was, alas, no sign that one would become used, since from the ’80s the device have been trumped from the accordion within the Cajun picture. For bluegrass, the genre hasn’t really founded itself strongly for the reason that condition, packed out by therefore many other regional specialties such as for example Cajun, zydeco, New Orleans jazz, and rock and roll & roll, etc in to the gumbo. That could clarify why Nation’s following stop shifting through the united states was the Florida parishes. But he was portion of what been around from the Louisiana bluegrass picture, putting him together with mandolinist Luke Thompson, among a set of brothers who are usually credited with placing down root base for bluegrass in Cajun nation. In 1968, Country played electric guitar with Thompson as well as the Green Valley Cutups at that which was the initial bluegrass celebration ever arranged in Louisiana. The 3rd person in this trio was banjo participant Allen Shelton. From 1970 through 1974, Country continued on electric guitar within a bluegrass combo with Thompson, plus Johnny Hurrying on bass and Dennie Blunt on banjo. Since shifting to Florida, a lot of his bluegrass collaborations have already been with bands structured out of his house condition of Georgia. A good example is the Nation Comfort music group, with whom he performed and documented in 1992. His wife, Susan Country, plays bass within this group, which also features banjoist Jim Pankey. In 1998, Country joined a fresh version from the Bluegrass Alliance with banjoist Barry Palmer, guitarist Johnny Martin, mandolinist Tom Hicks, and La Rita Buchanan on bass. Country joins an extended type of bluegrass players who’ve handed through the revolving doorways of this music group. The initial Bluegrass Alliance included many popular members such as for example Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Tony Grain, and Dan Crary. The music group documented nine albums, toured nationally, and performed in the Grand Ole Opry almost a dozen instances. The brand new formation is situated out of Atlanta. Furthermore to music, Country keeps occupied as an ordained Baptist minister and part-time carpenter. He also provides private teaching on all the tools he plays, alone enough to fill up a datebook up with scribbles.