Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9409120011
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By NANCY BELL STAFF WRITER|
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ask Donnie and Rhonda Wray why they give so much of their time to the annual Vinton Old-Time Bluegrass Festival and Competition and they'll say to promote bluegrass music and draw visitors downtown.
But a Saturday afternoon with them reveals another motive - love of the music and the people who play it.
Donnie Wray's big brown eyes sparkle and his brows dance when he talks about bluegrass music. His love of the Blue Ridge region and its music has been a driving force in his life since he was 5 years old.
Wray remembers family and friends gathered around the kitchen table in the evenings picking banjo and guitar, singing songs with lyrics as real as the people who wrote them. He loved the music early and took lessons as a young child.
``Bluegrass is honest music. It's family-oriented. It makes you want to go back to a more basic lifestyle, to the good old days. We don't sing any cop-killing songs,'' he says.
From the family's store, D.R. Music, he teaches others the traditional instruments of blue grass: banjo, dulcimer, autoharp, dobro. The growing number of young people seeking lessons each year is a point of pride. He is as eager to teach as they are to learn.
``Six years ago, I couldn't give a bluegrass lesson away,'' he says.
Vinton's annual festival has a lot to do with an increase in the number of young people seeking lessons, he thinks. It is free and attracts more people each year.
The Wrays spend much of the year coordinating the annual festival. Together they manage most of the details that make the event a success, from contacting performers to chopping onions and toting ice for the concession stands.
While Donnie Wray certainly knows his way around the music industry - he books most acts himself directly with the performers to avoid paying agents' fees - his wife makes sure he has the money to pay the bands and provide cash prizes.
``I make the mess, and she cleans it up. She finds me the money to pay for what I have already spent,'' Donnie Wray says.
He attributes his clout with the nation's top performers to the rapport he has developed with them during the past six years.
``I don't know. I guess they like the festival and the way we treat them. They come in, and we give them brown beans and corn bread to eat and make them feel at home - no broccoli florets here.''
The Wrays say they could not manage the festival without the help of a dedicated board of directors. Corporate sponsors donate materials, services and moral support. The Roanoke Valley Fiddle and Banjo Club is omnipresent during planning.
``Everyday people put the festival together,'' Donnie Wray says. ``This is no society-type outfit.''
He admits this sometimes causes trouble. The Wrays visit Vinton Town Council each year, requesting money and services for the festival. Usually, council provides $2,000 in cash, twice as much in security and other services, but not without opposition from someone who thinks the festival should be self-supporting by now.
``Some people don't see the wisdom that this festival brings a lot of people in here, that it generates money for the merchants downtown, for the town itself,'' says Wray, a bit disgruntled.
``We don't ask for what we don't need,'' Rhonda Wray adds. Each year she takes on more festival-related work, such as handling public relations and local promotions, to show that the group behind the event is interested in saving money.
She doesn't play bluegrass, but she has been seen flat-footing behind the Pepsi wagon.
``Whatever needs to be done to make the festival work, I'll do it,'' she says with determination. That includes stashing the couple's three young children with relatives for the duration of the festival each year.
``We typically get four hours' sleep each night of the festival by the time we count money, wash the dishes, restock the porta-johns with paper. It gets tougher every year because of the number of people who come to the festival,'' she says.
After the festival, the Wrays take a two-month break. Then Donnie gets back on the phone booking acts, and Rhonda starts a new checklist of things to do. She creates a budget and coordinates the efforts of those who help make the festival happen.
By fall, she is scouting for attractions that will make each festival unique.
``After the festival, there's a really big letdown,'' she says. ``It's like bluegrass music itself; it gets in your blood. It's hard to give it up.''
by CNB