Mortified In Massachusetts

Lowell, Massachusetts, is an interesting town to visit.  Lowell has canals; Lowell has Nineteenth Century industrial architecture; Lowell has a park dedicated to its native beatnik son, Jack Kerouac.

Lowell was at the top of Charles Dickens’ list of things to see in America when he came on a lecture tour in 1842.

A friend and I went to Lowell because they were having an arts festival.  For the festival, they had flown a 15-year-old girl from the Midwest to play the fiddle and sing bluegrass music.  The concert was free.

I was impressed with the girl’s fiddling and with her singing.  But I was not impressed with her demeanor.  In a very loud voice, I said to my friend sitting on my left: “That girl sings very well, but she needs to learn how to smile”.

Shortly after my comment, the girl made an announcement in between songs.  She was happy to have someone special in the audience: her grandmother.  She pointed to her grandmother --- it was the woman sitting on my right.

Clearly this woman had heard my loud comment about her granddaughter.  I was mortified.   I was very, very quiet for the rest of the concert.

The 15-year-old grew up to be an icon of American music, winning more Grammys than any other female in history.  Her name is Allison Krauss.

Here is a 3-minute music video of Allison, the angelic queen of bluegrass music, singing a duet with Robert Plant, the bad boy of rock-and-roll.  “Gone Gone Gone” is an Everly Brothers’ tune.

In the video, you will see that Allison Krauss has learned to smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YVRxAX6fwg

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com