Saturday's concert at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis featured Portland-based Grass Station playing in front of nearly 200 attendees. The performance marked the second show at the Vet hosted by the Washington Bluegrass Association and sponsored by Goebel Septic of Centralia. Whiskey Deaf played at the venue in February. Both concerts have been sold out.
"We're really happy with how things turned out," says WBA president General Cothren of Winlock. "The music was very good and everyone who came seemed to be having a great time. It's always good to see so many smiling people because it means we may be doing something right."
Cothren adds the WBA was fortunate to bring in the Grass Station, who were in Chehalis for just their second live performance as a band but whose lineup included a number of veteran musicians. "We were lucky," says Cothren. "These guys have all been with some great bands but they haven't been together very long and are just starting to get the name Grass Station out there. It's going to be harder to find open dates on their schedule before long, but we were able to get them for this one."
Newer audio equipment recently purchased by WBA board member Jamie Guenther was used on Saturday. "The first show sounded fine, but this was a lot better," Cothren commented. "The band mentioned on stage how good things were sounding for them and I've heard from people who noticed the difference." Up next, he said, is shoring up the stage-lighting system used. "We've been borrowing the lights and we've gotten by with them, but that's an area we can improve on."
No further WBA concerts at the museum are scheduled before the annual Mount St. Helen's Bluegrass Festival at Toledo High School in August, but Cothren says the association is already looking ahead to next winter. "We went into this to see whether holding regular shows outside Toledo would work or not, and it's gone better than I'd hoped. The museum is a great place to have these, (museum director) Chip Duncan has been super to work with and we couldn't be happier about having Pam Orr and Goebel as a sponsor. We're already starting to work on a putting a show together for December.
"We'll definitely be coming back for more."