Who Let the Goats Out? The Barn Is Jumpin'
By ABRAHAM STREEP
New York Times

Rickie Simpkins, a fiddler who has played many prestigious halls, looked amused as he sat outside David and Annie Bingham's Salem barn on a Friday afternoon last month. His long dyed-blond hair was as conspicuous as his Chevy Silverado, which was parked in the Binghams' yard.

''It's a different venue from the places I have played, like Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall,'' said Mr. Simpkins as he nodded toward the red barn, home of the Connecticut Bluegrass Music Association's Salem Valley Barn Concerts series. ''It brings me back to the earlier days, when I grew up playing music.''

Two goats emerged from behind the barn as Mr. Simpkins went inside to do a sound check.

The association has been holding concerts in the Binghams' barn since the fall of 2003, and presents roughly one a month, except in the coldest winter months. The performance on June 17 by Mr. Simpkins and the guitarist Wyatt Rice was the fourth one since March. Laurie Lewis, a two-time International Bluegrass Music Association "Female Vocalist of the Year", will perform with Tom Rozum on mandolin on July 15, the night before they headline at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Ancramdale, N.Y.

The concerts were the idea of Kim Cyr, president of the association, and a pharmacist who grew up in a family of musicians.

''One of the things that I felt was missing in Connecticut was theater-environment bluegrass concerts,'' she said. ''You could see bluegrass at festivals, and you could see bluegrass at bars, but nobody was doing real concerts in a theater.''

While bluegrass is not generally associated with the Northeast, Connecticut has a strong folk music scene. Two summer festivals, the Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival in Preston and the Podunk Bluegrass Festival in East Hartford, attract crowds in the thousands.

Even though bluegrass originated in the South, Ms. Cyr said, ''people can relate to it and enjoy it in all different places.''

''A lot of the themes, even though they might not be geographically pertinent to Connecticut, people can relate to it because they know about family and they know about home, and a lot of us have rural roots,'' she said.

Ms. Cyr created the nonprofit association to promote concerts in Evans Hall in New London, but the shows were financially draining.

''That place holds 300, and we filled it once,'' she said. Wanting a simpler project, Ms. Cyr asked her neighbors, the Binghams, if she could clean out their barn and hold concerts in it. Dr. Bingham, a 64-year-old retired physician, and grandson of the famous Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham III, was enthusiastic.

''What I like is the use of the barn for the combination of bluegrass and country life,'' Dr. Bingham said.

Ms. Cyr added, ''The atmosphere, the barn, it goes with all the feeling of the music.'' She gestured to the Binghams' 30-acre farm and said, ''I mean we are in Connecticut, but you could be sitting on a porch right now in Virginia just as easily.''

The barn is small for a concert space, 24 feet by 48 feet, and it is cluttered with tools and a Ping-Pong table. Before each concert, Ms. Cyr sets up rows of folding chairs, throws quilts over haystacks to create more seats, and strings up Christmas lights. She recruits volunteers to tidy up the place before the music begins.

Despite the modest space -- the room is overflowing with 70 people in it -- the concerts have attracted some of bluegrass's most talented players. Publicity has been minimal, but unnecessary. Reservations fill up as soon as Ms. Cyr sends a notice to the association's e-mail list.

''You don't have to go out and put on huge expensive shows to promote bluegrass in this state,'' she said.

The association asks for a $20 donation from audience members, and because there is no overhead, all of the money goes to the musicians. Still, the donation is suggested, and performers are guaranteed nothing.

''It's not enough to get a famous artist up here just for this show, but if they happen to be playing somewhere else in the area, it's a great pickup date,'' Ms. Cyr said. ''When they first walk in, and there's nobody here yet, especially if we haven't moved out the Ping-Pong table, they're kind of like, 'O.K., what is this?' But it just transforms into a really magical place by the time we get all the people in.''

Every fall Ms. Cyr scouts for talent at the International Bluegrass [Music] Association's conference, which rotates its meetings between Louisville, Ky., and Nashville. Musicians now get in touch with her about the shows, but, Ms. Cyr said: ''I am pretty picky about who we bring in. It's not just for anybody coming through.''

As part of her work with the association, Ms. Cyr travels with musicians to elementary schools and libraries across Connecticut to make presentations. Although she hopes to see interest in bluegrass grow, she does not anticipate expanding the barn concerts.

''We have a lot of regulars,'' she said, ''and because it is private property we want to keep it small. We're really glad it's as popular as it is.''

At the Simpkins and Rice concert, the audience began filing in five minutes before showtime. There were couples carrying martinis and bottles of wine, middle-age men with guitar cases, and younger people sporting beards and bandannas. The crowd sipped Ms. Cyr's free homemade lemonade, chatted with the performers, and then sat down to watch.

Mr. Simpkins and Mr. Rice played two sets of traditional standards and original tunes. The barn's warm acoustics highlighted Mr. Simpkins's slashing fiddling and Mr. Rice's crisp guitar leads. When the standing, stomping audience cheered for an encore, Mr. Rice called up his 16-year-old son, Jordan, to play mandolin.

Mr. Simpkins told the crowd: ''I'll be playing at Grand Ole Opry next Saturday night with Emmylou Harris. But aside from that, I just want you to know that in this venue right here you guys have such a great thing going on. It's an awesome place.''

After the show, a few audience members took out their instruments and played two more hours.

Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum are scheduled to perform at the Salem Valley Barn Concerts series on July 15 at 7:30 p.m. For information on upcoming concerts, visit www.ctbluegrass.org, call (860)859-2696 or send an e-mail message to CTBMA@yahoo.com.