The 2023 Bluegrass Revival; Historic Dupree School Bluegrass Festival

On the morning of Saturday, March 25 I had a rude awakening. My weather obsessed daughter made a 6 am appearance at my bedroom door. I knew as soon as I saw her face that we would be having tornados for breakfast that morning. These particular breakfasts are an Alabama special. If you have no electricity, you have no breakfast. We all had several bouts of ducking into my bedroom closet, which at the moment is home to a litter of maine coon kittens. It was a messy situation all around.
As the soggy morning made its way into afternoon, things didn’t clear up much. That’s another Alabama thing…we know you can’t trust the weatherman. We thought for a while we were just going to laze around all day and watch the rain.
The thing is, we DID have hopes for an outing that morning. I am an old-school bluegrass junkie and on the morning of March 25 I was many years from my musical fix. I wasn’t about to let a few storms stop me from getting out and going to have a little fun. After all, we are a small town and we don’t get a whole lot of excitement. Except the tornados. We said heck with it! My husband and I donned our festival Birkenstocks and grabbed a few things and headed out to a very important function in our small town of Ashford, Alabama! A BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL! This wasn’t just ANY bluegrass festival though. This was music with a mission.
Way in the middle of nowhere at an Ashford Alabama crossroads sits the old one room Dupree School House. It’s old and it’s musty, but it’s special. You see, we still have many locals here that actually ATTENDED school at this building! Our town and their committee really care about it and want to give it a restoration. So, they threw a shindig. And the shindig turned OUT.
We had food trucks, we had vendors, we had face paint, we had wet butts; And we had BLUEGRASS! I had a little trouble because I had my hands doubled down with cokes and burgers, so I sat on a literal haybale and ate my food. It was awesome.
There were lots of LOCAL vendors, so I made my way around and made my wallet a bit lighter. I found some pretty cool folk art and a “cat mom” hat. I checked in on a few silent auctions. Then we made our way to the front. There were several bands there, but the rain and lightning had unfortunately put a damper on their equipment abilities. So it is true that the music was PAUSED a while, but not before we heard a few good ones from The Byrd Family Band. A little “Blue Train” had us on out feet. For future references, in any funny pictures that I personally am in, I was drying my Birkenstocks!
Mid-afternoon the rain let up again. Although things had gotten a little muddy by then; is any festival fun without mud and a few good mustard stains? EXACTLY.
Things started to heat up a bit then, and we heard a band from Georgia called Blue Holler. The cool thing about Blue Holler is that they aren’t just a small town gig. Blue Holler is in the Georgia Country Music Hall of Fame. They brought the place down ya’ll! We belted and sang along and buck-danced into the night! It was a special thing, and it connected me back to my roots. You see, I’m in Alabama, but I’m a Georgia girl as well. I come from a long line of pickers and I’ve experienced a bit of ‘grass here and there. It really felt like going back to my roots. As I’m sure it did for those that came out in support of our old schoolhouse. The crossroads were kickin’, but no souls were sold that day. However, I think a great many were touched!
Now that I am knowledgeable about the old Dupree Schoolhouse, these awesome bands, and this awesome fraternity of old friends that fight for funding and renovation, I felt I should do my part to spread the news. I hope that you all will consider checking out the Dupree School webpage, and the band’s pages as well. I have added a few photos and I tell you, there’s just nothing like the sky after an Alabama storm. Add music and magic happens! Also, I’m a sucker for stage lights.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this night so special. The entire thing was just an absolute blast. We hope that this little jam spot continues the good music and vibe long after the building is renovated! There is such a spirit of love and community there.
-Meg Johnson, Ashford Al