By Lani Way
The California Bluegrass Association’s Bluegrass Bridge initiative began in the summer of 2021 as a way to expand delivery of CBA’s goal to reach more potential bluegrass fans. One such community is incarcerated individuals, and CBA was aware of other programs that brought various arts programs to prisons. So why not bluegrass?
To learn more, then Board Chairman Pete Ludé contacted nonprofit organizations that have successfully launched projects relating to music in prisons, including Jail Guitar Doors, a well-established group providing guitar instruction to incarcerated folks. They provided some good advice on how to get started, including targeting underserved institutions, such as Avenal State Prison in Central California.
Just a few weeks later, in July 2021, an amazing act of fate occurred. Jordan Ross at Jail Guitar Doors alerted CBA to some news: a Kentucky-based nonprofit passed a request from an inmate in residential block B of Avenal to Jail Guitar Doors, who in turn forwarded it to CBA on the heels of our contact just : weeks before. The inmate was a mandolin player who wanted to share bluegrass music with his fellow inmates but needed help securing instrument donations and recruiting inspirational performers. The same inmate contacted the IBMA Foundation in November 2021 to apply for a project grant. The IBMA Foundation was enthusiastic and committed to helping, but needed someone based in California to make it happen. The Foundation contacted CBA and we were off and running.
It was a perfect fit and that’s how CBA’s Bluegrass Bridge program was formed. The name reflected the power of music to “bridge” inmates that came from highly diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds within their cell block, as well as the bridge of the music community from inside the prison to a world outside, when inmates are released.
CBA’s Bluegrass Bridge program has sent musicians to host two bluegrass workshops for the inmates of ASP’s B yard and has donated three mandolins, two fiddles, a five-string banjo, and sets of two instructional books with each donated instrument—as well as a set of two instructional books for acoustic guitar, since ASP’s B Yard had five acoustic guitars and one mandolin already. The funding provided by the IBMA Foundation grant funded the second of these two visits, in which six veteran bluegrass musicians based in Los Angeles—guitarist/vocalist Matt Michienzie, fiddler Julian McClanahan, banjoist Mark Cassidy, bassist/vocalist Chris Rolontz, guitarist/vocalist Greg Cahill [not the Chicago banjo playing bandleader with the same name], and mandolinist/vocalist Nate Schwartz—spent a couple of hours performing bluegrass songs and discussing key aspects of bluegrass music technique before handing out the six donated instruments.
Broadly, the goal of this event was to generate interest in and familiarity with the basics of bluegrass music among the B-yard residents, and to motivate the B-Yard residents to continue honing their bluegrass skills on their own time. Specifically, the Bluegrass Bridge facilitators aimed to build on discussions of bluegrass history and the evolution of the bluegrass ensemble introduced in the first Bluegrass Bridge workshop in October 2022; demonstrate the roles of each typical bluegrass instrument and vocal parts in an ensemble setting by explaining solos, kickoffs, rhythm, instrumental backup, and harmony singing; exemplify the types of collaboration and teamwork inherent to any bluegrass performance context; and provide instruments for the incarcerated individuals so that they can play bluegrass music on their own with as complete an ensemble as possible.
The audience was deeply appreciative and, judging by their thoughtful and specific questions about the repertoire and techniques used in the performance, the workshop likely deepened the audience’s interest in and engagement with bluegrass music.
Additionally, while leaving the instruments with inmates gives them more agency to participate, their ability to regularly access these instruments is a privilege afforded at the discretion of the on-site community resource managers responsible for programming for incarcerated populations. These managers have shown that they are willing to work with CBA, recognizing that Bluegrass Bridge workshop facilitators act professionally and are diligent in their communications with facility staff. There is clearly an opportunity to form strong, long-lasting relationships and ideally make real differences in the lives of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.
The Bluegrass Bridge program can serve as a blueprint for other similar programs, within and outside the bluegrass tradition; it is easy to imagine collaboration between bluegrass outreach initiatives and musical initiatives in rock, hip hop, jazz, folk, and so on.
As one of the only programs of its kind in the U.S., the Bluegrass Bridge initiative is collecting valuable data on how to teach bluegrass to underserved populations and how to navigate volunteer coordination in the prison system. The full scope of possibilities for Bluegrass Bridge and similar outreach programs is still unknown, but it is clear that initiatives like Bluegrass Bridge can facilitate deeply positive experiences for program participants, and that bluegrass music is an effective and potent medium for rehabilitative outreach.
Return to the March 2024 issue of The Cornerstone.
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