One of the real benefits of living in the Nashville area is the music. This man plays with a group of his friends on the square in Franklin,TN, 20 miles south of Nashville at the time of the Franklin "Blue Grass" festival. For the uninitiated, "Bluegrass" is the only musical form, along with "Blues" ,which has its roots entirely in the US. Bill Monroe, a mandolin player and singer from Kentucky, began playing his own form of country music using instruments more common in eastern Kentucky; mandolin, hammer dulcimer (the only truly American instrument), banjo and fiddle. There are country, gospel and Appalachian roots in this music,sometimes sounding like it is sung in modes. (Please do not ask a fiddle player how long he has been playing violin...the response is always,"I never played one of those things in my life!")

These guys, who you'll see some shots of, play for sheer love of music. They come to festivals, and play off to the side while the others are on stage a short distance away. They call themselves "shade-tree pickers", meaning that's where they set up. Amazing music. See this link for samples: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-definitive-collection/id56904029.

This man is from Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, about 30 miles south.