THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602270113
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CARROLLTON LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
THE SAUCY TWANG OF banjos and fiddles wafts through the cold night air outside Knox Automotive Center.
It's a call that spreads out across Hampton Roads once a month, drawing people in shiny cars, dusty pickups and four-wheel-drives with roaring engines to the garage and body shop in this northern Isle of Wight County community.
The tools have been put away, the concrete floor has been cleared - as much as it can be in a body shop - and something like 300 people, maybe more, are jammed into the garage. Elderly folks, little kids and every age in between. There's smoke in the air and coolers on the floor.
And all these people all here for the same thing: to enjoy a little pickin', tap their feet and escape into the music they love.
``Bluegrass is just amazing music,'' says Mick Kauffman of Virginia Beach. ``It's so light and upbeat - it puts you into a good mood.
``This kind of music really takes people back to their roots.''
That's exactly what Johnny Knox, a longtime bluegrass lover, Smithfield resident and owner of Knox Automotive, had in mind last March when he opened his 9,000-square-foot body shop to local bluegrass musicians and fans.
On the second Saturday night of each month, from 7 until everyone is ready to call it quits - usually around midnight - Knox Automotive is home to what seems to be the biggest bluegrass jam in Hampton Roads. It's at 21301 Brewers Neck Blvd., which is U.S. Route 258 and Virginia Route 32.
Usually four bands, like local favorites County Seat and The Dixie Coast Bluegrass Boys, are scheduled to perform each month, local musician Garland Abbott says. He plays bass with Southern Transfer, is president of the Tidewater Bluegrass Association and usually books Knox's performers.
The last hour of the night is devoted to ``parking lot pickin','' when spectators who bring their own instruments can take the stage.
During the summer, parking-lot pickin' is different in that it actually happens out in the parking lot. When it's warm outside the doors are kept open, so people in the audience wander in and out, Knox says. While the booked bands perform inside, a dozen spectators might pull out their own instruments, go outside and pick a few tunes. Twenty or 30 passers-by will stop and listen, then move on and listen to another, Knox says.
And the parking lot isn't the only offstage action. You might go looking for Knox in his office and run into yet another impromptu jam.
Whatever, Knox's body shop, inside and out, is bluegrass heaven.
``I did this as a way to promote bluegrass music and keep it alive,'' Knox said during the last session, Feb. 10. ``What I've created is a place for musicians to come together and play with one another before an appreciative audience of bluegrass lovers.
``This has become the biggest bluegrass show in Hampton Roads. People from all walks of life look forward to this Saturday night each month, . . . and they come from all over to be here.''
The jam sessions started last March with no scheduled entertainment and about 100 spectators - mostly local bluegrass musicians who showed up with instruments in tow. The crowd had more than doubled by the next month, and since last May it has continually brought in between 350 and 500 people, Knox says.
It's Saturday, Feb. 10, and Knox keeps one eye on the grill, where a dozen hot dogs are darkening quickly, and the other on the people filing into his garage for the February jam. Scanning the crowd, he estimates 25 percent of the 350 or so people relaxing on lawn chairs in the smoke-filled garage are locals.
The others are regulars who plan their monthly weekend schedules around the second Saturday. While most are from South Hampton Roads or the Peninsula, there are true bluegrass lovers who routinely travel from Richmond, Martinsville and the Outer Banks for the event.
Most people are sitting in lawn chairs, chatting with neighbors or tapping their feet as they listen to County Seat.
But one couple just can't sit still.
As light on their feet as the toddlers playing nearby, Dot Kirk, 70, and her friend, Sidney Armstead, 65, gracefully do the Texas two-step across the concrete floor.
``We love bluegrass, . . . and we go dancing a lot,'' Kirk says. ``I don't just hear bluegrass music, I feel it. And when that happens, my feet just won't be still.''
The Hampton couple and several of their friends come across the James River regularly to hear their favorite bluegrass bands at Johnny Knox's and other places in Hampton Roads.
``We're not groupies, . . . but we really like their music, and we enjoy the company of the people we sit with,'' Kirk says. ``We enjoy it.''
Nearby, Bill Yeoman of Smithfield taps his foot to rhythm coming from the front of the room. As he listens to the music, he occasionally glances at a group of kids playing nearby.
``This is great,'' Yeoman says. ``It's something different to do, and it's good, clean, family entertainment.''
The success of Knox's bluegrass fest has led to offers to move it to places better suited for musical performances, such as Smithfield High School's auditorium and Portsmouth's Willett Hall. But Knox has politely refused all such offers.
``That would change the whole atmosphere,'' he says. ``We are completely comfortable here, and there are no restrictions.
``People can smoke all they want, grind their cigarettes on the floor and nobody cares. We worry about cleaning everything later.''
Indeed, the folks hanging out at Johnny Knox's garage on bluegrass night seem to live for the moment: a celebration of the music they love.
``I'm here for the music - what else?'' says Bruce Skinner, a 75-year-old musician from Newport News. ``If it ain't bluegrass, it ain't music!'' MEMO: Bluegrass fans who need directions to Knox Automotive can call Johnny
Knox at 238-2158.
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
BLUEGRASS IN THE BODY SHOP
ON THE COVER
Harold Smith performs on the mandolin with John Abbott on bass at
Knox Automotive Center in a staff photograph by Michael Kestner.
Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
Bo and the Boys perform for a full house at Knox Automotive Center,
where one weekend a month bluegrass bands replace cars and music
fans take the place of drivers.
Surrounded by automotive repair tools, a group of Hampton regulars
shows up for the hoedown. They are, from left: Doris Huffman, Dot
Kirk, Bruce Skinner and Francis Parker.
Five-year-old Shannon Barfield listens intently with her mother
Melanie Barfield, who holds a plate of food.
A group of pickers and players gathers in an office to get ready to
play to the crowd of 300 or more country music fans.
by CNB