Tag Archives: cumberland caverns

The Isaacs at Bluegrass Underground

The Isaacs: wow! This non religious woman was truly inspired and moved by the music and passion this beautiful family has for God. Their voices are those of angles. The sound that carried through the cave was enough to give one chills and to cause others to raise their hands to heaven. It was a true day of passion and spiritual awakening. If you have never heard of The Isaacs you should.

The back of Ben Isaacs bass.

Lily Isaacs singing with her two daughters, Becky Isaacs Bowman and Sonya Isaacs Yeary.

The Isaacs singing "The Three Bells".

Sonya holds her banjo mandolin.

John Bowman feeling the spirit.

Becky Isaacs Bowman tuning her guitar with her mom. Lily in the background.

Sonya Isaacs blowing us all away with her powerful and passionate voice.

Becky, Sonya and Ben Isaacs harmonizing.

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Check out more of Mary’s beautiful nature photos and prints by visiting her website.

Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike at Bluegrass Underground

Last Saturday the cave was a rockin’! The perfect music for February’s installment of Bluegrass Underground at Cumberland Caverns. Music full of passion, excitement and energy. You need to listen to Valerie White. She is a little piece of dynamite. Her voice is strong and full of spark. Along with her band Liberty Pike you have a band that is full of excitement.

Valerie along with Becky Buller on fiddle and guitar made me want to be a bluegrass star. To say they are cool is such an understatement. Their energy is never ending and once the show is over you are left wanting MORE! The men of this group provided the calming yang to the ladies ying. Dave Tousley on bass was as cool as they come and Shane Blackwell must be a guitar legend. Check out more of Valerie and Liberty Pike. You will not be disappointed.

Now on to some of my favorite images from their set. They were so much fun to photograph!

Valerie Smith playing her mandolin at February's Bluegrass Underground

Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike jammin' at Bluegrass Underground

Soulful sounds from Valerie Smith as she sings her rendition of "I'm Not Lisa" at Bluegrass Underground.

Valerie and Becky of Liberty Pike whistling at the end of "Walk Like an Egyptian". This was the second time this song was preformed bluegrass style in Cumberland Caverns at Bluegrass Underground.

Becky Buller of Liberty Pike on guitar.

The bass being played by Liberty Pike's, David Tousley.

The fiddle played by Becky Buller.

Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike at Bluegrass Underground.

To see more images and concert information from Bluegrass Underground check them out on Facebook. Also be sure to check out Mary Claire Crow’s beautiful images of nature.

Tennessee Nature Photographer: Christmas in the Cave

for Bluegrass Underground on December 18th. freezing weather, foggy glasses as I step into the cave … greeted by a huge tree full of lights and of course fantastic music!

The Gypsy Hombres

Joey + Rory

Bluegrass Underground June 6 ’09

It had been a year since I had been to Cumberland Caverns with my friend and neighbor, Todd. Todd having just visited the area with his family came up with a novel idea of music in a cave. It was pretty easy to get to, 333 feet below ground, the acoustics were great and it was a constant 55 degrees year round! He chose bluegrass as the music because of the music’s roots in the mountains and it was his favorite genre. He would call it Bluegrass Underground. So here we were getting the tour, me taking photos for the initial website design. Since then every, and I mean every BGU fell on a Saturday when I had a wedding and I was not doing that many weddings.

Cherryholmes was the headliner this past week… now I had never heard of them until BGU but apparently they have a huge fan base and so me and 349 other people packed the cave and OMG!!! This had to be fate and this could not have been a more perfect first BGU for me and I got a new favorite band in the process!

If you ever get the chance to go to BGU you must go! It is only under 2 hours from Nashviile and makes a perfect day trip. The concerts are always held in the early to afternoon and last about 2-3 hours. So far some big ole names in Bluegrass have preformed: the Steeldrivers, the Grasscals and the Steep Canyon Rangers just to name a few. They have a big July 4th celebration coming up featuring many acts including one of my faves, John Cowan. Don’t worry if you can’t get there anytime soon because these sessions are broadcast on WSM online.

I arrived a little early on Saturday to shoot images for one of my many ongoing photo projects.

Check out this beautiful images that revealed themselves to me just off of Dark Hollow Rd.

tree and red barn

I just loved the daintiness of the wildflowers with the wire and the color.

I have taken a recent liking to thistle.

I would grow thistle in my yard if I could figure out a way to control it!

These trees looked like they were shaking hands.

The next set of images are of Cherryholmes. You can check out more images by Colin Peterson of the concert by going to the Bluegrass Underground website.

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