Pickin’ and grinnin’

By Susan Gibbs, Record Reporter
Published: August 14, 2008

By 7 p.m. Friday night the parking lot in front of the Lydia Mountain Store in Stanardsville was full, and the side lot was filling up with cars from all over.
People had come to hear local musicians do some “pickin’”.
Karen Ford of Greene was managing Lydia Mountain Store in September of 2006 when she started inviting some local musicians to stop by.
Now the word is out, and the hootenanny at the store has become “a weekly tradition,” according to patron Pam Chapman. “We wouldn’t know what else to do with our Friday nights,” says Chapman “ … and we invite our friends to come with us.“
“And they come,“ chimes in Ford, looking up from the pizza she’s fixing. “By 9 p.m. there’ll be between 70 and 100 people here.“
“One Friday night one of Ricky Skaggs’ songwriters showed up,“ Ford declares.
At 7 p.m. there were already between 40 and 50 people, as many seated as could be and the rest standing around, coming to hear local singers and instrumentalists do their spontaneous thing.
“(Tonight) we’re playing Folsom Prison, I Saw the Light, River of Jordan, Long Black Train, Thank You Lord … and a whole lot more,“ says amateur musician Justin Breeden.
The atmosphere is like a party.
According to legend, back in the 1940s a young cowboy performer by the name of Hoot Gibson and his wife, Annie, hosted jam sessions until all hours of the morning. The best parties, it was said, were at “Hoot ‘n’ Annies.“
The term stuck.
“Hootenanny” is now defined as a casual gathering of singers and instrumentalists “celebrating the art of music.”
The Friday night gatherings at the Store are casual.
Some who jam are professionals; some are amateurs, but none of them, says Ford “are costumed up.
“They work out the order of appearance by themselves, or walk in and join in. One group might play for 30 or 40 minutes and then quit. If we have only one group, that group might play the whole night.“
That’s exactly how Ford, who came to Greene from Scottsville Arizona close to 20 years ago, wants it.
At the time, Ford’s sister Myrna was singing with what is now the Deanes Gospel Bluegrass band.
So as soon as she arrived in County, Ford knew some people who played. “We started going to Bluegrass things,” she says. Ford settled in Ruckersville and started doing her own thing, which for a time was an antique store. But the music stayed with her. When Buck Shifflett, part owner of Lydia Mountain Store, asked her to manage it, she said she would.  She brought the music with her.
Word of mouth got the gatherings started.
“I invited the Deanes to come play, and then some other people who spread the word and other people came,“ says Ford. “Now we have about five to 10 pickers we’ve never seen before showing up some nights”.
Ford continues: “One of the guys has been playing mandolin for a short time, but here, he can take his playing to a whole different level, with (more experienced) amateurs, and some professionals.“
The get-togethers, Ford says, aren’t just good for the musicians.
“We have families; parents with children that come here. Some people sit for seven hours and never get up. People who never go anywhere come here. It’s a total family atmosphere,“ says Ford.
That family atmosphere does not include a restaurant, with tables and service, but it does include pizzas and hand-dipped ice cream for sale.
“And hugs,“ says Ford. “There’s not one person walks in here that doesn’t get a big hug.“