The Paris News from Paris, Texas • Page 26

Bluegrass festival begins Aug. 7 Cli.ri. Bell News Staff Writer HUGO, Okla. The woods of Salt Creek Park soon will be full of bluegrass music as aficionados from all over the country gather for Bill Grant's 28th Annual Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival. Festival dates are Wednesday, Aug.

7-Sunday, Aug. 11. Eight new bands will join regulars this year. Performances include: The Lewis Family, The Reno Brothers, Mrd Tyme Out, and Midnight Flight 24 acts in all. A special posthumous recog- nition will honor Robert Russell "Chubby" Wise," aka Mr.

Bluegrass Fiddler who played with Bill Monroe. "I had him booked here for a couple of days," Grant said, but Wise died earlier this year. Also attending the festival will be Bob Everhart, president of the Old Time Country Music Association based in Des Moines, Iowa, and his wife, Sheila The difference between bluegrass, old time music and country music is significant especially to the ears of Grant. "Bluegrass is just country music, but it got honed into something fancy," he said, On the Cover Photo of bluegrass picker Bill Grant and cover design by Gary Lawson. "Country today is all polish and shine and sing-song and dancy.

"Old time country music was just music meant to be heard." Grant's bluegrass festival began in 1968. "We got the idea to have one. There wasn't anything going on out here," he said. The event grew significantly when Grant contacted 500 country stations nationwide to plug the festival. "Then word of mouth carried it from then on," he said.

He expects a day. Seventy-three trailers have already set up, and pickers enjoy jam sessions at dusk. Grant was awarded by Kiamichi Country for his festival which brought in the most tourism dollars last year. For information, call 405326-5598. Salt Creek Park is off Highway 70 East.

Delia Bell is one of many acts performing at Bill Grants 28th annual Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival in Hugo, Okla. Wednesday through Sunday, Aug. 7-11. Delia Bell blazes trail for women bluegrass pickers Cherie Bell News Staff Writer HUGO, Okla. Among the few women who'vemade a name for themselves playing bluegrass music, Delia Bell is a trailblazer.

She was playing bluegrass a blend of country and folk noted by simple vocals and harmony and refined picking of acoustic instruments before the style was named. Even Emmylou Harris, country's vocal bluegrass darling, is a fan of Delia, having picked up her album, Bluer Than Midnight, at a California record shop. In Delia's hometown of Hugo, she started playing music with her sisters and brother as a child. They played any type of music from country to pop. "It was just all kinds," she said during an interview in her home, "We sang country and gospel.

It wasn't called bluegrass then." "I've been listening to it all my life I guess. It's just what I like." Delia started playing bluegrass festivals around 1960. She accompanies herself on guitar, playing variations of Travis picking. Her music partner is Bill Grant, who sings and plays mandolin. The two travel the growing national and international bluegrass circuit at least every weekend.

BARNES TELEVISION SERVICE "Color TV, VCR, Microwave Specialists" 735 SE 24th 784-8417 Delia is married with a grown child and grandchild. Playing- music was a hobby. As a woman, though, she stood out in a trade dominated by male icons like Bill Monroe when the music was indeed a man's world. "It used to be. The men didn't think women belonged in bluegrass and couldn't sing it," Delia said, "There's a lot of women in it now." Emmylou Harris had been a long-time fan of Delia's music.

Coincidentally, her backup singers happened to know Delia, and the two singers eventually met while playing separate concerts in Wimbledon, England, during the 1980s. Emmylou contacted Delia, wanting to record together. She landed Delia a recording contract with her label, Warner Brothers, and produced the album, simply called Delia Bell. The 1983 album was recorded in Emmylou's Hollywood, studio. One of the songs, a remake of Flame in My Heart, ended up being a duet with country singer John Anderson.

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY iaunders Saunderi 1-800-259-8548 Not Board Specialized In Any Area AdwtrtlMd. Delia Bell received incredible praise in People Magazine and Rolling Stone. "It was even in Playboy," Delia said. With the debut of Delia Bell and the duet with Anderson climbing the charts, Delia appeared at Nashville's Fanfair and received an offer from a major talent agency. "Well you can't up and move to Nashville when you don't know what will happen," she said.

Her husband worked at for years and has recently retired. Emmylou and her manager also advised Delia not to sign, to wait and see what happens with the record. "It's a scary business. We were inexperienced," Delia said. Warner Brothers assured her the company would handle everything, even choosing which singles to release.

One of her singles from the album was going to be released by Ricky Skaggs and was not offered to radio stations. Delia could see she would have no control over her career or music. But an industry shake down at Warner Brothers ended up with many in Nashville fired and new artists like Delia lost in the turmoil. "Everyone that had made one alburn had been dropped," she said. Delia was lucky.

The climb to the top of the music business was exciting, but Delia's roots are firmly planted in Oklahoma where she's accessible to the fans. "I enjoy what.Fm doing now than what I did back then," she said. "Those people (in the music industry) worry about where your songs are on the charts up one day, down the next. "And bluegrass fans aren't like that. If they like you, they like you." S2.OO BEFORE 6 PV CINEMARK THEATRES PARIS.

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