PLAIN FOLK On Friday, November 4, the Medicine Hat Folk Music Club takes a giant step into a bigger venue with more big league performers. Juno Award nominee, John Reischman and the Jaybirds, stage their bluegrass concert at the Medicine Hat College Theatre for a potential audience of 500 fortunate folk fans. Why a bigger venue for this concert? Bluegrass is popular! Canada is bluegrass heaven. There’s Restless Lester, Roses in the Snow, and Tumbleweed with Steve Dawson and Jesse Zubot. Jerusalem Ridge is another bluegrass constellation. JR’s mandolin maestro, Bill Lopushinsky, calls himself the “fastest fingers in the West.” But when did he last peek over the Rockies? Out in BC, Reischman is a challenger! And southward there is Californian, Chris Thile, mandolinist for the Nickel Creek newgrass group. California is where John Reischman got his training. Yes, Reischman was inspired by Bill Monroe. After hearing Monroe, the teen-aged Reischman gave up his guitar for a mandolin. But his sky truly opened only after he heard David Grisman, another northern California picker. Now, at 50, it is Reischman who inspires others! From Grisman, Reischman gained an appreciation for traditional music. Speaking to Stewart Oksenhorn of The Aspen Times (Oct. 17, 2003), Reischman noted that “…over the past 10 years I’m more attracted to the traditional sound—using the traditional style to get my own sound, and not make it so modern.” Those who were in Canmore for the 2004 Folk Festival would agree that Reischman and the Jaybirds have captured something unique in bluegrass. Huddled around an old-fashioned radio microphone, playing tight string licks, and blending vocals smoother than single malt whiskey, John and band make new, original, songs sound authentic and ancient as the Ozarks. Their Good Night Irene lingers in my music memory like honeysuckle on hot summer Sundays. There is something spiritual about three and four-part harmonies, whether vocal or instrumental. Maybe it’s the intuitive teamwork that good harmony demands. Maybe it’s the degree of individual excellence each musician contributes to make harmony work. (After all, one sour note and a bluegrass song curdles like cream in vinegar.) Maybe it’s the sympathetic resonance created when blended musical notes strike our inner psychic selves. Then again, maybe it’s simpler than all that. Harmony brings order and beauty to a chaotic, uncertain, world. If there is any assurance of heaven—apart from divine revelation, that is—surely it is the fine, tight, harmonics of bluegrass music! If there are choirs in heaven, their anthems must resound with the rich and resonant blend of voices with banjo, bass, mandolin, and guitar. It’s heavenly music!
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by
Les Pearson 
Jim
Nunally plays guitar, Trisha Gagnon plays bass and sings tenor, Nick Hornbuckle
is on five-string banjo, and Greg Spatz on fiddle. Reischman’s mandolin
makes it a perfect five-fingered hand.