Longhair Bluegrass

Well, Daddy packed the van fulla campin’ gear
Mama filled the ice chest up with beer
And I rode shotgun all the way up Route 15
It seemed every picker in the USA
Had landed in a Culpeper field that day
Fifty years gone, I’m still groovin’ on that scene

There was old men doin’ the buck and wing
Young gals skinny-dippin’ in the spring
While the singin’ and the fiddlin’ and the feedback filled the air
While Mom and Daddy were getting’ fried
I was sittin there with my eyeballs wide
‘Cause comin’ straight at me offa the stage
Just like a demon with a Hypno-ray
Stealin’ my mind away

It was that longhair bluegrass
Settin’ my young spirit free
Yeah that longhair bluegrass
Well, a little rough and shaggy but man it spoke to me

Hey, what’s it matter how a fella looks
If his song is true and his playin’ cooks
I mighta known that, but I was just a dumb old kid
Those hippies knew Bob Marley note for note
And they didn’t shove religion down your throat
And I was pretty sure they smoked dope like I did

There’d’a been police and pepper spray
If a few old-timers had had their way
Ole Dr. Ralph Stanley looked a little unamused
Oh, but anyone with ears could not deny
Blake on the guitar, Tony on the five
There was somethin’ in the air for sure
It wasn’t all peace and make-love-not-war
No, it was somethin’ more

It was that longhair bluegrass
That was the sound of ’73
Yeah that longhair bluegrass
Man, it swept the South and it swept over me

Clarence White, that’s a name I adore
And John Hartford, just to drop one more
And don’t forget the Nitty Gritty Band, Earl Scruggs and his sons, Mr. Dave Grisman
And you know Monroe is still the King
But now his church has a new wing
Where an outcast like me can feel at home

Singin’ that longhair bluegrass
Just like Sam said it should be
Yeah that longhair bluegrass
Well it wasn’t all the greatest songs
And the solos were a little long
But it spoke to me strong, and it still speaks to me

Longhair bluegrass
I remember it well
Longhair bluegrass
Under the moonlight
Longhair bluegrass
Can’t Stop now, singing that
Longhair bluegrass
Well I reckon it went away